How early to start studying for the LSAT?

[TheLegalBeagle]

I'm a freshman in my second semester at a private university. I just wanted to know if I should start seriously studying for the LSAT right now, or if I should leave it for next year. I've already started reviewing some online materials, and I'm starting to get deeper into the world of Logic (something I'll definitely need for the LSAT). So, is my second semester of my freshman year too early to start studying, or just right?

[dr123]

dude, fuck the lsat. Go out, get drunk, and enjoy college, you're only a freshman. Worry about the LSAT in like 2-4 years

[TheLegalBeagle]

But wouldn't that be too late? I'll be graduating about 3.5 years from now, so shouldn't I be studying earlier? My main question is, when is the best time to study long and hard for the LSAT?

[dr123]

But wouldn't that be too late? I'll be graduating about 3.5 years from now, so shouldn't I be studying earlier? My main question is, when is the best time to study long and hard for the LSAT?

No time is "too late" there's no time limit on going to law school.

[TheLegalBeagle]

I'm not sure if you understand. I'm graduating college in May 2014, so when would be the appropriate time to start studying hard for it?

[Leira7905]

Concentrate on your grades right now (I know I wish I had). If you're that worried about the LSAT, plan on taking a diagnostic sometime in your sophomore year to see where you're at...

[TheLegalBeagle]

I've been concentrating on my grades (got A's and B's last semester), so I think I've got that down. At what point during my sophomore year should I take this diagnostic?

[Leira7905]

I've been concentrating on my grades (got A's and B's last semester), so I think I've got that down. At what point during my sophomore year should I take this diagnostic?

Take it whenever you want... just buy or download a full test and give it to yourself under "test-like" conditions. In other words, take it someplace like a library where the atmosphere is calm, but there are a few distractions... and time yourself. Also, test prep companies like Kaplan also offer diagnostics... This way you'll know how far you are from your target score... If you're scoring in the 140's.. practice like hell and take a class. That's it.

But seriously, you have plenty of time.

[dr123]

I've been concentrating on my grades (got A's and B's last semester), so I think I've got that down. At what point during my sophomore year should I take this diagnostic?

Take it whenever you want... just buy or download a full test and give it to yourself under "test-like" conditions. In other words, take it someplace like a library where the atmosphere is calm, but there are a few distractions... and time yourself. Also, test prep companies like Kaplan also offer diagnostics... This way you'll know how far you are from your target score... If you're scoring in the 140's.. practice like hell and take a class. That's it.

But seriously, you have plenty of time.

Seriously dude, you don't have to go to law school immediately after undergrad. A good percentage of law school students were a few years removed when they started ls

[Leira7905]

I've been concentrating on my grades (got A's and B's last semester), so I think I've got that down. At what point during my sophomore year should I take this diagnostic?

Take it whenever you want... just buy or download a full test and give it to yourself under "test-like" conditions. In other words, take it someplace like a library where the atmosphere is calm, but there are a few distractions... and time yourself. Also, test prep companies like Kaplan also offer diagnostics... This way you'll know how far you are from your target score... If you're scoring in the 140's.. practice like hell and take a class. That's it.

But seriously, you have plenty of time.

Seriously dude, you don't have to go to law school immediately after undergrad. A good percentage of law school students were a few years removed when they started ls

This too. Work experience is a plus.

[ATR]

I'm a freshman

Don't worry about for... oh... two and a half years?

[MrSparkle]

IMO, the ideal situation:

1. Convince yourself not to go to law school. If you still want to, go to #2
2. Get a 4.0 undergrad GPA
3. Work for 1-2 years, and do everything in life you ever wanted to do b/c you won't have it for a good decade
4. Take time off and concentrate on LSAT full-time for 6 months, get a 180, then concentrate on applications and submit on Sept 1
5. Go to Harvard/Yale/Stanford

[CanadianWolf]

Four months prior to your scheduled LSAT test date.

[BlueDevil2007]

I did all LSAT prep on my own (i.e. I bought LSAT prep books, and practice exams but did not take any courses) and scored 165.

I would suggest 6 months of prep time before you take it the first time. I happened to be working full time in the military while preparing, so maybe you would need less time if you have more time to devote to preparing per day. At a minimum I would take 20 practice exams before doing it for real (more recent ones being better than older ones).

[PhiloLogicGames]

IMO, the ideal situation:

1. Convince yourself not to go to law school. If you still want to, go to #2
2. Get a 4.0 undergrad GPA
3. Work for 1-2 years, and do everything in life you ever wanted to do b/c you won't have it for a good decade
4. Take time off and concentrate on LSAT full-time for 6 months, get a 180, then concentrate on applications and submit on Sept 1
5. Go to Harvard/Yale/Stanford

I think you can take or leave MrSparkle's number 1.; otherwise this is a pretty solid approach.

Whether you take that advice or not, though. Studying your Freshman year for the LSAT isn't a fantastic idea. You said "A's and B's." But if you're that eager, study for the LSAT when you can say, "A's. Period."

[bhan87]

IMO, the ideal situation:

1. Convince yourself not to go to law school. If you still want to, go to #2
2. Get a 4.0 undergrad GPA
3. Work for 1-2 years, and do everything in life you ever wanted to do b/c you won't have it for a good decade
4. Take time off and concentrate on LSAT full-time for 6 months, get a 180, then concentrate on applications and submit on Sept 1
5. Go to Harvard/Yale/Stanford

I think you can take or leave MrSparkle's number 1.; otherwise this is a pretty solid approach.

Whether you take that advice or not, though. Studying your Freshman year for the LSAT isn't a fantastic idea. You said "A's and B's." But if you're that eager, study for the LSAT when you can say, "A's. Period."

TITCR. Remember, the ratio is essentially 4 As to every B to maintain a 3.8 GPA (a competitive GPA for every school outside HYS). The ratio is even more ridiculous to maintain a 3.9. You want to be able to count your Bs using your fingers when you apply to law school, so stop worrying about the LSAT and stop getting those Bs

[2011Law]

IMO, the ideal situation:

1. Convince yourself not to go to law school. If you still want to, go to #2
2. Get a 4.0 undergrad GPA
3. Work for 1-2 years, and do everything in life you ever wanted to do b/c you won't have it for a good decade
4. Take time off and concentrate on LSAT full-time for 6 months, get a 180, then concentrate on applications and submit on Sept 1
5. Go to Harvard/Yale/Stanford

I think you can take or leave MrSparkle's number 1.; otherwise this is a pretty solid approach.

Whether you take that advice or not, though. Studying your Freshman year for the LSAT isn't a fantastic idea. You said "A's and B's." But if you're that eager, study for the LSAT when you can say, "A's. Period."

TITCR. Remember, the ratio is essentially 4 As to every B to maintain a 3.8 GPA (a competitive GPA for every school outside HYS). The ratio is even more ridiculous to maintain a 3.9. You want to be able to count your Bs using your fingers when you apply to law school, so stop worrying about the LSAT and stop getting those Bs

I wish I took law school more seriously during undergrad, had no idea until about a year before I graduated (when I found tls) what a good gpa was (I knew mine wasn't great, 3.3-.4, but I didn't know it was that bad).

As for the lsat, I posted this before, I'd say to first figure out when you wanna take, and the best time is prob the June before you want to apply, so you have back up at Oct and Dec, also the June test starts around noon. So start from there, plan to do 2 PTs a week, I'd do from PT 19 if you wanna be mad serious about it. By the time you get to it, that'll be about 50 PTs, so about 25 weeks. Then before you get to that you gotta read the 3 Bibles, and liberally give yourself 6 weeks for that. That comes to 7 months 3 weeks. Add 5 weeks of breaks during that time = 9 months. Thats a pretty chill study plan.

[TheLegalBeagle]

Still studying for the LSAT currently, is it bad if I'm not so "stellar" on the logic games yet?

[dr123]

dude, fuck the lsat logic games. Go out, get drunk, and enjoy college, you're only a freshman. Worry about the LSAT in like 2-4 years

[legalmo]

dude, fuck the lsat. Go out, get drunk, and enjoy college, you're only a freshman. Worry about the LSAT in like 2-4 years

Wasn't that what high school was for?

I'm in the exact situation as the OP, glad to see some thoughtful responses. Maybe, since we'll both be graduating about a year early, we can take that extra time and study for the LSAT while interning or working. Seems like the extra experience would help with applications too. And from what I've read on these forums LG is one of the easier sections to improve upon, so it'd be a good place to start. Pretty much 95% of any questions your neuroticism might produce can be found somewhere on TLS, at least thats been my experience.

Time to get rid of all the prep books from my cart on Amazon!

[zanzbar]

Actually if you guys are hell bent on law school there was a topic a few weeks back about how you could take the summer off, and hit the bibles hard and take the October test. I am not sure when your school gets out, but for my friends who are thinking about law school I am recommending that route since studying while in school/working is dreadful. I am doing the studying while working, and going to school and honestly I hate it because I find that doing LSAT problems right before bed makes them somehow get incorporated into my dreams haha.

[legalmo]

Actually if you guys are hell bent on law school there was a topic a few weeks back about how you could take the summer off, and hit the bibles hard and take the October test. I am not sure when your school gets out, but for my friends who are thinking about law school I am recommending that route since studying while in school/working is dreadful. I am doing the studying while working, and going to school and honestly I hate it because I find that doing LSAT problems right before bed makes them somehow get incorporated into my dreams haha.

I'll probably take it in my senior (though it'll be third) year if not after grad. Also: teach me how to do problems while I'm dreaming .

[cmob]

IMO, the ideal situation:

1. Convince yourself not to go to law school. If you still want to, go to #2
2. Get a 4.0 undergrad GPA
3. Work for 1-2 years, and do everything in life you ever wanted to do b/c you won't have it for a good decade
4. Take time off and concentrate on LSAT full-time for 6 months, get a 180, then concentrate on applications and submit on Sept 1
5. Go to Harvard/Yale/Stanford

This. Even if you don't take time off, this plan shows you the most important point. GPA is unfixable and will put you in a stratification of law schools, where even a ridiculous LSAT score won't get you higher. Join some clubs and become president and get some internships so you can get softs, know people for LORs and have material for personal statements. Start heavily studying for your LSAT the winter break of your Junior year, keep it at a good pace through spring semester, and you should have a solid LSAT from June that allows you to apply early to the top schools.

Worst case LSAT scenario, you botch your June LSAT and still have the Oct and Dec ones to fix your score before the end of the applications cycle. DO NOT take your LSAT before that June, because it counts towards your 3 LSAT in 2 year limit and that premature score will stay with you on the apps.

[zanzbar]

Its some pretty crazy shit because I might be in a restaurant, and in my dream I am thinking alright there are 5 tables available, but I can't sit at tables 1 or 2 if the old couple sits at 3 or 5, but the asians can't sit at 4 so its just a ridiculous thing that happens I also found out last semester that I can't study for Econometrics or any math classes before I go to sleep because I will literally have latin and greek symbols in my dreams as well. Maybe this inconvenience will come in handy when I am in law school, and I have cases and precedents show up in my dreams. haha

[Aro5389]

I'm gonna say you should probably get a feel for it during your 5th semester and studying for it full on your 6th semester and summer after.