When you're prepping, either with a company or by yourself, you're obviously going to want to take practice tests. Like not putting a maternity ward next to a dingo farm, it sort of goes without saying. But how? Many of our students at Blueprint Prep assume that you should just take a ton of practice exams again and again. This would be like saying that to train for a marathon, you should run 26 miles every single day. That would make you throw up and die of exhaustion. Studying for the test by just taking a ton of tests would end with similar results. At Blueprint Prep, we recommend making a plan of attack.

Concepts First, Practice Exams Later

Classes and some of the better prep books can give you a built-in plan of attack, or you can devise one on your own. Either way, at Blueprint Prep we know it’s important that you learn how to do each type of problem before worrying about doing them quickly. At Blueprint Prep, we don't think that students should start doing a lot of practice tests until all the concepts have been learned. If you don’t have a strong grasp of the concepts, your score won’t go up much, and you’ll start waking up screaming, which is, in the LSAT world, considered a “bad thing.”

Getting Closer to Test Day

What you should do, and what we at Blueprint Prep recommend, is more practice exams as you get closer to your test day. Also, try to make them realistic. Testing should be done at roughly the same time as the test if possible, and in a classroom environment. If you’re taking a prep course, there will be a blueprint for taking practice exams built in, but if you’re not, a library is generally a good place to do your exams (not too loud, but not too quiet). You don’t get to take the real LSAT in an utterly quiet environment, so your practice shouldn’t be like this, either. If you are enrolled in a prep course, we at Blueprint Prep think it's really important that you actually come to the practice exams so that you get a realistic sense of your score.

Don’t Over Test

You should never, ever take two practice exams in the same day. This will just make you feel terrible. When students take practice exams in their prep classes, we at Blueprint encourage them to not do anything else that day. Also, if you do poorly on a test, don’t feel the need to quickly take another to make yourself feel better. The stress might make you do even worse. At Blueprint Prep, we’ve learned that dips in your score happen, so don’t sweat it too much.

Learn From Your Mistakes

Make sure you review your practice tests. This is really important. If you're taking a prep class, this will be built in, but if not, we at Blueprint recommend you do it yourself. Try to figure out why you missed the ones you did, and you’ll be one step closer to your LSAT dreams coming true.

So from all of us at Blueprint Prep, happy studying and good luck!

Article edited by Trent Teti and Jodi Triplett of Blueprint Prep. Blueprint Prep offers live and online LSAT courses. Blueprint Prep was founded in 2005.