Uh oh.

[dashrashi]

I'm going to submit that it's possible I have a little more perspective on the admissions process than you do.

[dashrashi]

Well, the perspective of having done the whole damn thing, while you're still in the middle of it. Forest-trees sort of thing.

[starfish86]

Just offering my opinion, which the OP is of course free to listen to or disregard as he/she sees fit. BTW, I highly doubt that being done with the application process somehow makes you the one supreme and all-knowing guru on the subject of LSAT prep, dashrashi. 

I'm certainly not advising high school students interested in law school to spend a ton of time studying for the LSAT, but I think it would be beneficial for them to spend a few hours on one practice test in order to get some idea of what their current level of preparedness is before going through four years of college counting on being able to ace the exam one day and get into a top school. Unrealistic expectations can only lead to serious disappointment later on, which is precisely what I'm trying to help the OP avoid.

And I never said that the LSAT isn't learnable; I'm just suggesting that we all have a certain "base level" that we tend to hover around score-wise before we start prepping in earnest. It simply seems unlikely to me that a person starting out below a certain point will be able to make a large enough score jump to catch up with people who start their prep work at a significantly higher level, even with a lot of practice. There will always be some people who manage to do just that, of course... but from poking around some of those threads featuring starting versus final scores, such individuals appear to be the exception rather than the rule.

[dashrashi]

Just offering my opinion, which the OP is of course free to listen to or disregard as he/she sees fit. BTW, I highly doubt that being done with the application process somehow makes you the one supreme and all-knowing guru on the subject of LSAT prep, dashrashi. 

I'm certainly not advising high school students interested in law school to spend a ton of time studying for the LSAT, but I think it would be beneficial for them to spend a few hours on one practice test in order to get some idea of what their current level of preparedness is before going through four years of college counting on being able to ace the exam one day and get into a top school. Unrealistic expectations can only lead to serious disappointment later on, which is precisely what I'm trying to help the OP avoid.

And I never said that the LSAT isn't learnable; I'm just suggesting that we all have a certain "base level" that we tend to hover around score-wise before we start prepping in earnest. It simply seems unlikely to me that a person starting out below a certain point will be able to make a large enough score jump to catch up with people who start their prep work at a significantly higher level, even with a lot of practice. There will always be some people who manage to do just that, of course... but from poking around some of those threads featuring starting versus final scores, such individuals appear to be the exception rather than the rule.

I would truly suggest that you not start with me. Wallace tried and I schooled him so good he d-dubbed out of here.

High schoolers should worry about high school and then college, and one's base-level LSAT (which I don't really believe in--I got a not-completely-cold diag of 153 or so, and brought it up to 178ish on PTs in two months, with final score of 176) might be different in high school than it would be circa sophomore year in college, particularly if one has perhaps taken a basic logic class in college. No one needs to take an LSAT, "just to see," multiple years ahead of time.

[Pop Up Video]

Just offering my opinion, which the OP is of course free to listen to or disregard as he/she sees fit. BTW, I highly doubt that being done with the application process somehow makes you the one supreme and all-knowing guru on the subject of LSAT prep, dashrashi. 

I'm certainly not advising high school students interested in law school to spend a ton of time studying for the LSAT, but I think it would be beneficial for them to spend a few hours on one practice test in order to get some idea of what their current level of preparedness is before going through four years of college counting on being able to ace the exam one day and get into a top school. Unrealistic expectations can only lead to serious disappointment later on, which is precisely what I'm trying to help the OP avoid.

And I never said that the LSAT isn't learnable; I'm just suggesting that we all have a certain "base level" that we tend to hover around score-wise before we start prepping in earnest. It simply seems unlikely to me that a person starting out below a certain point will be able to make a large enough score jump to catch up with people who start their prep work at a significantly higher level, even with a lot of practice. There will always be some people who manage to do just that, of course... but from poking around some of those threads featuring starting versus final scores, such individuals appear to be the exception rather than the rule.

I would truly suggest that you not start with me. Wallace tried and I schooled him so good he d-dubbed out of here.

High schoolers should worry about high school and then college, and one's base-level LSAT (which I don't really believe in--I got a not-completely-cold diag of 153 or so, and brought it up to 178ish on PTs in two months, with final score of 176) might be different in high school than it would be circa sophomore year in college, particularly if one has perhaps taken a basic logic class in college. No one needs to take an LSAT, "just to see," multiple years ahead of time.

*double high-five*

[Gengiswump]

Dude, you just said that the OP just needs to "imagine [themselves] doing well" and that's about it - how that truly differs from Cady's "you really don't need to be thinking about this right now" is entirely beyond me.  Different reasoning?  Sure.  Same end result?  Voila.

As for the rest, I wasn't planning on chiming in here, because I take my title as LSAT slacker of the 06-07 Cycle really quite seriously, but dude, it's High School.  At best the OP is engaging in what could well be a pointless endeavor, as either a) s/he could end up not being a lawyer or having any remote interest in the LSATs in 5 years, b) s/he could well learn something helpful for taking the LSATs along the way, c) s/he could well end up discouraging him/herself from a career path that would be a good choice for him/her if s/he does poorly on a bogus LSAT easily 60 months before it would ever even begin to matter; at worst this is the worst kind of ego masturbation, as s/he is just hypering him/herself into a frenzy of OMG!  I'm so worried about YALE and HARVARD!  Golly, will I EVER get into the top law school of my dreams?!  Or will all my aspirations be crushed before they've even had time to blossom?!  I guess I should be really effing obvious with my LEGIONS (months, nay years!) of study prep!  I'm gonna be the bestest little gunnAr ever!!!

(Which, in fairness, is not what I will say the OP is doing, but I've seen more than enough of that nonsense on these boards to last a lifetime.)

Besides, if you need law school as a motivator for getting good grades in college . . . seriously.  Study whatever you like and get good grades for the sake of getting them - don't make your entire life one big exercise in Pre-Law drudgery.

Also I doubt anyone's impressed by reading Frost in HS, even when coupled with a "melange."  Don't be that guy, Wallace.

[dashrashi]

Also, while we're here, wtf, "Poetry is my great love so of course I decided to go into law"?

[jman888]

i wasnt planning on studying a lot of the lsat but wanted to blow out when it was time but im sure i will do good. because...dun dun dun my teachers already have us doing very similar questions and im awesome at them yest the logic throws me off but i will do fine (mostly im slow on them because its like jimmy has a red shirt but not a blue shoe[...] whom is the mexican. like wtf. but i will do fine.

i think i should switch to the Law based academy (Our school is big on prepping for carrers. we chose what we chose to focus on i used to be in the law one but switched to buisness because buisness supposedly had better teachers(They dont) so i will go back to the law & related one next chance i get.)

what do youguys find so hard on the lsat (i just looked for a few mins and did some Q's. i should focus on getting skills to do what is hardest now. But  not do it often (like a few a week at most)

[starfish86]

Wow, this is really getting contentious! Guess I should have known that mentioning specific scores as cutoffs would provoke some controversy. I just don't see why the majority here appears to be vehemently opposed to so much as looking at a sample test to see what it's like during HS. Doing so certainly helped me feel more confident about my college choice, since I figured that I stood a decent chance of being able to work my way up to a pretty solid score and thus wouldn't need to go into massive debt for a super-expensive prestige undergrad in order to bolster my chances of LS admission. So I still think that checking out the exam could be beneficial for the OP.

But seriously, jman888, you don't need to set up a study regimen NOW for the LSAT or anything. I just thought that checking out one practice exam to find your current base score might help you figure out your college plans. You really don't want to run out of PrepTests before you're even in college!

And dashrashi, it's awesome that you were able to manage such a large score jump. I just don't think that the average taker manages more than a 20-point jump from initial diagnostic to actual score, even with prepping. Otherwise, how come more people who put in a decent effort and don't have major testing anxiety don't wind up scoring 170+? Do you think it's because they simply didn't work hard enough on prep work?

[starfish86]

Yeah, that should be "don't have major testing anxiety."