Quick Tip: Don’t go back to the passage unless you need to!

For many of us, timing is a struggle in Reading Comprehension. Oftentimes, students spend too much time going back to RC passages as they answer the questions. If you have strong low-res summaries, you shouldn’t need to check the passage to answer every question! Sure, some require that you revisit the passage, but try to resist the urge to go back to the passage on each one.

Discussion: What about the Writing?

The LSAT Writing is an often-forgotten portion of the LSAT. So much so, I think I’d been tutoring for a few months before I even got a question about it! So, for this newsletter, I thought I’d focus on dispelling a few myths about the LSAT Writing.

A few basics first: the LSAT Writing is a 35-minute test that gives test-takers a writing prompt, typically one where the response requires that you make an argument for one side or another. With the LSAT being fully virtual, the LSAT Writing is typed online, and opens eight days prior to each LSAT administration. To receive your LSAT score, you have to complete the writing sample! You can do it at any time you like—there aren’t “time slots” or anything like that.

Myth 1: The LSAT Writing doesn’t matter.

The LSAT Writing does matter! When 7Sage asked how often admissions officers read the writing sample, over 70% said that they “sometimes, usually, or always read the writing sample.” For some schools it may be a quick glance just to make sure you took the prompt seriously, but for others it may be a more serious comparison against your personal statement to see how you write under timed conditions. Either way, it’s definitely something to take seriously—while it isn’t the most important part of your application, you shouldn’t overlook it. 

Myth 2: You can’t really prepare for the LSAT Writing.

Like the other parts of the LSAT, the writing portion is something you can prepare for! Our core curriculum content is a great place to start, as it features an in-depth explanation of the writing section and how it works, and real, previous LSAT writing prompts. While the writing sample isn’t something you should stress yourself out over, it’s definitely worth giving a few practice rounds. When I studied for the LSAT, I did one full practice sample before taking the real thing, and I would recommend you do at least that! (But ideally a little bit more!)

Myth 3: Over your LSAT career, you get one shot at the LSAT Writing.

While you only get one chance to attempt the writing per LSAT registration, with each LSAT registration, you’ll have the chance to do a new writing sample. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. LSAC will send your three (3) most recent writing samples from the past five years to all the law schools you apply to, so if you choose to redo the writing, your previous sample(s) will still be on your record. My personal recommendation is this: if you gave the first writing sample a good effort, don’t worry about redoing it. 

The LSAT Writing is something to give a good effort on, and something worth preparing for, but not something that you should stress over. If all this talk about writing has you thinking about the other written components of your application (personal statement, etc.), check out our admissions offerings. And remember: if you took the test this past weekend, you can’t get your score until you complete the writing sample. So, get it done if you haven’t already!