Advice for student taking LSAT in 4 years Forum

[CoverForehead]

I'm going to finish undergraduate and go to graduate school in engineering first.

I'm going to study for the LSAT maybe here and there before then and study much more seriously closer to the exam date. Plans in my life could change then, but probably not.

I studied for the SAT a bit here and there for several years before studying very seriously the year before I took it, and that strategy seemed to work alright. Hope to get my feet wet and learn some things that are likely to still be on the LSAT in four years.

1. If you were in my situation, what would you do for studying for the LSAT in terms of what to do and how to spread out the time? So far, I've just gone to a single free LSAT class session and that is it

2. Was anyone in a similar situation as me? What do you wish you would have known?

3. Does the LSAT not change much/doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon? I know when I took the SAT it was just undergoing some significant changes

[20170322]

I'm going to finish undergraduate and go to graduate school in engineering first.

I'm going to study for the LSAT maybe here and there before then and study much more seriously closer to the exam date. Plans in my life could change then, but probably not.

I studied for the SAT a bit here and there for several years before studying very seriously the year before I took it, and that strategy seemed to work alright. Hope to get my feet wet and learn some things that are likely to still be on the LSAT in four years.

1. If you were in my situation, what would you do for studying for the LSAT in terms of what to do and how to spread out the time? So far, I've just gone to a single free LSAT class session and that is it

2. Was anyone in a similar situation as me? What do you wish you would have known?

3. Does the LSAT not change much/doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon? I know when I took the SAT it was just undergoing some significant changes

I tried long-term studying for the LSAT. Didn't see gains until I sat down and did intense prep. Just wait until you're at a point in your life to study intensely for three months, study, and kill it. Otherwise, don't worry about it.

[34iplaw]

I'm going to finish undergraduate and go to graduate school in engineering first.

I'm going to study for the LSAT maybe here and there before then and study much more seriously closer to the exam date. Plans in my life could change then, but probably not.

I studied for the SAT a bit here and there for several years before studying very seriously the year before I took it, and that strategy seemed to work alright. Hope to get my feet wet and learn some things that are likely to still be on the LSAT in four years.

1. If you were in my situation, what would you do for studying for the LSAT in terms of what to do and how to spread out the time? So far, I've just gone to a single free LSAT class session and that is it

2. Was anyone in a similar situation as me? What do you wish you would have known?

3. Does the LSAT not change much/doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon? I know when I took the SAT it was just undergoing some significant changes

I tried long-term studying for the LSAT. Didn't see gains until I sat down and did intense prep. Just wait until you're at a point in your life to study intensely for three months, study, and kill it. Otherwise, don't worry about it.

Agree. About the only thing I can try to recommend is maybe reading the Economist, New Yorker, and stuff like that that may resemble the denseness and content of RC. It'll help you in other areas and it's probably a section with the least ability for short term gains. Getting into sudoku may help you with some of the thinking in games. Maybe take a logic class... someone who took one would have to comment on its' relevance or helpfulness. I wouldn't really worry too much about it.

[theconsigliere]

keep in mind that there is limited amount of study material in the form of past preptests. i dont think most people start preparing for it until 4-6 months away from test day because otherwise they could run out of material. i began ~4 months in advance. i would not recommend using up any of the practice tests before you start your serious prep

[ngogirl12]

Focus on your UG GPA. Get a 4.0, if you can take a course in logic, microeconomics, macroeconomics, and statistics do them, get A's and really understand the content of those courses.

In terms of prep, start off with taking a diagnostic test to see what you skillset is. Don't rush to the preptest phase until you have mastered the fundamentals. Really understand them, and practice logic games, LR by type, and reading comprehension until you are ready for the preptest phase. Use the earlier material for drilling/practice material, and the more recent material for preptests.

I think there are changes within the LSAT preptests but they are really small changes. If you work through the material and practice the changes will get ingrained mentally and it will not be an issue.

I would probably take the test before you do grad school for the engineering degree because grad school is intense and you won't have time to study for an exam during that period unless you forgo a summer internship (if it's a two year program), and that's not usually a good idea. Also keep in mind that when you take the LSAT your score is good for 5 years.

[CoverForehead]

1. How does the LSAC calculate uGPA for courses that are less than the standard # of credits? So like there are half semester classes, and there are ones with more exotic #s of credits like I took a short lab class that was 1/4 the credits of your average full semester course

2. "microeconomics, macroeconomics, and statistics"
Out of curiosity why these three?

I've taken macroeconomics and will be taking probability the coming semester (the first half of this website's material approximately http://web.mit.edu/6.041/www/) but not statistics. In a signal processing class that I'll take in the spring, there is hypothesis testing though at the end of the course but I'm not taking a full blown statistics course http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-e ... /readings/

3. Thanks for all the responses!

4. I may take some time off after graduate school to just focus on studying.

[HiLine]

Learn how to do logic games now. You'll never forget these skills once you get them learned.

[pancakes3]

if you can 4.0 at MIT, do NOT attend law school.

[dnptan]

if you can 4.0 at MIT, do NOT attend law school.

This only applies if your goal is to make money. If you want to be a patent lawyer or litigation lawyer, go get your 4.0 at MIT and then go to HYS or CCN with a full ride. It's worth it if that's what you want to do with your life.

I'm an engineer that ended up going to law school, and I don't regret it. Sure I miss the hard science, but I love the fact that I get to talk to all kinds of people and work on my social skills. Engineering can be socially staid.

[pancakes3]

I'd probably reverse dnptan's condition - Only attend law school if your sole goal in life is to become a patent prosecutor/litigator.

Otherwise, there are a million career opportunities available - many of which do not involve engineering. Basically the entire world of business, finance, and consulting will hire a 4.0 MIT grad. All manner of grad schools including A-school, B-school, J-school, and med school are in play.

[dnptan]

I'd probably reverse dnptan's condition - Only attend law school if your sole goal in life is to become a patent prosecutor/litigator.

Otherwise, there are a million career opportunities available - many of which do not involve engineering. Basically the entire world of business, finance, and consulting will hire a 4.0 MIT grad. All manner of grad schools including A-school, B-school, J-school, and med school are in play.

I can get behind this qualification. Just add a few things: tech transactions, M&A (especially for startups) and Government Contracts are all practice areas where engineers/tech people are extra valuable. Also, if you want to end up in politics/become a judge etc. then law makes sense. It's unlikely, but I know tech people who suddenly decided that a non-tech, law-based career change made sense for them.

To summarize, the classic lawyer answer applies in this case: it depends. But on average, pancakes3 is probably right.

[MyNameIsntJames]

I'm going to finish undergraduate and go to graduate school in engineering first.

I'm going to study for the LSAT maybe here and there before then and study much more seriously closer to the exam date. Plans in my life could change then, but probably not.

I studied for the SAT a bit here and there for several years before studying very seriously the year before I took it, and that strategy seemed to work alright. Hope to get my feet wet and learn some things that are likely to still be on the LSAT in four years.

1. If you were in my situation, what would you do for studying for the LSAT in terms of what to do and how to spread out the time? So far, I've just gone to a single free LSAT class session and that is it

2. Was anyone in a similar situation as me? What do you wish you would have known?

3. Does the LSAT not change much/doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon? I know when I took the SAT it was just undergoing some significant changes

4 years is way too far out. Best thing you could do is familiarize yourself with the exam 2-3 years down the road then start doing much more intense prep when you're within a year of your exam date.

How do you plan on fitting engineering in with law?

[CoverForehead]

1. I'm still curious about why some people recommend statistics/microeconomics/etc above. There are two logic classes at my school and I'll take probably the lower level one on pass/D/fail
Is it relevant?
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics- ... ure-notes/

2. MIT has a 5 point GPA scale. I have a 4.69 out of 5 now and realistically the maximum uGPA I could get would be slightly less than a 4.8 out of 5 given the number of semesters left. I expect to get a lower GPA in graduate school. Also, getting a perfect GPA in engineering school is not that easy! I cannot get a perfect uGPA now. There are not that many prelaw students here, the school has an unusual GPA system, and I took a few classes (including a very short partial semester class) that have more or less than the standard # of credits so I'm still wondering how the uGPA will be calculated by the LSAC in practice.

There's plenty of time for internships during grad school between now and then to think about this. I was talking to another electrical engineering major at my school considering law school and we were debating whether it is better to attend grad school first. I think I'll go to graduate school first.

I'm originally from a place that is near Washington DC and will likely want to live roughly in the VA/MD/DC area someday, so that's another thing to consider.

Thanks for the advice to study logic games first! Will try some of them out!

[CoverForehead]

I'm going to finish undergraduate and go to graduate school in engineering first.

I'm going to study for the LSAT maybe here and there before then and study much more seriously closer to the exam date. Plans in my life could change then, but probably not.

I studied for the SAT a bit here and there for several years before studying very seriously the year before I took it, and that strategy seemed to work alright. Hope to get my feet wet and learn some things that are likely to still be on the LSAT in four years.

1. If you were in my situation, what would you do for studying for the LSAT in terms of what to do and how to spread out the time? So far, I've just gone to a single free LSAT class session and that is it

2. Was anyone in a similar situation as me? What do you wish you would have known?

3. Does the LSAT not change much/doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon? I know when I took the SAT it was just undergoing some significant changes

4 years is way too far out. Best thing you could do is familiarize yourself with the exam 2-3 years down the road then start doing much more intense prep when you're within a year of your exam date.

How do you plan on fitting engineering in with law?

Yeah, I might not end up fitting engineering with law unless I happen to go into patents. It's possible the engineering degrees will end up not being directly used.

Are there any other engineers who can chime in on this?