Eating tuna and surfing are two factors that Nathan Allen attributes to his perfect score of 180 on the September LSAT.

To score a perfect 180 on the law school admissions test a student must miss two or less of the 100 or 101 questions.

"I felt like I did a good job and got in the 169-173 range," Allen said. "I didn't expect to score a 180 at all. I don't think anyone expects to get a 180."

No one probably expects to score a 180 because it happens so rarely.

"It varies from eight to 18 people a year who score a 180 on the test," said Brent Dunn, Ace LSAT test preparation founder. "But that is out of 120,000 people that take it, so it is a pretty big deal."

Allen, who graduated from BYU in April with a degree in economics, was so shocked when he got his score that he had to go back and check all of his answers to make sure it wasn't a mistake. After that he started making phone calls.

"I called my Dad and told him and he just said 'that's good,'" Allen said.

Allen continued to call his family and friends.

"My roommate Dave was probably the most surprised at my score," Allen said. "He is good at this stuff, but had forgotten to register for the test so he didn't get to take it."

Allen became interested in law through some of the classes he took and talking to different people.

"To prepare for the test I took logic 205 from Dr. [Codell] Carter," Allen said. "I took the ACE practice LSAT course, and took a lot of practice tests trying to replicate the test itself."

Dunn agrees that taking as many practice tests as possible in simulated conditions is key.

"You really have to put in a lot of time to prepare," Dunn said. "We advise our students to set aside 20 hours a week for the LSAT."

Allen, who is from Virginia, has Stanford as his top choice because of the relaxed atmosphere and weather, but he will also apply to Chicago, Yale, Harvard, UCLA and BYU.

He is interested in studying some sort of transactional litigation at law school.

"I would suggest to anybody looking to take the test to start early," Allen said. "Don't get frustrated. I was stuck on 165 for awhile and then it just all came together for me a few weeks before the test."

The morning before the test Allen took a practice test, went surfing in the afternoon and then in the evening read a book, and he also ate a lot of tuna.