Prepping For Retake in December or February, Critique My Plan (please). Long Post.

cam

Good morning 7sage,

Background/Additional Info
I've been lurking/slowly posting more the last week or two. I came up with a plan for my retake attempt in December or February (depending on which date my job approves the time off request for). Background: I sat for the Feb 2017 test, wrote a 156, PT average for the month going into it was a 160, BR scores were 168-170. I know, I should have postponed. My goal score is a 160+. I'm going to have an unpredictable cycle, and I'm striving to get my LSAT score as high above the 75ths for my target schools as possible . Unpredictable since I'll be a splitter, my max LSAC GPA is 2.9-3.0, military musician (there are no more than 18 people with my specific job in my branch of service), had academic issues in the past (an academic probation and academic suspension 10+ years before I'll be applying to school), upward trend in GPA (current school/degree GPA is 3.52 and rising). For my two target/goal schools, my anticipated LSAC GPA is .15 to .25 below their 25ths, my current LSAT score is right at their medians. Safety schools-I'm at/above their medians and/or 75ths already. Reach/Dream School: GPA is .5 below their 25th and LSAT is 14 points below their 75th-I'd need to get a 172+ to have even a remote chance (so, it is closer to a hail mary school). I'll be applying to start in the Fall 2019 school year, so I still have some time. My work schedule is hectic over the summer/warm months, and then in cooler months-it can be a bit busy but I get decent comp time for it. I'm also a full time student.

My overall goal for the retake is to write a 160+ to provide a greater chance of acceptance to my target schools. I'll be going to school via the GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon Program, so unless if I can talk the school into changing any potential scholarship to a non-tuition (e.g. living expense or general) scholarship, the difference between admission with scholarship and admission without scholarship does not matter much to me (GI Bill is last payer, so whatever tuition scholarship I receive would reduce the amount GI Bill pays to match it until tuition is covered). Using LSN and a few other sites, it looks like as it stands, I have solid chances of admission at my target schools now. I'm mostly concerned about my past academic issues being enough of a red flag to ADCOMs that I need to be above their 75ths to alleviate those issues.

Time per day/week for LSAT Prep and Course work
Week Days when I'm not on tour, I have 4-4.5 per day (90mins in the morning, half of my 2hr lunch break, 2-3hrs each night after work).
Week Days when I am on tour, it varies dramatically from 3hrs to 6hrs.
Week Ends when I'm not on tour, are typically free/wide open.
Week ends when I am on tour, vary quite a bit.
Course work tends to need 4 hours per class per week to get A's.
I am single, no family/relationship commitments, and get 99.9999% of my social needs met by my job. So, I'm not concerned about having time to go out/party. I hit the gun range once a week or every other week and workout 2-3 times per week for around 90mins total time commitment per workout (or trip to the range).

So, finally, my plan.
Step 1: Redo the entire Core Curriculum.
Step 1a (done concurrently with Core Curriculum): Fool proof every logic game I can get my hands on.
Step 2: Take PT's and BR each.
Step 2a: Drill question types based off of PT and BR scores.
Step 2b: Use supplemental materials to aid in weak areas (I have LSAT Trainer, PS Bibles, Manhattan LR and RC)

Once I reach the PT point, the plan is to simulate test day conditions as close as possible with a few different locations: the lounge at my job site and local library with the test starting at 0900 on a Saturday. For week day PT's, I'm thinking they would be on Tuesday and potentially Thursday, but I'd rather focus on quality over quantity. I used the odd PT's from the 70's and PT 80 for the final month of my previous prep. I'm AOK with buying additional PT's beyond what I currently have (I think I own all of the ones currently released, but not all of them are clean copies).

Sample Week Day Plan for Non-Tour Week
0600-0730: Fool Proof LG
Work Block
1100-1200ish Course Work
Work Block
430PM-530PM: CC session 1
530PM-615PM: Dinner
615PM-715PM: CC Session 2
715PM-815PM: CC session 3

Sample Saturday Plan for Non-Tour Week BEFORE starting PT's
0830-0930: Fool Proof LG
0930-1030: Relax/Eat Breakfast
1030-noon: CC session1
noon-3PM: Relax, errands, chores, lunch
3PM-430PM: CC session 2
430PM-530PM: Relax, Dinner
530PM-7PM: CC session 3
730PM--830PM: Fool Proof LG

To avoid burn out, the only LSAT studying on Mondays would be fool proofing LG in the morning, the lunch time and evening sessions would be used for course work and/or gym or range time. Fridays I would cut the last two CC session for relaxation, meditation, or gym. I'd rather not hit burnout as many times leading up to this attempt.

Questions I have
Is it okay to start fool proofing games before completing the core curriculum?
When I'm on tour (typically a week at a time, once or twice per month from May-July/August), time is a premium, so I'm thinking I'll use those weeks as mini-LG intensives where I drop the CC time and only Fool Proof games, does that make sense to others?
Does the structure of the plan make sense?

Alex

Congrats on having the courage to retake and reach your potential!

I think your plan looks good. If it works for you, then keep going.
Having a good schedule is a really good idea!

My only questions are: When you got your 156 did you happen to note the distribution of the missing points? Was timing an issue? How many tests did you take/how long did you prep last time?

I think if your goal is a 160, and you were able to score in the 160s and BR to a 170, your time might be better spent drilling/fool proofing rather than redoing the entire CC.

cam

Alex,

I do not have the info from the test-it was undisclosed. I don't remember having any timing issues on test day. I remember thinking that it felt like everything clicked, and I seemed far less stressed out during/after the test than the others in my room. If I had to wager a guess, I'm thinking I made some over-confidence errors, e.g. fell for lots of trap answers.

As far as my last prep goes, I kept an excel sheet with the PT's I completed broken down into chunks of 6-8 PT's to get an average of where I was at at that point in time.

I studied from April thru the end of May last year, then took the summer off from PT's, restarted in August thru test day (Feb) with a couple of 1-2 week breaks in there. In October, I started using 7sage, prior to that, I went through the PS Bibles followed by the LSAT Trainer . I completed 30 PT's total, 15 of which I completed since starting to use 7sage. Part of the reason the 156 stung is that out of the 15 PT's I completed since starting 7sage, 6 total were sub 160 (2-155's, 2-158's, 2-159's), the other 9 were 160-163 (5-160's, 2-162's, 2-163's).

Score distribution averages for the last month before test day of PT's (8 tests): LG: -7, LR: -7 (per section), RC: -6.6. My numbers jump around quite a bit in LG and RC, but I'm fairly consistent at LR (-6 to -8 per section).

I like the idea of drilling/fool proofing a bit better than going back through the CC, especially with the latest bundles and PT's that were posted here.

jaefromcanada

I think your plan looks good.

One thing I'll say is that you being a military musician should not be undervalued. I'm not saying you should bank on that to get you into law school- but it should be viewed as an incredibly special platform for you that enables you to go to great places. I hope that you can utilize it as a motivating factor.

Also, I recommend that you keep your mental/physical states as fresh as possible. Exercise, meditation, nutrition, etc. I was on a similar schedule like you for the last 5 months and let me tell you- we're not superhumans. You'll feel it. Do what you can to remedy the stenuous schedule.

But all in all, everything looks good. Try and keep track of your mental/LSAT/physical states in a journal or something as it sounds like this is going to be an enlightening challenge for you.

Best of luck.

cam

Thanks Jae.

As far as my specific job goes, when I enlisted, I had only been to a handful of states with the ones outside of the Midwest being for school trips. Now? I've been to 40ish while playing gigs in the smallest one stop sign towns all the way through Times Square NYC from ceremonial bands playing marches to rock bands playing top 40. When I've done brain storming sessions about what to write a PS on, the impact of military music on my life has been a consistent contender since I can talk about the split focus between the creative and logical/structured sides as well as a few other aspects. However, I'm not putting much time into thinking about my PS just yet, in my bigger plan, I'll start putting the work into that once I have completed take two of the LSAT. This year's primary goals: get an LSAT score that I want (160+), lose 30-35 more pounds, and maintain a 3.5+ GPA per semester. I have plans in place to accomplish all of those items.

The mental and physical health sides-I learned that during my last prep. I hit burn out a couple of times, typically when work gets busy, and it is the main reason why I'm shooting to prep for a greater number of days yet fewer hours per day/week compared to last time. At my peak of last prep, I was hitting the LSAT 5-6hrs per day on top of working full time and spending 1-2hrs (ish) per night on coursework. I joked to coworkers that I was burning the candle in 3-4 places instead of just the ends. It was OK for a month or two at a time, but as soon as an additional stressor came up (school projects,the weigh-in and readiness test at work, extended tours, etc), burn out came to say hi. I've learned there are times where I need to push head first through it, but there are also times where I need to turn on Netflix/Hulu and zone out for the night.

At this point, my nutrition is on point-I'm in the process of shedding some weight that I've accumulated the last six years, I'm down about 5 pounds with another 30-35 to go. I've found at least one new hobby that helps clear my head (target shooting) and, even outside of the LSAT, I have been doing a better job of self-care.