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Hi everyone,
I wanted to share a little context and also ask for advice from anyone who has navigated LSAT prep with ADHD.
I recently realized/was diagnosed with ADHD, and looking back, it explains a lot about my first LSAT experience. I took the LSAT in November 2024, before I fully understood how my brain works, and after that test I took a break. I’m now starting back with a clearer understanding of myself and a more intentional approach to studying.
One thing I’m already noticing is that familiarity and structure make a huge difference for me. When the test feels unfamiliar, my focus drops quickly, but when I understand the question types and patterns, my attention improves a lot. I’m planning to follow the 7Sage study guide closely and really focus on mastering fundamentals rather than rushing.
For those of you with ADHD (or who’ve found strategies that help with focus and consistency), I’d love to hear:
What study habits or routines helped you the most?
Did you find drilling vs. full sections more effective early on?
How did you manage timing, burnout, or mental fatigue?
Any mindset shifts that made prep feel more manageable?
I really appreciate any insights you’re willing to share. Thanks in advance — it helps a lot to learn from people who’ve been through this.
Best of luck to everyone studying!
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Massive shoutout. I use a programme called COLD TURKEY https://getcoldturkey.com/.
Its amazing. Its an appblocker I used to block all websites on my laptop when I was studying except 7SAGE. It helped me consistently study 10 hours a day; but just be warned its not for the feint of heart. Good luck.
I just wanted to thank everyone who commented and shared their feedback! Your thoughts and ideas have really helped me a lot during my first week of studying!
I have just started studying but I am also basing this off my time in undergrad and what helped me then :)
What study habits or routines helped you the most?
Find study buddies! However, they don't actually have to be studying. Find time to sit in the same room (or online) with a friend while yall both do whatever you need to do together. For me, sometimes that means we go to a cafe and I study and they read or play a game or do a craft. Just a few friends with weekly or biweekly meet ups like this already wayyy increased my productivity!
How did you manage timing, burnout, or mental fatigue?
Learn to build in little breaks for your brain both during the test as well as in general. It may feel like you don't have time to spare, but I find letting myself zone out for like 15 seconds sometimes actually lets me zone back in even more than trying to push through. In general though, don't let this consume your brain! Life is hard and you'll do best on this test if you let yourself relax when you can
Any mindset shifts that made prep feel more manageable?
I think using the study plan it generates is super helpful! I am not worried about long term goals or learning the whole test; I just have to watch X amount of videos today. Take it day by day (literally)
Best of wishes for you, hope this helps at least a little!!
Hi! I was in the same boat -- diagnosed with ADHD after my first LSAT, and this is how I managed!
What study habits or routines helped you the most?
If you already have a routine (like school or work), start studying the second you get home. Seriously. I would get home from school/work and give myself a "quick little break"... and never start studying, or start studying way too late in the day/night where mental fatigue and brain fog had already set in. I found it so much easier to just keep the ball rolling -- get home from school/work, then study study study until dinner, then enjoy the rest of my evening. Also, if you take ADHD meds, it made a huge difference to study while I still had them in my system and working effectively than late at night when they wear off! Studying with other people or in a different environment (library, coffee shop, etc) also helped a lot. When I studied by myself//at home, it would be so easy to get distracted! Having an accountability partner or just going somewhere else helped me focus so much.
Did you find drilling vs. full sections more effective early on?
I would swing wildly between drilling and doing up to 2 PT tests a day -- I think for this, it's whatever you have the motivation for. Motivation with ADHD can be so fickle -- make the most of it when you have it, and go easy on yourself when you don't!
How did you manage timing, burnout, or mental fatigue?
I agree with @thelittlebigstar -- remove social media and short form content from your life. Once I did that, I pretty much never got burnout or mental fatigue.
Any mindset shifts that made prep feel more manageable?
I'm not sure what timeline you're on right now, but something extra that helped me when I was a month out from the actual test was treating it like a non-negotiable job. I canceled pretty much everything 'fun' I had if it conflicted with my study schedule (which was irl job from 6-2pm, study from 2pm-7pm). So I had a pretty boring month, but it paid off (172).
Also: treating it as something fun! I started thinking about it as a puzzle to figure out -- there is a right answer, and we have all the pieces we need to find it! This helped a lot, and now, post-studying, I find that I actually miss the LSAT. This shift also really helped with burnout -- it wasn't something that was tiring anymore, but something that was interesting and fun-challenging (instead of just ohmygod this is awful-challenging)
Finally, for me, I didn't think extra time would help. I never struggled with time, and I thought that having an even longer test would just end up with me making more mistakes. I can focus for 2.5 hours -- I don't think I could maintain that focus for a minute more (so time accomadations). But obviously, that will be very different person to person -- just wanted to let you know what I ended up doing and why!
I also have a relatively recent diagnosis of ADHD! I chose not to have accommodations, so I may not have the best advice for you if you choose to take that approach! Things will always work differently for each person but here are some tips that worked for me:
Don't feel compelled to follow exact templates of WAJ, exact methods of blind review, etc. As long as you're doing some form of it, I have found that you are rewarded with consistent improvement (over being frustrated/restricted by the templates and giving up entirely).
Don't also feel obligated to review every single video, lesson, explanation if the format it is presented in doesn't work well with you (but without sacrificing important fundamentals). For example, I don't really absorb video explanations very well, so I prefer to just read other people's explanations or 7Sage's explanations.
I slowly trained myself to have a better attention span by picking up hobbies that require patience and reducing my screentime! This made a huge difference for RC and maintaining focus in general throughout the whole PT. It's not perfect, but it's much better than before.
Familiarity and structure is also a huge thing for me, learning to immediately identify question stems and stimulus types will really help. You can also try reading more articles about science, art, history, etc to cast a broader net of familiar terms to help speed up reading.
I couldn't focus studying at home, so I have been going to my local library every day to keep myself accountable. Find a place that works for you!
I'm very burnt out so I am not sure how to overcome it, but I just try to remind myself to stay motivated and work hard towards my goal.
Wishing you luck on your journey :-)
Same! The best thing to do is to study how you can rather than how you think you should. Overwhelm to the point of paralysis is especially common for folks with ADHD. So, if the task seems too big the result can often be procrastination.
Here is what helped me:
Delete social media from your phone. Social media provides a huge dopamine hit that people with ADHD crave (pretty much everyone does now). Your brain will crave it when studying gets especially tough or boring. Eliminating social media from your phone will free your mind to focus and help you reclaim your time. This was the biggest and hardest thing I did and it has made the biggest difference. Outside of LSAT, my state of mind improved and I have more peace overall. To say that deleting social media from my phone has changed my life is an understatement.
Drill in smaller chunks - 5-10 questions - focusing on weakness.
Join a live class (making an appointment helps). Check out the questions covered in the class and do them before the class. Any questions you have can be answered in class.
Feed your brain by eating super nutritious food before studying - no sugar.
When you find yourself zoning out and reading the same sentence repeatedly, you're done. Anything after that is counter-productive.
Plan so you can be fresh to take a full section - sometimes untimed. That means, be rested and well-fed with no distractions.
If you're too spun-out to do drills, sit in on a live class or review one that focuses on your weakness.
Do a single RC passage as often as you can.
These are the things that have helped me with LSAT studying. Deleting social media from my phone and eliminating sugar from my diet have changed my life.
Hope this helps!