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I was wondering how seriously people take the writing sample while preparing for the LSAT. From what I can see, most people say it's not very important. I know TLS1776 says to take it seriously, but even he admits he didn't take it as seriously as he should have and admits that he wanted to spend more time on the part of the test that is actually scored (which seemed to work for him, since he got a 180).

I plan on reading strategies for the writing sample to some extent. However, without someone being able to actually grade your writing sample, it seems like doing the writing portion of the practice exams wouldn't be that useful. I might become more familiar with the writing portion (which is why I'll probably do one occasionally), but I wouldn't get the feedback necessary to fix my common flaws.

How do the rest of you tackle the writing portion of the LSAT?

don't spend a second of your time preparing for it

acr wrote:don't spend a second of your time preparing for it

+1. All you need is a good faith effort.

TasmanianToucan wrote:

Kinky John wrote:

acr wrote:don't spend a second of your time preparing for it

Definitely this. If you made it through undergrad, you should be able to write plenty well enough for the LSAT prompts without wasting prep time.

Thank you all, that was rather prompt and straightforward, much appreciated!

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If you're a worrier like me, then go ahead and try taking one on your last practice test. The writing portion is really simple. You won't need more than one run through.

I think it's worth it to have at least done one.

zacboro wrote:I disagree. I think doing one by itself early on, and then one on a PT closer to game day. Just because its not scored doesn't mean it isn't looked at. I'm not saying expend brain energy on it during prep. But I think it's foolish if the first writing prompt you look at is your game day writing prompt. Just my opinion though.

I agree. OP, you should spend a small amount of time familiarizing yourself with the format of the writing sample prompt and the really basic ways to properly structure, organize and write your response according to the instructions. You shouldn't spend more than a couple of hours at most prepping for the writing sample though.

Just looking at and possibly writing out a response for one or two of them should be enough practice to do an adequate job with it on test day. The writing sample isn't something that will increase your admissions chances if you write something way better than most other applicants, but is something that can hurt your admissions chances if you write something horrible that isn't responsive to the directions, is written and/or organized horribly, is illegible, or that has terrible grammar and bad basic sentences construction.

The LS's that do actually read them when evaluating applications basically just take a quick look to see if you can write and structure a really basic argument in support of one option over the other using the facts and guidelines given with decent basic grammar and understandable sentences.

It's nothing to stress about or spend much time on, but also something you shouldn't totally ignore since some law schools (mainly highly ranked ones) do read and consider them with your application.

In short, as long as you do a decent job with it you're fine and it will have no impact on your admissions chances but if you do a horrible job it's something that can hurt your admissions chances at LS's that actually read and consider them.

My recommendation: get your 175+, then have such bad handwriting they can't read it anyway.

So, I ended up writing the writing portion just now on my first diagnostic exam. I'm glad that I did, just for the sake of understanding the format of it a bit better. I'll likely take you all's advice and write maybe just a couple more between now and my actual LSAT.

Thanks again for all of your help

zacboro wrote:I disagree. I think doing one by itself early on, and then one on a PT closer to game day. Just because its not scored doesn't mean it isn't looked at. I'm not saying expend brain energy on it during prep. But I think it's foolish if the first writing prompt you look at is your game day writing prompt. Just my opinion though.

I spent exactly 30 seconds prepping for the writing prompt (read a couple of old prompts). I outperformed my LSAT+GPA.

dabigchina wrote:

zacboro wrote:I disagree. I think doing one by itself early on, and then one on a PT closer to game day. Just because its not scored doesn't mean it isn't looked at. I'm not saying expend brain energy on it during prep. But I think it's foolish if the first writing prompt you look at is your game day writing prompt. Just my opinion though.

I spent exactly 30 seconds prepping for the writing prompt (read a couple of old prompts). I outperformed my LSAT+GPA.

Came here to essentially write this but Dabigchina nails it on the head. Maybe take a minute to read old prompts, but it's not worth taking time to actually write them out.