I started working full-time and am struggling with having the energy to study properly after work. I've been in the mid 150s for so long, and will take my final attempt in November. At this point, does doing a section a day sound more reasonable or should I be doing targeted drills and sprinkle in some sections? I really don't know what's the most effective way for me to potentially break the 160s by November. Life is a bit tough at the moment..
Thank you!
6
3 comments
Hi there! I definitely recommend the second option you mentioned: do targeted drills, focusing on the things you notice as high-priority problems (could be a specific question type, reasoning type, timing practice, reading carefully, looking for trap answers, etc). Pick one goal per drill or set of drills, work through 5-10 questions (ideally timed, but it depends on where you're at!) at a low difficulty, then work up from there. After every drill, review and reflect: how did your goal go? Did you feel like there was improvement in your test taking ability? Did you feel more comfortable with the questions? And did that translate to actual accuracy? Then move up through difficulty levels as you work on that goal.
I've worked with a lot of students who worked full time while studying, and it is doable! But you need to make sure you're making the most of your time (targeted drills are a great way to do this, as is reviewing the core curriculum for areas you're feeling unsure about). Sprinkle in sections on the weekends, but importantly: don't do a section or full PT until you have something new to bring to it and feel like you've improved! You want to save your time for targeted improvement, and then only test that out in sections and PTs once you're feeling ready.
Your studying doesn't have to take much time per day--see if you can set aside about an hour a day (or even 30 min, on busy days) to pick a goal, drill toward that goal, and reflect on your progress. The reflection is just as important as doing the questions, since a lot of the real LSAT learning will happen in review and reflection (sometimes even more than the learning from the actual drill!). I hope you're able to find a balance that works for you, and hopefully this helps!
My strategy was writing down what I wanted to work on that week. I wake up early to actually do timed sections and drills. I will look at what I got wrong but I keep it for after work. After work I will go over wrong answers and analyze them and put them in a WAJ. I found this to be much better because after work I was exhausted and did not want to do actual questions, and a lot of studying is analyzing wrong answer so it is still really productive. Good luck on November! (I am lowkey in the same boat)
I've been doing drills on my lunch break and sections either after work or on weekends! I would focus more on drilling because I've found that I'm usually too tired to do a section every day. Good luck, we got this!!