Updating My Study Schedule

dubbed dubs

Hey all,

I am planning on taking the December LSAT and, with that date looming, I am really trying to break from the high/mid-160s and move into the 170s (and beyond!). I have been reading a bunch throughout these forums with regards to study schedules, but I haven't found anything that seems to be of much help to me.

So, without further ado, I was wondering what you all suggest as my plan of attack? I have already completed the CC and done every logic game from 1 - 10, in addition to some PTests. I figured that I should try and tackle about a practice test every other day, with an intense BR session in between each test. Should I use PTests 11 - 35 to drill each section (RC is my weakest, but I could use improvement on everything, not to mention that I still have a bunch of tests I still have yet to see)? Or should I just take those as full PTests in addition?

Thank you in advance for your help!

sillllyxo

A PT every other day seems like a lot to me - I'm curious what others say. I'm retaking in Dec. Good luck!!!

Alex

Doing a PT every other day is an objectively bad idea. You need time in between the tests in order to take the data from the PTs to work on actually improvements.

I would begin by taking PTs, you'll probably want to focus on the newest tests from, say, PT 60-82. There's no magic set number of tests to take so I would just take one. After taking it blind review is, fool proof the games section, and then return to older tests to drill specific weaknesses.

If you're scoring at the 165 level I'm not sure how fruitful just drilling a bunch will be for you.

Where are you specifically having trouble? You can always dedicate time to fool proofing all of 1-35. If there's any room for LG improvement, that's always a good place to start.

dubbed dubs

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess I was concerned with not seeing enough PTs before the exam.

Specifically, my trouble comes down to RC inference questions (as well as timing...get rushed at the end of a PT), LR MSS and NA questions, and LG misc. questions and really difficult grouping games.

With what you've said, what do you recommend for any given week? Would it look something like: Preptest on Monday, BR on Tuesday/drill things for the next few days until, say, Friday? And then do another test?

Thanks!

side braid

@"dubbed dubs" In a similar boat...I'm interested to see what others think of your plan of attack. What is your avg BR score?

katekellypeterson

Since you know what type of question you struggle with, it would probably be most beneficial to really breaking down and comprehending that particular question type, which I don't think you will get as much from doing so many tests. I would say doing 2 tests a week is realistic, and then running through review of curriculum on other days. I'm not doing a course this go around, because personally, I found independent study to be more helpful. Maybe get a tutor a couple of times to get 1 on 1 focus on your specific weaknesses closer to the test date, if there are still areas that aren't making sense to you. Otherwise, try looking at different prep company's materials. Some may explain a q in a way that resonates better with you, or looking at multiple iterations of the same question type might help to reinforce it in your mind.

dubbed dubs

Thanks to everyone for the comments! Very helpful to hear different insights.

@"side braid" avg BR is about a 171. Trying to get it up to a 180 (aren't we all...). Because it's not perfect/not above a 175, this definitely suggests to me that I have a lot of review to do in between the tests.

@katekellypeterson yeah, I've been pretty partial to independent study, but I might look at getting a tutor soon if I still can't get out of the 160s. Before I do that, though, I'm going to try to do all I can by myself to move into the 170s (like doing a more thorough BR, for example).

I am thinking that the amended schedule will look something like this:
2 PTests a week, with 2 days (or 3, depending on what's needed) in between to review. I'll BR pretty hard after the test, and then the review periods would involve drilling the types of q I got wrong, going over old problems/tests, some logic game drilling (I want to keep this at tip top), and working on improving my RC a ton.
I'm not set on that schedule, but it seems like a good outline for now. Open to hearing any further thoughts or tips you guys have.

Cant Get Right

Hey, as far as scheduling goes, particularly in how to work in PTs and what to do in between them, I go into a lot of depth on this in my webinar on Post CC Study Strategies:

https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/

The quick version is make sure you're not just taking PTs. It's far more important to respond to PTs by analyzing them afterwards and then using that analysis to identify and eliminate underlying errors.