Plan of Action for Studying

AnthonyScalia

Hi guys! I wanted to field opinions on my course of action for preparing for the September LSAT.

I've been studying for a little bit under a month, and as of today have finished all 80 LG sections without time constraints. Now, I'm unsure whether I should immediately redo all 80 LG sections with full testing conditions, or if I should move on to something else and come back later.

I worry that I'll lose a lot of the skills I've accumulated if I put it off, but I also don't want to burn myself out on logic games early and potentially weaken my abilities closer to test time. If I were to put off LG, I'd probably move onto LR, but it's already my strongest section and I don't know how I should approach it. I've finished 6 sections of LR without studying as part of diagnostics, and I'm consistently getting -2/-3 per section with around 10 minutes to spare. Approaching LR from the basics is probably what I need to improve, but I have a feeling it's going to be a plateau for a very long time, and this raises concern regarding motivation.

RC is definitely where I need to improve the most, as I've gotten in the -5/-6 range in my diagnostic.

What do you guys think I should do next? I know this is a very specific situation, but I would be tremendously grateful for generic/anecdotal and specific tips alike

10000019

Do you mean that you've done the LGs from all 80 exams? Or that you've completed 80 total sections?

Alex

@Anthony_Mahmud said:
Hi guys! I wanted to field opinions on my course of action for preparing for the September LSAT.

I've been studying for a little bit under a month, and as of today have finished all 80 LG sections without time constraints. Now, I'm unsure whether I should immediately redo all 80 LG sections with full testing conditions, or if I should move on to something else and come back later.

I worry that I'll lose a lot of the skills I've accumulated if I put it off, but I also don't want to burn myself out on logic games early and potentially weaken my abilities closer to test time. If I were to put off LG, I'd probably move onto LR, but it's already my strongest section and I don't know how I should approach it. I've finished 6 sections of LR without studying as part of diagnostics, and I'm consistently getting -2/-3 per section with around 10 minutes to spare. Approaching LR from the basics is probably what I need to improve, but I have a feeling it's going to be a plateau for a very long time, and this raises concern regarding motivation.

RC is definitely where I need to improve the most, as I've gotten in the -5/-6 range in my diagnostic.

What do you guys think I should do next? I know this is a very specific situation, but I would be tremendously grateful for generic/anecdotal and specific tips alike

I would recommend finding a course or set of books to study from next. I highly recommend 7Sage due how much it's helped me and tons of other people as well as it's price point.

You seem to be naturally pretty good if you can score -2/-3 with 10 minutes to spare on LR, but even so, you will eventually just need to bite the bullet and learn why you're missing the few you still are. You're right that you'l sort of need to approach from the basics, but it will be well worth it because you're killing it right now, especially if you've only been at it for a month.

Also, by 80 LG sections, do you mean you've done every single logic game released? If so, I would consider re-thinking your approach. If you exposed yourself to almost every game out, how will you be able to take a full practice test and get an accurate gauge of where you're at?

AnthonyScalia

@"Alex Divine" Thanks for the feedback!

I do indeed mean that I've completed all 80 released LGs over the past three and a half weeks (320 games total.) At this point I'm only really missing questions if I misread or improperly diagram something, though I know there is room for improvement in my time management.

In hindsight, you're absolutely right, it was a mistake to familiarize myself with so much since now it will be difficult to reattempt them impartially. I also have all 80 sections of RC and LR; how many of those do you think I should practice before doing full PTs? And is there a widely accepted method considered to be the best for RC strategy?

Alex

@Anthony_Mahmud said:
@"Alex Divine" Thanks for the feedback!

I do indeed mean that I've completed all 80 released LGs over the past three and a half weeks. At this point I'm only really missing questions if I misread or improperly diagram something, though I know there is room for improvement in my time management.

In hindsight, you're absolutely right, it was a mistake to familiarize myself with so much since now it will be difficult to reattempt them impartially. I also have all 80 sections of RC and LR; how many of those do you think I should practice before doing full PTs? And is there a widely accepted method considered to be the best for RC strategy?

Damn! You're a machine, but you absolutely would be better off at this point only drilling PTs 1-35 and mastering those. Save the rest for full PTs and hopefully since you've only done them once, you won't remember when you see them again. Still, it makes your PTs a bit unreliable, but it's not the end of the world. Try to see if you can get your hands on PTs A, B, C, CII and February 1997. These all have difficult LG sections that will help you be able to have at least a few unseen PTs for you.

What is your score on timed LG sections at this point?

I would say to first find a curriculum or books to learn from, then drill the early PTs (1-35) LR while going through and after completing that. Again, I highly recommend 7Sage which includes all you need. That, or The LSAT Trainer is darn good too.

After completing a curriculum, then move on to full PTs.

RC is probably the only section with no real best strategy. I personally think 7Sage's memory method alone with The LSAT Trainer's RC sections are what worked best for me. I think remembering what you read is the most important thing which is why the memory method works best for me so far. I've also checked out Powerscore, Manhattan, and Blueprint's RC books and found them all pretty unhelpful compared to 7Sage/The LSAT Trainer.

AnthonyScalia

@"Alex Divine"

All of that sounds very good, thank you so much! I found a copy of LSAT Trainer for $7 on eBay, so I'll be working on that shortly!

Is there a reason why it's better to drill 1-35 even though the more recent iterations are more reflective of what I'm likely to see in September?

Alex

@Anthony_Mahmud said:
@"Alex Divine"

All of that sounds very good, thank you so much! I found a copy of LSAT Trainer for $7 on eBay, so I'll be working on that shortly!

Is there a reason why it's better to drill 1-35 even though the more recent iterations are more reflective of what I'm likely to see in September?

Awesome !! I think that will be a big help.

Re: drilling 1-35. Yes, just so you have 36-80 to take a fresh PTs. You don't necessarily have to save that many for full PTs though, however, it is nice in case you need to take that many. Often, people taking 25-30 PTs is right around the sweet spot. So I would save at least from 52 and up for full PTs. (Even if you've already seen the games section once)