Essay portion

Cachi2719

Hi,
how are you guys preparing for the writing portion?

FixedDice

The real question is, why would you prepare for it?

Seriously though, I'm giving it a few shots weeks before the test. As long as I know I can write a coherent argument within 35 minutes, I'm good to go.

JPJ July2021

I'm going to do a couple practice essays before September but the writing sample really isn't important. Writing has always been a strength of mine so I'm not worried. No one should be - it's not part of your score.

Leah M B

I thought about this for a while preparing for the LSAT and wondered if I should try prepping. But then realized no - it's definitely not necessary. I think the only prep you really should do is just read several of the prompts from the PTs to see what the questions are. They are all pretty simple. There's no right or wrong answer, it's an opinion piece. They give you a scenario, tell you to pick an answer and defend it. It's really straight forward. The only thing you should know about it is not to blow off that section. Schools do look at them and while they aren't graded, they'll see if you just write a "joke" answer or blow it off somehow. As long as you just coherently write something, that's all you need! It comes at the end of a very long, very draining test, so schools also recognize that it's not going to be your best writing. Don't worry about it too much.

LSAT_Wrecker

I watched this 3 days before my first "actual" LSAT. I made a (one) note card which I looked at prior to getting out of my car test day morning. I felt fully prepared and will do the same routine again.

David Busis

Admissions officers will probably read the LSAT writing sample if you're a non-native speaker and there's a question of your English proficiency. Otherwise, they probably won't read it. I don't think native English speakers should bother preparing for it.

TheMikey

I wouldn't worry too much about it to be honest.

Just know the basics of it and you will be fine which are:

1. there will be a small story
2. there will be 2 different sides/outcomes for the story
3. choose 1 of the outcomes/sides and argue why you chose it

I do, however, think that knowing basic structure of what to do is good. Someone told me once to just do a very basic structure of: [Paragraph 1: explain in a general way that you are choosing X side instead of Y side. Paragraph 2: explain in detail why you chose X side. Paragraph 3: do some type of comparing/contrasting between both sides and explain more about why your side is "better" than the other one. Paragraph 4: a small conclusion].

The above always seemed to work for me, but of course it's just one way of doing it, I suppose. You can mix it up and do it a bit different, of course, but something like that works, imo. It's very simple and doesn't really require much prep, tbh. Most people I know (myself included, as well as observing the room the 4 times I took the LSAT lol) finish it in about 15 mins or so.

Cant Get Right

One thing that kinda shocked me is how shaky my spelling is without the confidence that comes from autocorrect. Make sure to use good grammar, write around words you’re not sure of how to spell, pick a side, and use the available evidence to support your decision. That’s it. No need to prepare further.

studyingandrestudying

ThinkingLSAT had an episode where they discussed this and I thought it was helpful.

Cachi2719

Thank you to all that replied.

Seeking Perfection

I didn't prepare at all the first time and regretted it a little. I didn't finish my essay since I wasn't used to writing one timed. On my retake I practiced it twice which was plenty.

studyingandrestudying

I've practiced it once and will probably practice it once again with a new prompt. I like what @"Seeking Perfection" said about this.