Help Me Design A Routine.

extramedium

Hi. I've been studying for the LSAT since July, and since I completed the curriculum about a month ago, I'm having a very hard time setting an effective, dedicated routine.

I am not employed and my schedule is completely open. I usually wake up around 8 or 9, meditate, run, eat breakfast and then read for an hour before starting. Then I'll BR a logic game from the day before, drill a new one, and then watch a webinar or study the curriculum to focus on my weak spots. And then I BR an LR drill from the previous day and do a new one.

I did very well with the LR sections in the PTs offered with the curriculum, but I think they were retakes or some of the questions were used in the curriculum, because my scores on 45-48 have not been nearly as good. Went to from -3 avg. o -6, and I'm drilling LR every day. No days off. I did a PT a couple weeks back after finishing the curriculum and got around a 168 (target is 175), but again it was a PT with some questions I was familiar with. The LR questions I'm currently missing aren't really a specific type, though I'm having trouble with flaw questions regularly and sometimes it's hard to identify conditional statements.

So now I'm planning on doing one PT a week for the next month and then bumping it up to two a week in April. What would be an effective way to use my time during those days between PTs. My blind reviews take up a lot of time, and I don't know how and what to study in the time I'll have left after that.

Attended the post-curriculum seminar already. Please help. I do not want to waste all of this time that I know I could be using more wisely. I'm testing with accommodations, 50% time. I usually dedicate around 6 hours a day to studying, and my scores are not reflecting much improvement, though I'm up a little bit from the 158 I got in December.

Sami

Hey, so I don't have full time to study so I may not be the best person to answer this so I'll tag @"Cant Get Right" for you who did this for multiple months and will be able to tell you what actually works in the long run.

But a big problem that I see with your schedule as you laid it is you don't have any fun time scheduled in. It seems that you want to study every day but research suggests that setting up time aside for doing things you love every day will make you a more efficient student. Or at least set a day aside. If you just study every day you are pretty much going to be worn out and not be efficient or be at your peak. So lets avoid that : )

Also, I wouldn't worry about taking a long time to BR or taking only 1 PT a week, its really about the quality of PT time. So take your time breaking it down.

Other than that, just be disciplined in your studies. A high score doesn't come from just drilling everyday, or BRing everyday, or doing so many PT's every week, it comes from working on identifying your weaknesses and working on them. If you can't identify them yourself, see if you can ask someone's help who can. For me, it really was having a mentor or tutor or attending a BR group that really helped me realize what my weaknesses were. 7sage has study groups that happen bi-weekly and you can join them provided you did the test. Or you can hire one of those 7sage tutors and they are soo cheap! $10-$30 per hour, I believe.

extramedium

@Sami I just went -7 on an LR section after 9 months, and I already take a couple hours off in the evening for TV. I think that's about all the fun time I can handle. I have a mental condition so if I take days off my timing gets worse and I forget lots of things. Even if I take a day off, I'll at least drill one section that day.

So do you have any ideas on what type of routine I should develop in order to get better? Should I study the curriculum or do webinars on my weaknesses? Should I start back at the beginning and do the entire curriculum again? Like I said, my weaknesses are all over the place right now.

And are the 7sage tutors better than the curriculum? I haven't improved much at all after 7sage, Powerscore and the LSAT Trainer, and I attended the post curriculum seminar.

Sami

@extramedium said:
So do you have any ideas on what type of routine I should develop in order to get better? Should I study the curriculum or do webinars on my weaknesses? Should I start back at the beginning and do the entire curriculum again? Like I said, my weaknesses are all over the place right now.

I think the answer really does depend on what your weaknesses are. For me the curriculum is great but I needed a human that could work through things with me so I did have a mentor work with me every week and I attended BR calls. Depending on what we figured out our weaknesses were, I would design my drills based on that.

And are the 7sage tutors better than the curriculum? I haven't improved much at all after 7sage, Powerscore and the LSAT Trainer, and I attended the post curriculum seminar.

- It's all about how you learn best. I learn better when it's more interactive. So I became more social. I even asked my fellow 7sagers to sometimes just drill together with me. So give it a try, who knows. It's all about finding out what works for you : )

extramedium

@Sami Thanks. Can you recommend a mentor that is particularly good at LR? Correction. I went -8 on that last drill. 9 months in. Unbelievable. Any tutor recs would be great as well. I think I will be better at interactive learning. I don't go out anymore so I don't talk to people much and maybe this will help me communicate my difficulties better.

Sami

I think all of them are really good. I personally worked with two people. One of them was @"Daniel.Sieradzki", who is no longer active. The other one was @"Cant Get Right", who is still active and tutors. But honestly I think all of them will be great.

You can also join study groups as well. : )

I think the hardest part in studying for LSAT is figuring out where you are going wrong and how to fix that. Analytics can only tell you if you have a question specific issue but that's not the case most of the time. Having someone who knows what the right thing is can be immensely helpful especially if you don't know what your weaknesses are. It can help you cut corners where you no longer have this hard part to figure out, you just have to get better : ) .

Sami

@extramedium said:
I don't go out anymore so I don't talk to people much and maybe this will help me communicate my difficulties better.

I definitely found having the interaction element key to improving on LSAT. Prior to that, I had started feeling lost on how to improve as well and didn't know where to go. So having someone work on stimulus with me and point out exactly where I was going wrong and based on that create a step by step learning process that was tailored to me was extremely useful.

I really hope this helps you too. I think self learning is essential to success on LSAT but if at a certain point one finds that they no longer know what to improve on or how to do it anymore, I think the key is to ask for help. : ) It's just that sometimes it takes an understanding of what someone does to find the right answer. It's hard to know what exactly someone's weakness is without spending that time with them and seeing how they do things.

Cant Get Right

I second @Sami 's comments. Couldn't have said it better.

extramedium

Do you have time to tutor right now with all of the seminars and BRs that you are currently working with? @"Cant Get Right" I need help with LR. What was your score on LR?

Cant Get Right

Hey @extramedium , just responded to your PM. On test day I scored -1 and -2 on LR sections.

Aidoe

@Sami said:

@extramedium said:
I don't go out anymore so I don't talk to people much and maybe this will help me communicate my difficulties better.

I definitely found having the interaction element key to improving on LSAT. Prior to that, I had started feeling lost on how to improve as well and didn't know where to go. So having someone work on stimulus with me and point out exactly where I was going wrong and based on that create a step by step learning process that was tailored to me was extremely useful.

I really hope this helps you too. I think self learning is essential to success on LSAT but if at a certain point one finds that they no longer know what to improve on or how to do it anymore, I think the key is to ask for help. : ) It's just that sometimes it takes an understanding of what someone does to find the right answer. It's hard to know what exactly someone's weakness is without spending that time with them and seeing how they do things.

Mind sharing some of those insights? I'm sure many could benefit from the advice!