The LSAT is not like other exams you may have taken. Everyone knows the familiar story --- sit in a lecture 2-3 times a week, skip a class here and there, mess around on your phone when you really should be paying attention, and then pull all-nighters before midterms and finals to eke out the grade you want.

While it might be tempting to try and replicate this tried and true formula on the LSAT, I can promise you that it won’t work. Even Bernie Madoff couldn’t cheat on the LSAT if he wanted to. That’s because the LSAT, unlike most undergraduate exams, doesn’t test your knowledge. It assesses your skills. In this way, the LSAT is more like an athletic competition than an academic exam --- the key to doing well on the test is skill development and solid preparation across multiple dimensions.

If you want to train to compete in the NBA finals, you have to focus on building up your prowess in three main areas. The first, and the most important, is your overall basketball ability. Simply put, if you can’t dribble the ball or shoot a jumper, you won’t be able to compete. On the LSAT, your first priority is learning the skills that the test is assessing like assumptions, formal logic, and descriptive analysis.

Just as important as having your skills in order, however, is having battle-tested experience. While this is a critical aspect of LSAT prep, it deserves a post of its own, so stay tuned to learn why simulating test-day conditions is so critical.

The third, and perhaps the most overlooked, dimension of prep is your overall conditioning. If you aren’t in shape, focused, and alert with your eyes on the prize, then no matter how good you are at basketball, you won’t succeed. Here at Apollo, we refer to this aspect of LSAT prep as your holistic development. The LSAT requires a full commitment to truly master, and proper mental conditioning is essential to test-day success. Eating right, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly are just as important to your LSAT prep routine as dissecting arguments and RC passages.

For example, one of the best things for your holistic development is establishing a regular mindfulness practice. Not only does meditation work wonders for your overall levels of stress and mental clarity, it can also help you on test day by enabling you to become cognizant of your own thought processes in real-time and avoid falling for the pressure traps of timed conditions.

Many people will pull all-nighters, eat junk food, and guzzle down energy drinks to try and get in as much studying as possible. While dedication to the test is a noble goal, the only likely outcome from that approach is burnout, which is real and crippling. The truth of the matter is, no matter how good you are at finding inferences in Logic Games or uncovering hidden assumptions, if you are tired, cranky, and angry at the LSAT on test day, you won’t perform to the best of your ability. Don’t let all your hard work go to waste: focus on building up yourself as a whole person, and LSAT success will flow naturally as a result.