NIU students and others aspiring to become lawyers have to put in work in the classroom before they can make it to the courtroom.

The college of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Office of External Programs aids students and community members by offering review workshops in advance of the LSATs, which are a requirement for entrance into all colleges of law. Workshops started Saturday, with two more scheduled for Jan. 24 in advance of the next test date on Feb. 7.

Greg Anderson, director of Career Opportunities and Development for the NIU College of Law, teaches the workshops. Anderson said the workshops draw a diverse crowd.

“The actual type of student taking the course really varies,” he said. “We will have students who are still undergrads that are trying to get right into law school, law students and graduate students. Others are in their 30s or 40s who have been out of school for several years and are concerned about taking a standardized test and want to refresh their test-taking skills, so it really runs the whole gamut from new to old students.”

External programs director Steve Johnson said taking a LSAT preparation course typically improves test performance.

“What we offer has been very successful in the past,” Johnson said. “There have been national studies done that show students who take a review course score higher than people that don’t.”

However, Anderson said, just showing up for a session is not enough.

“I tell the students that you get out of it what you put into it,” he said. “If students think that writing a check and showing up for 16 hours of lectures means that their score is magically going to improve, they are fooling themselves. A lot of the material is tedious and repetitive and often boring, but you have to push your way through it.”

Information on LSAT preparation courses is available at www.niu.edu/clasep.