gpa

[dan]

okay, i was just curious what is a good college GPA to shoot for if i want to go to law school? i'm only a sophmore and i have a 3.5 and i'm in the process of raising it (well... trying) i just want to know what would be an averge GPA for Law School applicants? thank you!

[Andrew]

The better your GPA, the better your options.  Most schools put a lot of weight on GPA and LSAT, do the best you can on both.

To get an idea of what numbers you need to get into different schools, check out the LSAC official guide to law schools: http://officialguide.lsac.org/

Here you can do LSAT / GPA searches to see what your chances are at each of the schools (based on last year's admissions).  You'll have to speculate as to what you'll get on the LSAT - don't overestimate.  Actually you might want to take a practice LSAT to see where you are - supposedly your score won't change that much.

[dan]

where can i take a pre-LSAT at? is there any way i can do it online, or do i have to do it through a school and pay big bucks to do it. thanks!

[Andrew]

You can download an old LSAT free from LSAC here:

http://www.lsac.org/pdfs/test.pdf

Then you can buy additional old tests for $8 each:

http://www.lsac.org/LSAC.asp?url=lsac/f-preptoolsbooks.asp

There are plenty of books that write their own LSAT practice tests, but LSAC offers the actual tests.  (The books offer strategy advice, which LSAC does not - at least I don't think they do.)

To get an accurate score, you should take a practice test under the same timed conditions used for the actual test.  Set aside a Saturday afternoon or something.