Self-study
I'm an incoming junior in college and want to take the lsat early, is this a good idea? I know the scores are good for up to three years so why not take it now and get the stress of senior year out of the way. I'm a very visual learner so the lsat is a real struggle for me--and I don't understand the point of a wrong journal!? I write what I got wrong, why the correct answer is correct and then what? I feel as though writing all that out won't help me in the long run no?
I haven't taken a diagnostic yet, and I'm wondering if I should but finding time to take a three hour test without any distractions (I get distracted very easily) is hard. I feel like I'm doing everything wrong. But is starting early good?
My gpa is a 2.8 right now, and I'm retaking some courses to boost it up. Is there anything else I should be doing? I feel very discouraged.
1
4 comments
Hello!
As others have said, you can work on your LSAT whenever you want, but you can work on your undergrad GPA only while you're still in college. Because of that, I highly recommend making your GPA your top priority right now.
Also, since you mentioned retaking courses to boost your GPA, I want to point out that LSAC calculates your CAS GPA a bit differently than many undergraduate institutions. If your school transcript shows the grade for both the original course and the retake, LSAC will include both grades in your cumulative GPA calculation; they do not simply replace the old grade with the new one.
Because of this, if you weren't aware of this, repeating a course might not actually give your CAS GPA the boost you are expecting. You might be better off taking and acing new courses instead. You can read more about how LSAC handles repeated courses and grade conversion here: https://www.lsac.org/applying-law-school/jd-application-process/cas/requesting/transcript-summarization#GradeConversion
I hope this helps, and good luck!
focus on the gpa for sure. don't worry about the lsat right now
I wouldn't take the Lsat until your senior year or the summer before your senior year! Remember that scores expire every 5 years and you may choose to take some time off after grad to work! And etc!
Since you're still in school, the priority should be raising your GPA. The LSAT will always exist, so your emphasis should be on getting that number as high as possible by graduation. If you have free time during the summer, you could start studying early. But you'll need a diagnostic score to estimate how long/how much you'll need to study for the exam, so it's kinda hard to give you a timeline without that information.
Personally, I barely touched LSAT prep during school and don't regret it. I think it's best to invest that time into your grades, extracurriculars, and internships. But I'm taking two years in between, so your timeline could look different if you're a KJD. Unless you have some compelling reason to start law school immediately after graduation, I think I would probably overload my schedule with GPA booster classes (use RateMyProfessor to get a sense of a class's difficulty and grading scale) and pack the extra time with volunteering or clubs. Study for the LSAT when you're ready.
As a side note, your diagnostic will be the first of MANY three hour tests you will have to sit through while you study. Best to get used to it - but you can do it! :)