March Madness is upon us and for you that probably means the start of June LSAT prep. For many, March Madness means the NCAA basketball tournament . The Big Dance. It began with 68 schools competing to become national champion, but after a thrilling first few rounds, that number is now down to the Sweet 16.

We here at Blueprint LSAT Prep believe there are lessons to be learned from the Sweet 16, especially from the successes of some schools, the “Cinderella” stories. Drawing inspiration from these overachievers could be just what you need to succeed on LSAT test day!

If you’re not familiar with how the tournament field is structured, each school is assigned a seed between (1) and (16) in one of four brackets: South, West, East and Midwest.

Here are the remaining competitors:

South: (1) Florida, (4) UCLA, (10) Stanford, (11) Dayton
West: (1) Arizona, (4) SDSU, (6) Baylor, (2) Wisconsin
East: (1) Virginia, (4) Michigan St., (3) Iowa St, (7) Connecticut
Midwest: (2) Michigan, (11) Tennessee, (8) Kentucky, (4) Louisville

As you can see, it’s not always the top seeds that advance.

There was a big upset on Friday when (3) Duke fell to (14) Mercer. If you had a billion dollar perfect bracket going, this game likely did you in. Who could have believed Mercer had a chance of beating the perennial powerhouse Duke? Mercer believed! And so did another school, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGSU).

Last season, Mercer was favored to win the Atlantic Sun conference tournament thus securing an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately for them, Mercer lost to FGSU. FGSU got in as a 15 seed and made it to “The Sweet 16.” After that, Mercer believed if FGSU could do it, then they could do it.

This season, Mercer pulled off one of the biggest surprises so far with their victory over Duke. They used motivation from the success of someone they knew, someone they felt on par with, to drive them to achieve greatness. LSAT test day is your tournament game; maybe you have a friend who already got a really high LSAT score. So, if they could do it…why not you?

Your LSAT prep is like a basketball team’s regular season. The practice you put in and the discipline you display will serve you well when the stage is the biggest. Your best strategy is to believe in yourself!

Mercer lost their second game, but some other underdog seeds are still dancing: (11) Dayton, (11) Tennessee and (10) Stanford. What is apparent from their post game press conferences is that these schools did not resign themselves to perform to the expectations of the Tournament Selection Committee, but instead they used their underdog status as motivation. They took it as a challenge and used it to bring out their best.

As you’re preparing for the June LSAT, remember to be confident and stay motivated! Even if you’ve had a disappointment in the past, like Mercer, you can use that to triumph in the future. Some things are often predicable but nothing is assured. Who knows, maybe you could be a Cinderella…