September 2023 LSAT – 10 Final Tips and Suggestions

The September 2023 LSAT is coming up!  Here are 10 common-sense suggestions for those of you taking the upcoming exam:

1. Don’t cram. Studying for the LSAT is not at all like studying for a college exam. Memorization is not the key – in fact, memorization is virtually irrelevant when it comes to preparing for the LSAT. If you find yourself desperately trying to cram information right now, you may want to consider postponing the exam.

2. Get a good night’s sleep, especially during the final few days before the exam. Try to do something relaxing for 30-60 minutes before you go to bed, and avoid things that will over-stimulate your mind late at night (including working on LSAT problems!). Even if you happen to have a restless night’s sleep on the day of the LSAT, try to get a decent amount of sleep during the days leading up to the LSAT – sleep and sleep deprivation tend to be a cumulative thing.

3. Eat and drink sensibly, and exercise normally (but ideally not late at night or it will keep you awake). In other words, keep your mind and body in good shape going into the exam. The LSAT is an endurance test as much as anything.

4. Review the basics. Sometimes one gets too bogged down in subtle and esoteric concepts or extremely challenging LSAT questions and forgets to brush up on the basic principles (causation, focusing on the conclusion of an argument, etc.) that come up over and over in countless LSAT questions.

5. Take timed, full-length LSATs (a full four-section practice LSAT) and/or timed sections during the week of the LSAT. Ideally, do some practice work around the same time of day as you will be taking the LSAT.

6. Do a few questions in the morning of the day of your LSAT to get your “brain juices” flowing, if you have time and if you feel it would be helpful.

7. Get yourself organized. Review the rules for taking the LSAT on lsac.org – there are a lot of little rules regarding what you can and cannot do.   Don’t put yourself in a situation where you need to scramble to get things done the night before the exam or on the morning of the exam.

8. Brush up on the digital LSAT format.  Hopefully, you have taken exams in the digital format for practice. If not, be sure to go to lsac.org and work through their tutorials and a couple of digital practice exams.

9. Prepare for the unexpected. There may be delays or other snafus on exam date. Expect that may happen and do your best not to let it throw you off your game – have a “no excuses” mindset!

10. Relax. Stressing out will do you no good. Remember that there will be NO major surprises on the exam.  It will be exactly like what you have studied on countless occasions – same number of questions per section, same section types, same types of questions, same logic and legal reasoning skills being tested, etc.

Good luck!!  Please feel free to email me at mark@scoreitup.com if you have any questions.