For those who have yet to take the LSAT, you are probably thinking to yourself. “what is the writing sample all about?” Well put simply, it is a 30-minute ungraded part of the LSAT that involves writing an essay about a predetermined topic. I know what your thinking now, “Ungraded? Then why do I have to do it?” Well there is no honest answer that you will receive for this question. It is a required part of the test, and it is submitted to any law school which you apply to, so it does have some inherent importance. That said, I will explain what it is, how to prepare for it, and what roll it will play in your law school application.
So, What is the Writing Sample Anyways?
When you make it to law school, you will be required to write essay after essay, paper after paper, analyzing and summarizing anything that you can think of. The point of the writing sample on the LSAT is to make sure that you can formulate coherent thoughts based on specific situations presented to you. You are provided roughly 30 lines, and asked to write a supporting (or detracting) argument based on different scenarios of information that you are given. It revolves around being able to formulate original thoughts about what you have read in the examples. The intent is not to confuse you, but rather give you a couple of choices on what to write about.
As I stated earlier, you are given 30 minutes to go over the paragraphs, and write as much as you can (or want) in the space provided for you. They actually insist that you write about the topics presented, and warn you to stay on topic. A seemingly odd request, but when people are stressed during a test, they tend to let their minds wander to other topics. It all comes down to how well you summarize your own thoughts and put them down on paper in those 30 minutes. Scratch paper is provided to clearly outline your thoughts, and then you are set on your way to writing your essay.
How do I make myself ready for the Writing Sample?
Here is a tip: don’t spend too much time studying for your writing sample. The easiest way to look at it, is that you don’t really need to study for it. You are going to be given a random topic, and you are going to be asked to dissolve it into a coherent representation of your thoughts on the matter. The only way you can truly prepare for it, is to make sure that you are paying attention to what you are learning in college, and that you have written competent essays in your years there. It really comes down to how much you have learned up until law school that comes in to play here. You just need to be able to summarize points that are placed in front of you, and be able to formulate arguments on the fly about topics that you may not be interested in.
This is not to say that you won’t want to spend a little bit of time making sure that you can easily put your thoughts down on paper. If you are the type of person who worries about every part of a test, then it can’t hurt to spend a little bit of time making sure that you can write your essay in small, concise points. Some of us tend to be really wordy in our explanations of things, and when it comes to writing essays, we have trouble keeping it under the maximum amount of pages allowed. If you fall into that category, then you need to practice a little bit on toning down your word usage. An easy study method, is to have someone just give you a topic to write about, and see if you can write an essay covering all of the main points on one piece of paper.
How much does the Writing Sample affect my Law School Application?
To put it bluntly, the Writing Sample has little to no “pull” when it comes to your law school application. Whether you write the next great essay, or you barely string your sentences together, it is a rare occasion when the essay actually plays an important role in whether or not a person gets into law school. In fact, many admission counselors admit to never even having read one of these essays. There is a big reason that they are not counted in the grading of the test, and that is because they lack the importance that other sections of the test have. So be prepared for the review of your essay to be a “glance.” Meaning that they will barely look at it, and probably won’t read a single word of it.
The tip them comes in to play, that you don’t want your essay to catch the eye of someone looking at your total score. Meaning that you want to fill up the space provided, and not leave a lot of empty lines that can distract a reviewer from reading other parts of your application. The only other time you should expect your essay to come in to play, is if a reviewer gets bored, your essay is on top, and they happen to glance down at it, and start reading. Don’t expect that to happen though, because I have never heard of anyone ever being turned down, or had themselves pushed over the top, simply because of the essay that they had written.
The Conclusion
The conclusion should seem pretty simple by the time you have got to here. Make sure that you know how to write an essay before going into the LSAT, but at the same time don’t sacrifice studying time on other sections to prepare for this essay. It is nothing to stress about, and actually can be seen as a winding down period from the more difficult portions of this test. If you are intent upon writing a powerful essay still, keep it compact and around 5 paragraphs. Make sure you stress your points, and that you have a defined introduction and conclusion. Don’t stress about this section, and you will do just fine. Good luck to you!