The LSAT: Check Your Ego At The Door.

When it comes to successfully handling any sort of difficult task, the most important intangible, right after the obvious ones (knowledge and ability), is confidence. No matter how well equipped you are to handle a particular challenge, if you don't have complete confidence in your ability to complete that challenge, you will either simply make whatever it is that much more challenging, or ultimately, you just won't do as well as you probably could have. This is especially true when it comes to the LSAT.

Confidence on the LSAT isn't simply about believing you are smart. The fact is, whether you were a straight-A student or a below average student, the challenges on the LSAT remain the same, and there isn't a single thing you learned or should have learned in your Bio-Chemistry class that is applicable when it comes time to picking the best answer on a logical reasoning question. The confidence you need stems from the belief that, when faced with two seemingly equally-plausible answer choices, you can, and more importantly, WILL pick the right answer. Confidence means not being afraid to pick the stupefyingly easy logic games answer choice that just seems too obvious for such an "insanely tough" section.

This is all the more reason to check whatever ego you happen to bring into your studies at the door. There are some cold hard facts about this test that you HAVE TO understand, or you will ultimately undermine your own success.

1. Any previous academic success or failure has little to no bearing on your performance on the LSAT. It just doesn't matter how well you scored in that Calculus class. The only exception to this rule is performance in logic-heavy, or reading comprehension intensive courses. Unfortunately, you can't succeed on this exam if you don't have, at a minimum, an average ability to read, and equally important, comprehend what you read. More on this at a later time.
   
2. Whether you consider yourself to be smart doesn't mean you are LSAT smart. Likewise, if you think you're an idiot, that doesn't mean you are LSAT stupid. The particular skills you need to do well on the LSAT aren't necessarily skills that you have a sort of heightened awareness of. A bit of common sense will take you awfully far on this exam. On the other hand, you may be able to intelligently lecture on quantum physics, but if you can't complete a logical progression, you have quite the uphill climb ahead of you.
   
3. How your friends, colleagues, and peers are doing in their studies means absolutely NOTHING towards your success. One of the dangers of taking the group instructional courses (which we'll call...uhm...Taplan, Lowerscore, etc...), is that while you're sitting there absorbing much of the swill thats going to confuse you and cause you to focus on studying nonsense (or as I like to call it, their lessons), you're also sitting there judging your own abilities against those of your classmates. This is an especially dangerous practice, but its unavoidable. I would venture to guess it is instinctive. The problem is, just because Mary from row 2 happens to be getting every question right, that doesn't mean that she will perform well when you add the pressure and anxiety of test day. Likewise, just because you may be getting every question wrong at that point, that doesn't mean that this failure will continue. Like anything, the test takes practice, and with enough practice, you'll do fine.

There may be other instances, but I think that the above will suffice. Develop a confident humility (only because there's a fine line between being confident and being a jerk), and you'll be on your way towards success. Besides, the test is difficult enough as it is, the last thing you need is to assist the examiners in making things more difficult for yourself.