We haven't talked about the LSAT in awhile. A reader gives us this comment:

• I recently downloaded a practice LSAT exam. Though I have learned a great deal about the law in Paralegal School, I saw that it had absolutely no relevance when it come to the LSAT. What is the best way to prepare for the LSAT?

My response below...

The LSAT has nothing to do with law or what you will learn in law school. Like the ACT and SAT for undergrad, the LSAT is designed as a test of aptitude to supposedly predict future performance in school and it does so by having little to do with what you will actually learn in the future.

By virtue of going through paralegal school, or just knowing a little about how the law works, you might have a little advantage over your law school classmates once you get in law school. But that knowledge does not help you whatsoever with the LSAT.

Like any standardized test, patterns develop in LSAT questions and the same sections appear on the test each year. So there are strategies and methods of approaching the LSAT and its different sections.

There are really three, non-exclusive ways to approach the LSAT:

1) Self study: This is what I did. It involves buying LSAT strategy books (like this one) and doing as many past tests as you can. Takes discipline, but gives you flexibility.

2) LSAT Prep Courses: Like Kaplan's. More expensive and probably pretty effective.

3) Hire a personal tutor: Which Kaplan also offers and you can assume is the most expensive and the most effective.

Choosing which one or ones you use comes down to these questions:

Or are you planning on simply scoring as high as you can and deciding on a school from there. The more adament you are about getting into the best school you can, the more you might want to look at a course or tutor.

Or are you not even really sure you want to go to law school at all and just want to see how you do on the LSAT? If this is the case, I think you don't want to put too much of an investment into studying with tutors or courses if you aren't convinced you are even going to law school. So you might be more likely to self-study unless you have the extra cash sitting around.

- How much do you need to improve your score?
If that was the first time our commenter took it, probably a lot. No one picks up the LSAT and aces it. It's a hard test. I think with just self-study I, personally, saw about a 15 point increase from the very first test I took blind until the end of my studying for the test.

-How many times are you willing to take the test?
By rule, you can take the test up to three times and schools are only required to report your best score. So there isn't as much of a deterrent to taking the test multiple from that aspect.

But the real question is: do you have the time, patience, and money to take the test multiple times? If you do, it's not as necessary to take a class or tutor the first time around because you can take a look at your score after that and see how it matches up with your goals.

But whatever you do, don't go into this test without being fully prepared on your own. A low score, even coupled with a higher score(s), could still a turn off for law school admissions.

- How much money are you willing to spend?
The LSAT is the single most important aspect for getting you into law school. It can also lead to more scholarship dollars. Preparing for the LSAT is not a time to scrimp.

I think a course or even personal tutor is well worth it if it can push you to new level in terms of LSAT score. But I can certainly understand that it's not an option for some people to put down the kind of money it takes to get a tutor or take a course. And that was the main reason I decided to study on my own.

The less money you budget for the LSAT, the more likely you are to self-study. But I repeat, you need to have some kind of program and you need to be able to work it on your own. You'll need to purchase some strategy books (especially for the logic section), take all past tests you can get your hands on, and monitor your improvement along the way.

HOW I WOULD APPROACH IT NOW:
If I were starting out today knowing what I know and assuming I still was broke as I was at the time, I would still start off with a self-study and see where that would take me.

But if I wasn't scoring high enough to get into my first choice of law school after a few weeks of self-study, I would look into a class even if it is against my nature to pay for it.

I just didn't see much of an improvement with self-study after those first few weeks and if your strategies or methods of attacking the LSAT are lacking, you probably aren't going to be able to pick that up on your own.

An improvement in LSAT score is just such a good investment when going to law school in terms of 1) long-term prospects just based on getting into a better school and 2) the increased scholarship money. And I think you have to look at it as such.

So if I needed the improvement or simply had the money, I'd opt for at least an LSAT class or course.

Update: Read Ann Levine's comments on lawschoolexpert blog.