LSAT Writing Sample Forum

[dachshund]

Hi Everyone,

My alma mater hosted an admissons panel with the deans of a few t14 schools and the question of LSAT writing sections came up. They stated that they do indeed read those sections and take them into account when reviewing your application. Just wanted to offer a word of advice to people taking December 2011 to take that section seriously! Don't draw a stupid picture (they brought an example of this) or write some BS that takes you 10 minutes. Good luck!!

[ThreeRivers]

I think its obvious it would come across very negatively if they saw a drawn picture on the LSAT essay so of course you should try, but as long as its not completely embarrassing I don't think it has that much weight (don't prepare / worry about it just write an essay. Plus law schools don't want to admit they're LSAT + GPA whores for US News Rankings, but they pretty much are

[kwais]

IBT "anyone who spends more than 5 minutes is a tool" retards

[cynthia rose]

It's not that you shouldn't take it seriously - the person who was drawing stuff is just a dumbass and an especially poorly reasoned essay will also lose points, as there will be no English Comp 101 in law school. We should all know how to write by now. But I think some take it seriously in the wrong way. How much (or little) time it takes to to do the writing section and how much one writes is irrelevant; what is important is that you make a solid argument and write it well. Some people need more time to really think things through whereas others can just look at something and know immediately what they want to say; also, some stimuli are less complex than others, requiring less explanation to get your point across (I found the essay on my second LSAT to be simper than the first and it's reflected in the fact that it is shorter and I spent less time writing it). If the question of how long it took me to write an essay even crosses a person's mind while reading it, then I take that to mean I just didn't write it well enough.