Strategy Booster Part 1: Stories & Strategies

What did LSAT test-takers say?

To develop Strategy Booster, we spoke to a diverse group of thousands of recent LSAT test-takers. We asked them to share their experiences and strategies preparing for the LSAT. We combined their advice with current research about learning and test-taking, from fields like neuroscience and cognition, to share strategies you can use to improve your LSAT score. In these conversations, past test-takers highlighted several common challenges, including:

Feeling stressed at times while studying.
Getting discouraged when they got practice questions wrong or got low scores on practice tests.
Having trouble motivating themselves to keep preparing for the test.

But they also shared strategies that helped them deal with these challenges that made their preparation more effective. Here, we share the strategies that have the strongest research to help with these common challenges. Feel free to use these strategies for your studying or develop your own.

Strategy #1: They recognized that stress was a sign of their body rising to the challenge.

Feeling stressed about the LSAT? You’re not the only one! Many past test-takers talked about feeling stressed, at times, while preparing for the LSAT. And most also reported that they used to believe that all stress was bad.

The research shows that they were partially correct. Nonstop, intense, inescapable stress can have a negative impact on our well-being and performance in the long term.

But past test-takers told us they found that some stress could be helpful. Science backs them up: it tells us that some stress– like the kind of stress we feel when we choose to take on a challenging task– can actually improve our learning and performance. This kind of stress helps us because it:

Releases chemicals like adrenaline to help us think more quickly and solve problems better.
Speeds up our breathing to help us take in more oxygen to help us do well.
Increases our heart rate to get oxygen to our brain.

Past test-takers told us that it helped them when they thought of these sensations (like butterflies in the stomach or a faster heart beat) as signs that their body was bringing extra resources to meet the demands of the situation.

STORY 1

When I first started preparing for the LSAT, I stressed about everything I had to learn. Then, I started stressing about being stressed. Every time I started studying, I could feel my heart start racing, and that made it even harder to focus. I talked to my roommate about it and she shared this book called, “The Upside of Stress.” It’s about the science of stress. I only read a few chapters but it was enough to remind me that the right kind of stress actually helps your performance. Physical signs of stress mean your body is rising to meet a challenge you care about. You need this kind of good stress to be alert and focused. So, I tried to find ways to use my stress so it could help me study. Like when I sat down to do Logical Reasoning drills and my heart started racing, I reminded myself that this feeling was my body keeping me focused. Don’t get me wrong, I still felt the stress. But now, instead of stressing me out more, I saw the stress as helping me stay energized and in the zone during study sessions.

STORY 2

Whenever I seemed stressed about preparing for the LSAT, my family would tell me, “Don't worry, you’re so smart! You’re gonna be just fine.” This stressed me out even more! I didn’t want to let them down. The butterflies in my stomach were distracting me, and I was worried that all the stress would hurt my studying. One day, while I was holed up in my room studying, my sister came over with dinner because she knew that I hadn’t eaten much that day. I decided to tell her about how I was feeling. She said no one would be disappointed in me if I didn’t get a high score. They were just trying to say they believe in me, because they had seen me use this stress as fuel to take on challenges before. The food and words were so reassuring. They reminded me that there are people who love and support me and that I am capable of doing this. When my family tells me I’m going to do well and shouldn’t worry, it’s not that they’re trying to add pressure or that I’ll disappoint them if I don’t get a high score. They’re just trying to say that they believe in me, and to remind me that my stress is there to help me stay motivated and focused when studying, just like it has before.

Strategy #2: They used their wrong answers to make their learning more efficient.

Making mistakes on LSAT problems and practice tests? You’re in good company! Nearly all test-takers reported getting many practice problems, drills, and practice test questions wrong while they studied for the LSAT. They shared with us that this often left them feeling discouraged, and they wondered if all these wrong answers were a sign that they didn’t have what it takes to do well on the LSAT.

But test-takers shared with us how they used their incorrect answers to figure out which sections of the test they hadn’t yet mastered. Then, they focused more of their study time on those areas.

According to research, this approach is one of the most effective ways to improve test performance. By using mistakes to pinpoint sections of the test that need the most improvement, people are able to more effectively use their study time, and ultimately see their scores improve.

STORY 3

I’ve always done pretty well in school, so I was shocked when I got my first practice test results. I mean, I wasn’t expecting a perfect score, but I didn’t expect to do that badly. I started to worry I’d never be able to get into a good law school. From then on, each mistake felt like a sign that I wasn’t cut out for this, so I avoided the areas where I was the weakest. Then one day, me and a bunch of other pre-law students had lunch with a current student at our law school. He asked us if we’d recovered from our first practice exam yet. We looked around and it became clear from our faces that most of us had not done well. He smiled and shook his head, “Of course your first practice test sucked! That’s why you’re taking practice tests to begin with! Let your mistakes show you what sections you need to study more.” That resonated with me. From then on, I tried to embrace the idea that success comes from learning from your mistakes. By putting more time into my weakest areas, I found myself learning more and making progress. In fact, the section that I did the worst on when I first started studying ended up being my highest score on the actual test.

STORY 4

I thought I studied my ass off for the LSAT. I completed all of PowerScore’s LSAT Bible Workbooks but, looking back, I have to admit that I did a pretty surface level job in order to get through it all. When I took the LSAT the first time, I didn’t hit my target score and I was pretty devastated. But I was committed to getting into law school, and so I realized I needed to do things differently. Instead of racing through everything, I needed to be more strategic. I needed to spend more time figuring out what sections of the test were my weakest, and learn more about how to tackle those. Once I felt like I learned how to approach each section, I took more practice tests to get better at answering the questions under time pressure. And you know what? I took it again and scored higher! Now I’m doing pretty well in law school. Letting mistakes tell me where to focus my time has been a really useful strategy in law school, too.

Strategy #3: They reflected on their big-picture reasons for taking the LSAT to stay motivated.

Finding it tough to stay motivated during LSAT prep? You're not alone in this feeling. Most past test-takers reported that preparing for the LSAT was very demanding. At times, they felt bored, tired, and frustrated.

However, they also shared that it helped to think about their larger reasons for taking the LSAT. They told us about how it felt good to remember their “why.” For example, they shared that preparing for the LSAT:

Helped sharpen their analytic and problem-solving skills, which are valued skills in many professions.
Played a huge role in unlocking many rewarding career paths in the legal profession, like corporate law or public interest advocacy.
Deepened their understanding of complex legal issues and arguments, which helped them feel more prepared for law school and beyond.
Was a crucial step in obtaining credentials and careers that helped them make a difference in the lives of their family and community.

Past test-takers shared that thinking about the practical and real-world benefits of LSAT preparation helped them find renewed motivation, energy, and focus. Many reflected that mastering the LSAT wasn't just about passing a test. It was also about gaining the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in their future careers.

STORY 5

I knew that I’d need to do well on the LSAT to get into law school, but the test itself just seemed kind of pointless to me. It was hard to make myself practice test questions that were nothing like what a lawyer actually does. One day, I mentioned my frustration to a law student who was working as a LSAT tutor. She said, “Well, it is true that you’ll never use the exact material that is tested on the exam. But all the work you do to prepare for the LSAT is a gift to your future self.” She explained that even though the types of questions on the LSAT might seem kind of weird, preparing for them was helping me build skills that are really valuable in law school. For example, so much of law is about taking a lot of different information and understanding what it means and how it fits together– just like you have to do in the Reading Comprehension section. She also told me that if I could learn the material on the LSAT, I could learn anything that law school threw at me. Looking back, I see that the work I did to prepare for the LSAT has helped me to be a stronger law student.

STORY 6

There are so many things you can do with a law degree. I’ve always wanted to be an advocate for kids struggling in the legal system. I just wish that you didn’t have to take the LSAT as a first step toward doing that. Even though it’s something we all have to do to get into law school, I sometimes found myself feeling resentful. I knew these feelings weren’t helping me study, so whenever I got frustrated, I tried to remind myself why I was working so hard: to help improve the lives of people in my community. I decided to put post-it notes all around my house with reminders of how I was going to make the world a better place for so many kids. I put the notes on the back of doors, on my mirror, in the fridge…everywhere. It might sound silly, but the notes gave me an extra boost to keep going with my prep when my motivation started to wane. I told my study group about it, and some of them made post-it notes for their houses, too. One person wrote herself notes about how a lawyer’s salary will let her help her family. Another person wrote himself notes about how this is his path to a well-respected career that he would find interesting and challenging. Looking back, I still felt like the LSAT was a hurdle. But studying for it and taking it was going to bring me one step closer to my life goals.