Quick Tip: Give yourself enough time!
No, I don’t mean on the individual questions or test sections—I mean for studying, period! Too many people think that the LSAT is like a pure content test, where there’s a finite amount of content that can be learned in a matter of weeks. Based on this approach, they decide to dedicate just a month (or even less), trying to cram for the test.
However, the LSAT doesn’t work like this! It’s a skills-based test that requires you to learn logic. We use logic every day, but not in the same way that the LSAT tests. In effect, you’ll need to rewire how you think. As daunting as this sounds, it’s doable—just give yourself enough time! We recommend three months minimum, and for many students even longer. However, it does ultimately depend on your starting points, goals, and how much time you’re able to commit each week. Many students will decide to study for much longer than three months.
Discussion: Building a study schedule
A question students often ask me is how to build a study plan for tackling the LSAT over a period of several months (or, in some rare cases, as long as a year). With the obvious caveat that each student is different, there are four basic principles that should help you create a reasonable (and, hopefully, fun!) study routine.
First, figure out a target end date. While many students are open-ended (preparing to study as long as it takes), you should at least have a tentative date in mind that you want to take the test, even if you’re willing to change it as needed. Aside from the psychological benefit of keeping you motivated, a target test date also helps create a more focused study plan, since you can calculate approximately how many weeks remain, how much content to cover in a typical week, when to start taking PrepTests, etc.
Second, think of studying in three core stages: learning, reinforcing, and executing. The first stage, learning, is when you’re getting the fundamentals: that means learning the different question types for LR, game types for LG, and passage types for RC. This will involve working through the Core Curriculum, watching videos, and practicing with problem sets. The second stage, reinforcing, is when you’ve mostly finished the Core Curriculum. Here, you’ll start weaving in PrepTests while also doing drills to reinforce particular areas that you’re struggling in. (You can use our analytics feature to identify these.) The third and final stage, executing, is when you’re nearing the end of your study journey. At this point, most of your skills have been built, and it’s about getting in as many reps as possible. You’ll take PrepTests, review them, and repeat—here, the focus is mostly on adequately taking and reviewing PrepTests.
The easiest way to operationalize this approach is to mentally divide your schedule into those three parts, perhaps even building a different schedule for each part. This will help ensure you stay on track within each part.
Third, make a schedule that’s broken down day by day, and not just into weekly tasks. Too often, when we “chunk” things into large groups, we get overwhelmed and put things off; a gargantuan list of 20 weekly tasks might be overwhelming! To make it a bit more manageable, try breaking it down day by day.
Fourth, use the tools at your disposal! 7Sage has a study schedule generator. While you should tailor it to your specific needs, it’s a great start that can help you get a sense of what needs to get done and what a sample timeline might look like.
Sitting down to make a schedule can be overwhelming, but it’s worthwhile. Along the way, you’ll feel much more organized and at ease. And ultimately, your score will thank you.