Advice for the Drilling / Timed Sections phase

SiliconJedi

Hi friends -

I wanted to follow up on a question I posted a couple of months ago, about what comes after the CC. I'm now close to the end of the Core Curriculum. Well, actually...I still have most of the Logic Games curriculum ahead of me, but I've had prior exposure to a very similar methodology for Games, so I'm hoping to cover the lessons in about 2 weeks' time.

However, I am still a little uncertain about how to best go about the Drilling / Timed Sections phase after the CC. Here's what I'm thinking:

Logic Games:
-Despite what I wrote above about prior exposure, I know this will be my weakest section when it comes time for drilling. I'm going to need tons of practice.
-I was thinking that I can Foolproof about one PT section per day (PTs 1-35) until I feel like I "own the games," as JY puts it. I'm estimating that this might take say, about 4 hours per day.
-Additionally, redo a previous PT section that I've already Foolproofed, to make sure I can still do it (maybe another 35-60 minutes)
-Questions: What do y'all think about the aforementioned approach? And as I get more comfortable, should I move from Foolproofing to doing timed sections, before I start doing full-length PTs (36 onward)?

LR:
-Simultaneously, while working on the LG Foolproofing, I can do the LR Drills for PTs 1-9 that 7Sage provides in the Ultimate course.
-Question: Should I do timed sections after this first set of drills, before I start PTing?
-Question: Should I save the LR Drills for PTs 10 onward for my BR/PT phase?

RC:
This seems to be my best section thus far. I was thinking of doing a timed PT section per day (PTs 1-35) while Foolproofing LG and working on LR Drills.

Of course, this would probably require about 7 hours of training per day.

Then, once this phase is complete, I was thinking of doing two PTs per week in two 3-day cycles: -Day 1: PT or full-length exam
-Day 2: BR and score + review video explanations
-Day 3: Drill weaknesses

Question: Any thoughts on this PT/BR schedule?

Would love to hear what folks think about this plan -- and what's worked well for you as you've pursued the drilling and testing phases of this journey.

Tagging @"Alex Divine" and @Mellow_Z since both of you offered excellent responses to my earlier post

Many thanks! This community is just awesome, and I'm thrilled to be a 7Sager.

Alex

Hey @SiliconJedi,

So the first thing I will recommend you do is absolutely watch Sage/Tutor/all-around-boss @"Cant Get Right" 's webinar that addresses your exact question about how to approach prep once you have completed the CC. Here's the link: https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/

As far as the plan you've written, overall, I think it looks pretty good. I'll just add that you want to remain flexible, as it is very hard to try to project how long LSAT prep for certain sections will take. Somedays you may run into a game or a question that can take easily over an hour to fully understand.

Along those same lines, you want to take PTs as needed and not on a set and rigid schedule. Ideally after taking a PT you will have some weaknesses exposed. Then after you BR, you want to return to the CC to review applicable lessons and drill until you've done your best to address those weaknesses. The amount of time this takes can vary so greatly that it's nearly impossible to know when you'll be ready for the next PT. Sometimes 2 PTs a week will be fine, and others you may need to take 2 weeks to address certain weaknesses. So again, just remain flexible.

Lastly, don't force yourself to do all the drills during the CC phase if you don't have to. If you do the problem sets and feel like you've got a good grasp of a certain question type, then feel free to move on. Just make sure you do a mixture of easy, medium, and hard to make sure you've got them down. I don't think it's necessarily the best use of time to, say, do all of the LR drills from 1-9. Though, if you have the time and feel like you could benefit from doing them, it certainly won't hurt.

Good luck!

SiliconJedi

Thanks so much, @"Alex Divine"! I appreciate the detailed response. I took your recommendation and tuned into @"Cant Get Right"'s webinar, as well as a few of the other 7Sage webinars (on BR and how to prep to score in the 170s range). Super informative -- and I've come to understand what you're saying about being flexible in terms of timing. I see that the road ahead is a long one, but I suppose that completing the CC is a good first milestone.

Hope your prep is going well!

Jay Tee

After completing the RC sections of the CC, would it be safe to completely skip all the drills and go straight for PT36 so I can save the drills for a rainy day/as my weaknesses are exposed through PTs? That means skipping these sections of the CC: "LR Drills for PT1-29", "LG Drills for PT1-35", and "PT1-35 - Drilling Materials". I'm trying to take the June and/or Sep exams... I appreciate any input!

Alex

@"Jay Tee" said:
After completing the RC sections of the CC, would it be safe to completely skip all the drills and go straight for PT36 so I can save the drills for a rainy day/as my weaknesses are exposed through PTs? That means skipping these sections of the CC: "LR Drills for PT1-29", "LG Drills for PT1-35", and "PT1-35 - Drilling Materials". I'm trying to take the June and/or Sep exams... I appreciate any input!

Yes, that's fine. However, be prepared for PT36 to expose tons and tons of weaknesses you'll need to address before taking another PT. It's perfectly normal to have to take some time to hammer your technique, fool proof games, and drill a ton before continuing on.

One thing I will say is that if you know you have weaknesses in certain areas now, I would opt to address them before taking a PT. For instance, I knew I sucked at LG and had lots of room for improvement. I couldn't finish sections in 35 minutes, so taking a PT seemed like a fruitless effort -- I already knew I would bomb LG. Essentially, if you're hoping for a miracle to do well on a PT, don't bother taking one at all. Just work on what you know needs to be worked on. No need to waste 4 hours of your time and a fresh test only to find out what you already knew.

Jay Tee

That makes a lot of sense, thank you Alex!