Self-study
Hi all,
I have been studying for the LSAT for about a month now and its going okay.
My biggest obstacle is staying consistent with my studying. I work as a full time consultant and can have long, unpredictable hours.
This week as an example, I thought I could be home by 7:00pm and resume studying but I ended up having to work until 10:00 pm and 12:00 am most days this week. I like what I do but its just difficult to stay motivated after working long hours and stick to a plan when my weeks can be hard to gauge.
I knew this would be an obstacle for me so I'm trying to wake up a bit earlier, to squeeze some extra studying in, and do some longer sessions on the weekend.
Does anyone have any studying regiments or tips on how to balance a slightly unpredictable schedule with LSAT studying?
Regards.
3
4 comments
Graduated from undergrad back in 2024 and now working fulltime in Finance so I can totally relate to how tough it can be to make time to study with unpredictable/long hours. I haven't tried the methods that other's have mentioned about trying to get an hour or 2 of studying in before work, since I hate waking up early. My method for studying as been trying to squeeze in hour a day during the week, and than trying to make up for time when I can on weekends. I also don't try to force the hour since I've noticed the more I try to force it I just blank and won't retain any information. If I can get a solid 30 minutes in I'm very happy tbh. Last week had to work till 1/2am a few times and on those day's I didn't study at all, but today I was able to get about 3 hours of studying in, so there are definitely going to be up's and downs in the process.
I tend to work long, unpredictable hours as well. One thing that has helped me is to study early in the mornings. I'll try to get about an hour or so in every morning right when I wake up and before I start the rest of the day since it's the only consistent time of day I have. It was a little hard at first, but sitting down with my first cup of coffee for the day and digging in for an hour or so has almost become like a relaxing morning habit. I'll caveat, my circadian rhythm is a bit screwed up. So I am usually awake by 4AM whether I want to be or not.
I can relate to this as well. I am a single parent who works full time and time is definitely a commodity. The best way I go about is waking up early to get at least an hour and a half in. It is definitely going to require discipline in yourself for sure and having the resilience to keep going even though you are exhausted because all of it will pay off for you!
I unfortunately relate. It's incredibly tough and I struggle with it every day. I work in polling and regularly pull 12+ hour days + weekends. What works for me is doing a few 5 star questions whenever I have a couple free minutes, heck even in the bathroom at work (don't judge). And since we don't have the luxury of quantity, quality matters so much more. Really dig into each question you got wrong, + scour for patterns in your wrong answer journal. And lastly, it's easier said than done but try not to beat yourself up about it. You are doing the damn thing!