Taking leave from work to study full time

jzzraven

Hi all! I'm planning on taking the September exam. I work long hours during the week and observe the Sabbath so I don't have more than ~8 hours per week to study (not enough!). I'm pretty much done with CC but want to get a bunch more PT's under my belt. I'm currently averaging a 166 but can usually BR to 175+. Hoping for 172.

So, how much time do you think I should take off to devote to studying full time, and how many PT's should I aim for a week? I was thinking of 6 weeks at 4 PT/week but would LOVE more opinions!

Alex

@jzzraven said:
Hi all! I'm planning on taking the September exam. I work long hours during the week and observe the Sabbath so I don't have more than ~8 hours per week to study (not enough!). I'm pretty much done with CC but want to get a bunch more PT's under my belt. I'm currently averaging a 166 but can usually BR to 175+. Hoping for 172.

So, how much time do you think I should take off to devote to studying full time, and how many PT's should I aim for a week? I was thinking of 6 weeks at 4 PT/week but would LOVE more opinions!

In my experience, setting a set number of PTs to take per week is arbitrary. 4 seems to be a bit much when you consider that you should be spending quite a large amount of time BR'ing, reviewing the CC to solidify weaknesses, and drilling your weaknesses.

If you can afford to take a leave from work and dedicate more time to study I think that's a great idea!

jzzraven

Thanks! @"Alex Divine"

I hope that ~20 PT's will be enough to take me up those last 6 points.

Cant Get Right

Four PTs a week is way too many. There's no way you'll have time left to learn the lessons they have to teach you. The number of PTs you take has nothing to do with how well you perform. What matters is how much you learn from the PTs you do take. At four a week, you've really only got time for the PT and the BR. That's not going to cut it.

It seems to me like you need to work on pacing and confidence. With that PT/BR point spread, that's usually the most important distinguishing factor. Film your timed drills and break down the times in a spreadsheet. Review the footage and the time and find opportunities to use your time more effectively. If you learn to manage your time for maximum return, that should go a long way towards closing that gap.

tylerdschreur10

Totally agree woth @"Cant Get Right" PTs by themselves are of minimal value. It's the process of blond review, analysis and recognizing weaknesses in order to then address said weaknesses. I would suggest aiming for one PT per week, followed by intense BR and uwe analytics to recognize where to focus the rest of your study time. Then take maybe 4 weeks off, up it to 2 Pts a week while still spending max time reviewing. Recording yourself testing is invaluable, you can see exactly which questions are time killers, and drill them, or come up with a skipping strategy.

tylerdschreur10

@tylerdschreur10 Wow, your spelling is atrocious bro. Good luck passing the LSAT when you're barely literate!

nicole.brooklyn

Heya! So I tried something similar in my studies and I 100% don't recommend taking more than 3 PTs a week. I took 3-4 PTs per week for 4 or 5 weeks... what I noticed was that I would score highest on Monday (after taking Saturday and Sunday off) and my score would taper off point by point over the week. The burn out was real. Two weeks out from the real test, I took 2 PTs and felt fine. One week out, I took 1 PT, did really well, and decided to stop PTing. I felt confident and was in real fear of inducing burn out just before the real deal.

In hindsight, I find the accuracy of those late-week back-to-back PT scores dubious. Had I not over-tested, I think my scores would have been higher. Comparing Monday to Monday exams though, my scores did increase steadily.

jzzraven

this has been super super helpful thank you! @"Cant Get Right" @tylerdschreur10 @"nicole.burdakin"

i'll start at 2 a week and take it from there. also, would any of you have tips on whether it's better to drill by question type for LR or to take a whole section from PT 1-35? aka, better to nail a specific type of question through focused practice, or take an entire section where i get to practice a bit more mental dexterity?