When San Francisco Bay Area native Adel Miller decided to make a career pivot and pursue a law degree after working as a professional actor for nearly 20 years, she knew it would be challenging.
At the time she had a family, which made relocating from the Los Angeles area where she was living almost impossible.
“I was able to do my undergraduate studies at UCLA, and I knew I had to get into one of the law schools in the area,” Miller said.
Given her geographic constraints, she realized her LSAT score could make or break her options. She had envisioned spending an entire summer studying, but her circumstances made it impossible. After dropping out of a formal prep course because of scheduling conflicts, she went the self-study route, dedicating one to two hours several evenings a week and utilizing the online test preparation platform LSAT Demon.
“I started studying in March 2025,” Miller said. “I began by taking untimed LSAT tests just to get a feel for the cumulative nature of the exam.”
She also relied on some less traditional methods. For example, to help boost her vocabulary, reading comprehension and retention skills, she delved into historical fiction books and watched documentaries on subjects such as World War II.
“It not only taught me to absorb information quickly, but also gave me a lot of perspective on the American legal system, especially how it fits into the international legal system,” Miller said.
She took the exam twice but went with her first score of 162. She’s now a first-year at Southwestern Law School and well on her way to pursuing her dream of becoming a medical malpractice attorney.
Find the right study method
Southwestern’s Paisley Specht scored a 164 the first time around, after studying for about three months in which she dedicated an average of two hours a day, six days a week.
A former college basketball player and social media content creator, her goal is to become a sports agent.
She began her LSAT prep by seeking advice on social media from previous test takers.
“The best advice I received is to learn how you learn,” said Specht, who is part of the school’s scaled two-year J.D. program. “Everyone learns differently.
“I am very self-motivated and learn well on my own, so I went the self-study route,” she said. “I used the LSAT Demon. I took untimed tests. I completed one question at a time as slowly as necessary until I could bet my life it was correct, and I when I got something wrong, I went back and made sure I understood why so it would never happen again.”
Things didn’t go quite as smoothly for Imani Henderson, who graduated from Raleigh, North Carolina-based Campbell University, Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law in May.
She took the LSAT three times before achieving her desired score of 154 in 2023.
What made the difference for Henderson the third time around was working with a tutor and dedicating about four months to preparation, which she said allowed her to develop solid test-taking skills.
She also had a job that offered a regular schedule, making it easier for her to study.
“I learned the language of the test, so to speak,” Henderson said.
Previously she had gone the self-study route and had school and work commitments that made it more difficult for her to prepare.
While she took a lot of practice tests while studying on her own, she said she did not approach the test strategically.
“I was essentially going through the motions, reading and answering questions,” Henderson said.
In her case, her final score landed her in the school of her choice and earned her a full-tuition scholarship as well.
She’s now awaiting the results from the North Carolina bar exam, which she took in July.
“I hope to go into construction law,” Henderson said.
How to prepare for the LSAT
While the LSAT has changed since Henderson took the test, Glen Stohr, lead LSAT instructional designer for Kaplan North America, said the study strategies students need to master the exam are essentially the same.
Whether going it alone or signing up for a formal program, Stohr said students should begin preparing at least three months before they intend to take the LSAT and spend a minimum of 12 to 15 hours on study and practice each week.
Begin by taking a full practice test under conditions that mirror the actual exam to obtain a baseline score, he said.
“Getting a baseline score lets students know where they stand so they can track their progress,” Stohr said. “If you sign up for one of Kaplan’s LSAT programs that is one of the first activities we do. But if you decide to study on your own there are full-length tests available on the LSAC LawHub site.”
Once students establish a baseline, they should compare it with their law school and scholarship goals.
“For example, if a student is seeking admittance to a T14 school, the individual will want to shoot for 170 or above,” Stohr said.
The bigger the gap between a student’s baseline score and target score, the more time that student should devote to preparation, he added.
Currently, the LSAT includes four 35-minute sections, one of which is experimental and unscored, though students will not know which one.
“Every administered LSAT has two scored Logical Reasoning sections and one scored Reading Comprehension section,” Stohr said.
Because Logical Reasoning accounts for roughly two-thirds of scored questions, Stohr recommends prioritizing that section if study time is limited. Since there is no penalty for guessing, students should also avoid spending too much time on any one question.
“One mistake many test takers make at the beginning of their preparation is the assumption that studying for the LSAT will be like studying for familiar academic programs or college classes.
“The LSAT is entirely skills-based, so there is no content to memorize, and no way to cram. You can learn about the LSAT and pick up the question strategies quickly, but you need a lot of practice and review to apply them with confidence and efficiency on the real test,” Stohr said.
Another major mistake is failing to review practice-test results.
“Instinctively, students want to complete as many practice tests as possible, but if you simply move on without learning from your mistakes and successes, then you are not mastering the skills you need to either land a good score the first time, or, if you’ve already taken the test, to improve upon your past performance,” Stohr said.
Stohr also cautions students against tying their self-worth to practice-test scores.
“By this I mean using the score to measure one’s worth,” he said. “Instead of thinking of the LSAT as your enemy, look at it as an opportunity to demonstrate your skills and shine for the law school admissions committees.”
Students should carefully analyze missed questions to determine whether errors stemmed from misreading, rushing or falling for distractor answers, he said.
Since progress can sometimes be followed by a plateau or even a step backward, Stohr said it’s important not to get discouraged, which happens to a lot of students as they learn new test-taking methods.
“Sometimes it can take a while to abandon previous habits, and what students need to remember is that the key to getting off the plateau and improving is an honest, thorough review so they can learn what they are doing wrong and make the adjustments,” Stohr said.
