Did okay (164), but not sure of worth of written part Forum

[Alek]

Hi! I did not prep well for the LSAT and I'm not sure what admissions looks for in the written section of the LSAT. I winged it so upon reflection I'm not sure how good it is. I don't plan on retaking, but how bad would it have to be to warrant a retake?

I guess I'm looking for examples of archetypal things to avoid. Posting an entire question and answer from an LSAT test is probably bad, correct? I don't know.

Thanks!

[kkklick]

troll

[2011Law]

maybe a flame, but w/e. written part does not matter. if you wrote something in english, that consisted of actual sentences somehow related to the prompt, you did sufficiently well.

[The Gentleman]

A poor writing sample is not a sufficient reason to retake the LSAT. Very few schools will even read it.

But if you know that you can score significantly higher than a 164 with more prep, then by all means retake.

(lol if this is a flame)

[3|ink]

(lol if this is a flame)

[Alek]

I'm not trolling, you can lock sorry. Thanks for the responses.

[TLSanders]

The writing sample on the LSAT mostly serves two purposes for schools: It allows them to assess your basic writing skills. This is important to schools because about ten years ago they started getting a lot of complaints from the large law firms they cater to saying that the students they were graduating couldn't write. Rather than improve legal writing instruction, many decided to simply screen more carefully for basic writing skills up front.

Given the shift in the job market and the declining number of students entering large law firms, that may have changed, but I suspect that schools haven't yet caught up with that trend; I suspect that mostly because career planning and placement offices for the most part have not, and are still preparing students for and steering them toward jobs that don't exist in the numbers they once did.

The other purpose is a check against your personal statement. With the high incidence of people paying outside services to create personal statements for them, having a sample of your writing created under controlled circumstances allows the school a quick check if your personal statement seems like it might not have been your own work.

[Attorney]

career planning and placement offices ... are still preparing students for and steering them toward jobs that don't exist

That's mean!

[TLSanders]

Attorney, is it mean that I said it or that law schools are doing it?