How seriously do your peers take the LSAT? Forum

[90convoy]

So I ask an acquaintance of mine how long he plans to study for the lsat and he says "idk man probably like a couple weeks before the test, then ill probably just retake because everyone that retakes usually does better".

Is people thinking like this an actual thing, or am I just too used to the elitist mentality on TLS?


Once again, as im sure a lot of you are, I Just thought it was interesting to see the disconnect some nonTLSers have.

[hoos89]

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[AAJD2B]

Not seriously at all. Most think Kaplan is the best ever and plan to solely use a test prep company to prepare. No self-studying.

[Darmody]

They all went through the Powerscore Bibles, Manhattan Bundle, etc. and drilled a ton before taking 20+ full timed PTs. All of them were aiming for 180 and at worst a 170. Most of them did well and got 170+ and now attend a T14. I guess it's my turn now.

Edit: Those who didn't get a 170+ on their first try ended up retaking.

[Louis1127]

Looking forward to seeing where this thread goes. Reminds me a little bit of the "Overheard at the LSAT" thread. Hopefully this will provide some insight into how extensive the TLS bubble is.

[dstars823]

They all went through the Powerscore Bibles, Manhattan Bundle, etc. and drilled a ton before taking 20+ full timed PTs. All of them were aiming for 180 and at worst a 170. Most of them did well and got 170+ and now attend a T14. I guess it's my turn now.

Edit: Those who didn't get a 170+ on their first try ended up retaking.

wow.... yeah people around me just kinda winged it for a couple weeks and then took the LSAT with no intention of ever retaking.. their excuse was "i just dont want to put myself through that again... that took up so much time and just caused me a lot of stress"

[Louis1127]

I posted a comment (that I stand by) but forgot to answer the question. I'm a ways a way from taking it but the average for my school is an abysmal 150 and the ppl I've talked to that have taken it did not take it seriously and didn't put much work in at all.

[IAFG]

How do you people know so many 0Ls?

[90convoy]

I've even seen next level, cart before the horse stupidity when it comes to people talking about how passing the bar is one's greater concern.

[90convoy]

How do you people know so many 0Ls?

Being a philosophy major, I'm surrounded.

[KingofSplitters55]

LSAT habits have a huge variance among my peer group. Among friends from high school (went to an average public high school), many are studying for a few weeks or handful of months beforehand and usually don't do much PTs at all. Among friends from college (went to an Ivy), people are way more serious about it, study for a much longer term, and do a lot more PTs. The attitude regarding how in-depth people go in terms of content for studying varies highly between the two groups too (in terms of say drilling by question type versus just doing whole PTs as their only practice - my friends from college are more prone to the former while friends from high school more prone to the latter).

[Jeffort]

They all went through the Powerscore Bibles, Manhattan Bundle, etc. and drilled a ton before taking 20+ full timed PTs. All of them were aiming for 180 and at worst a 170. Most of them did well and got 170+ and now attend a T14. I guess it's my turn now.

Edit: Those who didn't get a 170+ on their first try ended up retaking.

wow.... yeah people around me just kinda winged it for a couple weeks and then took the LSAT with no intention of ever retaking.. their excuse was "i just dont want to put myself through that again... that took up so much time and just caused me a lot of stress"

That's pretty typical of people that aren't really serious about going to LS (just not serious YET for some) and just take the LSAT as a part of exploring options of what to do in life after graduation from UG. People that react to re-taking the way you describe are some of the ones that the LSAT correctly acts as great gatekeeper to keep out of LSs. People with that attitude towards the test typically don't even apply to LS unless they happen to perform really well with their little bit of prep, which is rare among people not serious enough to do more than wing it a little for a few weeks before the test.

I imagine that if everybody that was serious enough to actually take an official LSAT studied hard with decent prep whether from a good class or prep books for at least three months, 15+ hours a week and at least 5-10 practice tests, that the percentile ranking distribution of achieved scores would be dramatically different with a much higher average score.

The LSAT successfully weeds many people out of LS competition before scores are even released. In part the LSAT is a "how badly do you really want to go to LS?" test due to the dedication and effort required ahead of time to even be moderately well prepared on test day. Its a good test to filter out many people right from the start that are a type LSs very much do not want. People that are not willing to put in a lot of study time to perform well on a competitive test certainly have no business in law school and would fail miserably if admitted. The LSAT delivers the "LS is not for you, GTFO" news with a harsh bi*ch slap to those people.

[jingosaur]

I know a lot of people who take it seriously to a TLS level, but there are also two other groups:

1. The people who use only a test prep company's class and expect that to fully prepare them (these are also the people who don't retake). Most people I know who went this route get low to mid 160s.

2. The people who put no effort into it and take it only because of parental pressure or the "it fits well with my major" excuse. All of the people that I know who did this scored around the median and thankfully, all of them decided to take a different path than law school.

[dstars823]

They all went through the Powerscore Bibles, Manhattan Bundle, etc. and drilled a ton before taking 20+ full timed PTs. All of them were aiming for 180 and at worst a 170. Most of them did well and got 170+ and now attend a T14. I guess it's my turn now.

Edit: Those who didn't get a 170+ on their first try ended up retaking.

wow.... yeah people around me just kinda winged it for a couple weeks and then took the LSAT with no intention of ever retaking.. their excuse was "i just dont want to put myself through that again... that took up so much time and just caused me a lot of stress"

That's pretty typical of people that aren't really serious about going to LS (just not serious YET for some) and just take the LSAT as a part of exploring options of what to do in life after graduation from UG. People that react to re-taking the way you describe are some of the ones that the LSAT correctly acts as great gatekeeper to keep out of LSs. People with that attitude towards the test typically don't even apply to LS unless they happen to perform really well with their little bit of prep, which is rare among people not serious enough to do more than wing it a little for a few weeks before the test.

I imagine that if everybody that was serious enough to actually take an official LSAT studied hard with decent prep whether from a good class or prep books for at least three months, 15+ hours a week and at least 5-10 practice tests, that the percentile ranking distribution of achieved scores would be dramatically different with a much higher average score.

The LSAT successfully weeds many people out of LS competition before scores are even released. In part the LSAT is a "how badly do you really want to go to LS?" test due to the dedication and effort required ahead of time to even be moderately well prepared on test day. Its a good test to filter out many people right from the start that are a type LSs very much do not want. People that are not willing to put in a lot of study time to perform well on a competitive test certainly have no business in law school and would fail miserably if admitted. The LSAT delivers the "LS is not for you, GTFO" news with a harsh bi*ch slap to those people.

unfortunately, most of these kids that got slapped by the LSAT end up attending law school in my state, whether they go to NC central, charlotte, elon or campbell. Most are already pretty ok with being IBR for a while

[paglababa]

They all went through the Powerscore Bibles, Manhattan Bundle, etc. and drilled a ton before taking 20+ full timed PTs. All of them were aiming for 180 and at worst a 170. Most of them did well and got 170+ and now attend a T14. I guess it's my turn now.

Edit: Those who didn't get a 170+ on their first try ended up retaking.

wow.... yeah people around me just kinda winged it for a couple weeks and then took the LSAT with no intention of ever retaking.. their excuse was "i just dont want to put myself through that again... that took up so much time and just caused me a lot of stress"

That's pretty typical of people that aren't really serious about going to LS (just not serious YET for some) and just take the LSAT as a part of exploring options of what to do in life after graduation from UG. People that react to re-taking the way you describe are some of the ones that the LSAT correctly acts as great gatekeeper to keep out of LSs. People with that attitude towards the test typically don't even apply to LS unless they happen to perform really well with their little bit of prep, which is rare among people not serious enough to do more than wing it a little for a few weeks before the test.

I imagine that if everybody that was serious enough to actually take an official LSAT studied hard with decent prep whether from a good class or prep books for at least three months, 15+ hours a week and at least 5-10 practice tests, that the percentile ranking distribution of achieved scores would be dramatically different with a much higher average score.

The LSAT successfully weeds many people out of LS competition before scores are even released. In part the LSAT is a "how badly do you really want to go to LS?" test due to the dedication and effort required ahead of time to even be moderately well prepared on test day. Its a good test to filter out many people right from the start that are a type LSs very much do not want. People that are not willing to put in a lot of study time to perform well on a competitive test certainly have no business in law school and would fail miserably if admitted. The LSAT delivers the "LS is not for you, GTFO" news with a harsh bi*ch slap to those people.

unfortunately, most of these kids that got slapped by the LSAT end up attending law school in my state, whether they go to NC central, charlotte, elon or campbell. Most are already pretty ok with being IBR for a while

+1. the LSAT is NOT a gate keeper, because these kids make the stupid decision of attending TTTT despite their medicore LSAT score. Half of these kids will get no wakeup call until they are already 100k in debt and jobless.

[ScottRiqui]

Not really a "peer", but after taking the LSAT in June, I got an email from the pre-law advisor at my UG school.

Right off the bat, I got suspicious when she described my 167 as "one of the highest LSAT scores she's seen" out of the past few hundred. When I replied back and told her the schools I'm interested in, and that I'm re-taking in October, she said "I don't usually recommend that people re-take a score like yours, since you might do worse, and law schools average the scores".

So right off the bat, I'm thinking "You're the school's pre-law advisor; if you have access to my transcripts, you should know why I'm re-taking. Also, is the "schools average your scores" thing really still that common of a belief, even among pre-law advisors?

Still going to meet with her next month, since I'll be visiting family and staying within just a few miles of my UG. What I don't know is if I'm hoping to get something useful out of it, or just going for the potential lulz.

[paglababa]

Not really a "peer", but after taking the LSAT in June, I got an email from the pre-law advisor at my UG school.

Right off the bat, I got suspicious when she described my 167 as "one of the highest LSAT scores she's seen" out of the past few hundred. When I replied back and told her the schools I'm interested in, and that I'm re-taking in October, she said "I don't usually recommend that people re-take a score like yours, since you might do worse, and law schools average the scores".

So right off the bat, I'm thinking "You're the school's pre-law advisor; if you have access to my transcripts, you should know why I'm re-taking. Also, is the "schools average your scores" thing really still that common of a belief, even among pre-law advisors?

Still going to meet with her next month, since I'll be visiting family and staying within just a few miles of my UG. What I don't know is if I'm hoping to get something useful out of it, or just going for the potential lulz.

SO MUCH LULZ to be had. Hahah she is full of shit.

[dstars823]

Not really a "peer", but after taking the LSAT in June, I got an email from the pre-law advisor at my UG school.

Right off the bat, I got suspicious when she described my 167 as "one of the highest LSAT scores she's seen" out of the past few hundred. When I replied back and told her the schools I'm interested in, and that I'm re-taking in October, she said "I don't usually recommend that people re-take a score like yours, since you might do worse, and law schools average the scores".

So right off the bat, I'm thinking "You're the school's pre-law advisor; if you have access to my transcripts, you should know why I'm re-taking. Also, is the "schools average your scores" thing really still that common of a belief, even among pre-law advisors?

Still going to meet with her next month, since I'll be visiting family and staying within just a few miles of my UG. What I don't know is if I'm hoping to get something useful out of it, or just going for the potential lulz.

depending on the school you really might have one of the highest... i doubt every school has a group of kids rocking 175+ but the fact she thinks schools still averages makes me slightly worry

[okaygo]

I know many people currently studying for the LSAT, and they take their studying fairly seriously, but the majority don't realize how much they can achieve with a little more study time on the LSAT.

[90convoy]

Not really a "peer", but after taking the LSAT in June, I got an email from the pre-law advisor at my UG school.

Right off the bat, I got suspicious when she described my 167 as "one of the highest LSAT scores she's seen" out of the past few hundred. When I replied back and told her the schools I'm interested in, and that I'm re-taking in October, she said "I don't usually recommend that people re-take a score like yours, since you might do worse, and law schools average the scores".

So right off the bat, I'm thinking "You're the school's pre-law advisor; if you have access to my transcripts, you should know why I'm re-taking. Also, is the "schools average your scores" thing really still that common of a belief, even among pre-law advisors?

Still going to meet with her next month, since I'll be visiting family and staying within just a few miles of my UG. What I don't know is if I'm hoping to get something useful out of it, or just going for the potential lulz.

lol. I'm missing out I haven't even talked to my advisor

[hoos89]

/

[Kimikho]

...

[paglababa]

I'm the only one taking things at all seriously. Like I couldn't even get a study group together. I have actually had this conversation three times now:

Me: Oh, you're studying for the LSAT too? We should study together!
Other person: Are you in the Kaplan class? I haven't seen you there.
Me: I'm not taking a class.
Other person: My instructor says the only way you can break 165 is in a prep class.
Me: ...well shit then huh.

(One time I was just like, "I think your instructor is messing up the sufficient and necessary conditions there, friend.")

The other conversation I've had is with my friends who are running mayoral/county council campaigns. Which usually goes like "well, I was planning on taking it in October but ended up running this campaign, so I figure I'll take the December test and study after the general election."

When I get lonely, I join a study group of like three MCAT takers and someone studying for the math GRE. :/

THIS. I'll study with people who are studying for the CPA. Or I'll tell friends if they wanna "hang out with me" they have to be studying or working on something.

[steel_shot]

.

[Rollontheground]

How do you people know so many 0Ls?

Being a philosophy major, I'm surrounded.

LOFL