Best Strategy Going Forward...

Andrew Alterio

Hi guys, I am incredibly happy to have found this. I just want some advice. I have pushed off my LSAT 2x and rescheduled w/out actually taking it. This is due to working a ton and just anxiety. I have plenty of money in the bank, already graduated undergrad, and am still living with the fam until the LSAT stuff is done. I signed up for Dec/Feb and I'm studying full-time...quit my dead end job.

My point is that I really REALLY feel unable to take a PT since I'm lost and getting nothing right. I have done the first couple lessons on here and I just want to learn how to do logic games and get right down to the nitty gritty. I also have all the bibles/blueprint books at my disposal. Am I personally best suited to run through this entire course, lesson by lesson? I just feel like it'll take forever for me to get to where i want to be. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Drew

LSATcantwin

Hard truth is that in order to get where you want to be on the LSAT, for most people, it takes forever. This is not a test you can rush and just study for a month to preform well on, unless your goals for improvement are not drastic.

Without knowing anything about where you're starting out, it's really hard to give advice on what would work best for you. I can give you a general outline, and maybe you can tailor it to your personal needs.

The first thing people tend to do is to take a diagnostic test. Sit down and take a full (5 sections if possible) test and then score it. This score will give you an idea of where to start. I believe the LSAC offers a free test on their website and 7Sage let's you input your answers in the "analytics" section. It will show you how many you missed per section and what type of questions you are missing.

Then it's a matter of how you personally want to attack the test. If you go -4 total in LR, -1 in RC and like -10 in logic games, it wouldn't be a bad idea to skip to logic games and look into the fool proof method to improve.

The more common route is to do the core curriculum in order though. This is a test that starts with fundamental ideas and builds upon them until you get really complex versions of them. Can you identify conclusion indicators? Can you identify the conclusion of an argument? Do you know the different logical indicator words? Do you know how to map/chain conditional logic? Do you know what support is? Premises?

If you felt lost in any of that, you really should start from the beginning and slowly wade your way through.

Like I said though, it's on the individual. If you want to increase your score by 4-5 points and your logic games are weak? By all means start there.

You shouldn't really work on taking PT's (except the diagnostic) until way after you have mastered all these concepts.

dazedandconfused

Hey Drew! I hope you are well. Two things: a) do the whole course. It is a process, it is sometimes hard to justify all that time, but do the whole course. My score went up nine points doing as such b)If you can afford it, get a tutor. It will really help you, and there are some great resources on here as well as trying on Wyzant. Having that one on one really helps. Other than that? Umm...say goodbye to everyone you know, and tell them you will be back post-LSATs. Best of luck!

Heart Shaped Box

You are definitely not alone, it takes lots of ppl forever (especially me lol) so don't be discouraged. Like lsatcantwin said above, the strategy and process for studying could vary according to the individual, so I can only speak for myself in that regard. I started off with a focus on LG first but not bc it's my weakest section (since I was and am weak in all sections equally haha) but that it's a relatively mechanical process -- you just do them over and over till you get it down. And that mechanical process simutaniously familarized myself with LSAT logic, which I found to be helpful in many areas of LR later on, even RC employs certain embedded underlying logic just in a relatively superficial form. So that was my approach, feel free to tweek it to your own. If there is one thing I would stress, no matter what studying process you may choose, would be the fundamentals. That is one thing I would not rush through so that I could start "PT phase", though i understand how tempting it could be. Other than that, happy studying and keep us posted along the process!