LSAT Preparation Timeline + Tips?!

[wendydugan]

Application Process
Hey everybody!

Thank you in advance to those reading and willing to help me out. For context, I am deferring my admission to a top 20 university and will be taking a gap year. My plan is to work on the upcoming 2024 election cycle in the fall, intern during the spring, and travel in the summer. I wanted to explore some new interests before jumping into school right away.

I am extremely interested in pursuing law school and have been looking into Columbia LEAP and Harvard JDP. I know these are extremely selective programs and quite a reach. I really struggled with test-taking during high school for the undergraduate application process and wish I had started sooner. So, I want to get started on my LSAT prep as soon as possible, aiming to take my first test at the beginning of 2025 to get a feel for it and establish a baseline score.

Obviously, I want to achieve the highest score possible and get the test out of the way so I can focus on my grades and building up club/organization/research/professional experiences during college without worrying about taking time out to study. Does anyone have any resources and tips for me? I'm not confident in my test-taking abilities, but I want to do what I can to prepare.

Thank you!

[Dana D]

Hey Wendy,

If you are applying for the 2025/26 year application cycle, I would take your first practice test sooner rather than waiting until Jan 2025 to do so. You want to give yourself ample time to study material, and you really won't know how much prep you need until you take that first diagnostic. Depending on your law school, you might only have until August to take the LSAT and submit your scores, and you may end up wanting to retake the test, so realistically you would probably want to take it in June and then leave yourself the ability to retake later in the summer if needed.

Studying for this type of test is very personal, you have to find what works for you, especially what explanations or study style works for you. Some students can work self-paced through sourcebooks like the Powerscore Bibles, while others need the structure of a class schedule or the individualized attention of a tutor. I recommend taking an initial practice test to assess your starting point, which you can do for free through the LSAC website, and then determining what type of support you want while studying.

Additionally, if your test taking is something you can get accommodations for, I highly recommend doing so. The accommodation process is detailed on the LSAC website as well if that is something you are interested in.

Best of luck studying!