I read your comment and I can totally sympathize with the feeling of being burnt out. When I began my 3 month LSAT rigorous training last year I spent tons of hours taking notices, attending lectures, using multiple books/resources, and I was still scoring in the 140 range on all my practice tests (about10 in total)
I was shooting for the December 2014 test but I changed my mind and decided to take the February 2015 exam but after studying again my scores just wouldn't change. I did very well as an undergrad in college and my suburb study habits served me well until I met the LSAT!!!
I decided not to take the February test either (was a fantastic decision on my part) and took an LSAT break.About three weeks into April I decided to try again but use a different tactic: a tutor (never had a tutor before so I didn't know what to expect). Apparently just about everyone in the world decided to take the June 2015 test so I had to wait until the second week of May to begin my tutoring sessions.
My tutor is nice very knowledgeable but I do find some of his explanations confusing lol. Take it from someone who has used multiple resources (Kaplan, Powerscore, Next Step, Manhattan Prep and of course 7 Sage), while it may be worth while to get to know the LSAT using multiple resources can get quite confusing lol!
First piece of advice: take the test when you are RELAXED MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY, AND EMOTIONALLY. There have been times in the past when I've taken tests that I didn't feel particularly 100% ready for but I did well because I was relaxed and able to think clearly and concisely.
Second piece of advice: set realistic goals! I would love to get 170+ but given my history lol I am currently shooting for 154+ next week. Why? Because that's a manageable goal, as long as I go higher it's an improvement!
Third piece of advice: the BEST time to take the LSAT is when you are not only relaxed but also ready to begin your journey into law. Essentially ask yourself, do I want to go to law school next Fall of 2016? If yes then make preparing for the October or December 2015 test your priority.
Fourth piece of advice: whatever material/resource you use to study MAKE IT YOUR OWN.
What? No, I don't mean copyright infringement lol, I mean PUT THINGS/CONCEPTS IN YOUR OWN WORDS. I can't stress the importance of this!!! When I began describing LSAT's logical concepts in my own words I discovered that I not only remembered BETTER but I understood what I was doing.
There are 3 phases of the learning process:
1. Knowledge: when you become acquainted with a new piece of information (ex like meeting a stranger)
2. Understanding: when you start connecting the new piece of information with what you already know about the world (ex stranger likes to carry an umbrella when its raining...common knowledge: people generally don't like to get wet unless they're in the shower, pool, lake/river, ocean or disaster movie).
3. Apply: when you understand something you can solve it (ex if you understand that 1+1=2 then of course you can solve the math problem). ALL THAT IS LEFT IS TO PRACTICE
MOST (equates to more than 50% on the LSAT lol) people have trouble in phase 2, and you can't apply something that you don't fully understand.
My problem wasn't that I didn't know the LSAT (question types, concepts, terminology etc), my problem has been until now that I couldn't understand the relationships (similarities) between various concepts, and relationships are very important/repetitive on the LSAT!! I think that's where you're struggling as well, my advice don't stress about the terminology, focus on the relationships between various question types and concepts
Ex) Principle questions are closely related/similar to Sufficient Assumptions and Strengthen questions (if you know how to answer sufficient assumption questions or strengthen questions, chances are that you'll be able to answer these as well)
Ex) as J.Y pointed out strengthen questions are very similar to weaken question in the sense that you are task with finding the assumption and the assumption will either help or hurt the argument
Ex) Weaken questions are very similar to flaw questions in the sense that you are task with finding the assumption and the difference being in flaw question is that you are naming/identifying the flaw in the assumption
I would recommend doing as many timed practice exercises as possible in addition to tests. Or you can start with timed practice exercises (just to get used to the fast pace) and move into taking the full prep tests...Essentially find what works for you and stick to it. There's really no one size fits all to study prep.
REMEMBER HAVE FUN! One way to look at the logical reasoning section is this, ask yourself "if someone in the real world made this claim what would be my response?"
While a claim may be reasonable, it isn't perfect and your job (as a future awesome attorney) is to find fault with it in any way you can. Don't be passive!
I hope that this helps! You've received a lot of great advice! Good luck I know you can do it!
"If you hit the target every time, it's too near or to big." Tom H. :)
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Hi,
I read your comment and I can totally sympathize with the feeling of being burnt out. When I began my 3 month LSAT rigorous training last year I spent tons of hours taking notices, attending lectures, using multiple books/resources, and I was still scoring in the 140 range on all my practice tests (about10 in total)
I was shooting for the December 2014 test but I changed my mind and decided to take the February 2015 exam but after studying again my scores just wouldn't change. I did very well as an undergrad in college and my suburb study habits served me well until I met the LSAT!!!
I decided not to take the February test either (was a fantastic decision on my part) and took an LSAT break.About three weeks into April I decided to try again but use a different tactic: a tutor (never had a tutor before so I didn't know what to expect). Apparently just about everyone in the world decided to take the June 2015 test so I had to wait until the second week of May to begin my tutoring sessions.
My tutor is nice very knowledgeable but I do find some of his explanations confusing lol. Take it from someone who has used multiple resources (Kaplan, Powerscore, Next Step, Manhattan Prep and of course 7 Sage), while it may be worth while to get to know the LSAT using multiple resources can get quite confusing lol!
First piece of advice: take the test when you are RELAXED MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY, AND EMOTIONALLY. There have been times in the past when I've taken tests that I didn't feel particularly 100% ready for but I did well because I was relaxed and able to think clearly and concisely.
Second piece of advice: set realistic goals! I would love to get 170+ but given my history lol I am currently shooting for 154+ next week. Why? Because that's a manageable goal, as long as I go higher it's an improvement!
Third piece of advice: the BEST time to take the LSAT is when you are not only relaxed but also ready to begin your journey into law. Essentially ask yourself, do I want to go to law school next Fall of 2016? If yes then make preparing for the October or December 2015 test your priority.
Fourth piece of advice: whatever material/resource you use to study MAKE IT YOUR OWN.
What? No, I don't mean copyright infringement lol, I mean PUT THINGS/CONCEPTS IN YOUR OWN WORDS. I can't stress the importance of this!!! When I began describing LSAT's logical concepts in my own words I discovered that I not only remembered BETTER but I understood what I was doing.
There are 3 phases of the learning process:
1. Knowledge: when you become acquainted with a new piece of information (ex like meeting a stranger)
2. Understanding: when you start connecting the new piece of information with what you already know about the world (ex stranger likes to carry an umbrella when its raining...common knowledge: people generally don't like to get wet unless they're in the shower, pool, lake/river, ocean or disaster movie).
3. Apply: when you understand something you can solve it (ex if you understand that 1+1=2 then of course you can solve the math problem). ALL THAT IS LEFT IS TO PRACTICE
MOST (equates to more than 50% on the LSAT lol) people have trouble in phase 2, and you can't apply something that you don't fully understand.
My problem wasn't that I didn't know the LSAT (question types, concepts, terminology etc), my problem has been until now that I couldn't understand the relationships (similarities) between various concepts, and relationships are very important/repetitive on the LSAT!! I think that's where you're struggling as well, my advice don't stress about the terminology, focus on the relationships between various question types and concepts
Ex) Principle questions are closely related/similar to Sufficient Assumptions and Strengthen questions (if you know how to answer sufficient assumption questions or strengthen questions, chances are that you'll be able to answer these as well)
Ex) as J.Y pointed out strengthen questions are very similar to weaken question in the sense that you are task with finding the assumption and the assumption will either help or hurt the argument
Ex) Weaken questions are very similar to flaw questions in the sense that you are task with finding the assumption and the difference being in flaw question is that you are naming/identifying the flaw in the assumption
I would recommend doing as many timed practice exercises as possible in addition to tests. Or you can start with timed practice exercises (just to get used to the fast pace) and move into taking the full prep tests...Essentially find what works for you and stick to it. There's really no one size fits all to study prep.
REMEMBER HAVE FUN! One way to look at the logical reasoning section is this, ask yourself "if someone in the real world made this claim what would be my response?"
While a claim may be reasonable, it isn't perfect and your job (as a future awesome attorney) is to find fault with it in any way you can. Don't be passive!
I hope that this helps! You've received a lot of great advice! Good luck I know you can do it!
"If you hit the target every time, it's too near or to big." Tom H. :)