what is necessary

slowlybutsurely

I signed up for the premium course in able to get more out of the lessons, but with the December LSAT being less than a month away, I am finding myself overwhelmed with all of the lessons. Is there anyway to cut down the number of lessons and only flush out what is necessary?
I know they all are necessary, but again, just trying to get as much in before the December exam.

Alex

@"hmish-2018" said:
I signed up for the premium course in able to get more out of the lessons, but with the December LSAT being less than a month away, I am finding myself overwhelmed with all of the lessons. Is there anyway to cut down the number of lessons and only flush out what is necessary?
I know they all are necessary, but again, just trying to get as much in before the December exam.

Hey!

What have you done for prep before you signed up for the premium course? Where are your strong points and weak points?

These questions will in a large part determine the answer to your questions.

If at all possible, I'd plan to take the test next year. Especially if you're just starting out with your prep. A month is enough time to see substantial improvement, but ultimately you'll be selling yourself short. Learning to do well on this test is a process that takes time. You can't really remove time from the equation the way you could when cramming for a test in undergrad. The reason is because you're learning a bunch of information AND learning how to apply it correctly. That last part takes more than a month.

That said, I'd focus my time on the lessons on the basics: Arguments/grammar, conditional logic, logic games, and make sure to learn at least the basics of how to attack each LR question type. These are the fundamentals that will help with every part of the test.

Intro to arguments/grammar/context
https://7sage.com/lesson/the-lsat-is-hard/

Intro to Logic
https://7sage.com/lesson/logic/

Advanced Logic
https://7sage.com/lesson/advanced-logic/

Intro to Logic Games:
https://7sage.com/lesson/introduction-to-logic-games/

studyingandrestudying

Agreeing with Alex. Also, you'll probably want to see one of the really early lesson videos where he talks about how this test takes longer to study for.

LSATcantwin

Let me just add my anecdote to what @"Alex Divine" said. When I started studying for the LSAT in May of 2016 I thought I could just hit the major points and get a good score. I did it with the SAT and ive always been an okay test taker. I sat down for the Sept 2016 test and scored a 157. It took me another year of studying to bump my practice score up to the high 160’s. Even then when I sat for the Sept 2017 test I still was not prepared enough and scored a 163. I am now working toward my third retake and hopefully finally my goal score.

This is not a test that you should rush into and I highly recommend taking the time to really study for it.

NotMyName

Seconding @LSATcantwin. I'm in a similar boat but i've only taken once. I'm right at the stage it seems you were when you scored your 163 but someone gave me some much needed straight talk to help me see I'm not ready for December.

One piece of necessary skills which may not have been mentioned is execution. Knowledge of these topics isn't enough. You need to train yourself to perform a certain way especially when things go wrong because they probably will unless you are an absolute stud. But even the videos of JY taking recent tests show that things go wrong for him too. Although, it's much less noticeable because he handles those situations seamlessly. That aspect is what's holding me back most at this point.

BinghamtonDave

Your question is contingent upon what your goal score is. In my estimation, if your goal score is 165+ the answer is no, there is no way I can see of balancing what you cut out with what might potentially show up on an exam. If that is the range of your goal score I would advice strongly against cutting anything out. Remember what it is we are doing if we skip a lesson: we are depriving ourselves the chance to engage/become comfortable with that question type or game type on a deep level. Removing that comfortability/engagement with a question type puts us in unfamiliar territory when it comes to that question type on an exam, unfamiliar territory puts us in a position to more than likely get that question incorrect.

If your goal score is below that, then the process in which you cut out lessons because of the December time constraint should be based on the frequency of those question types appearing on the most modern exams. The problem with this approach is that the lessons in which you cut out might be pivotal to answering a one star evaluate or agreement question, which you might miss due to unfamiliarity. This inevitably puts you in the position where the points you would be banking on might require a deep understanding of a 4 or 5 star strengthen or weaken question. It is this mystery of each administration of the exam that normally prevents such selective studying.

Other than that, I endorse everything @"Alex Divine" @jkatz1488 and @LSATcantwin said above. One of the best things above 7Sage is that 1 person might come at something from a different angle and shed light on something others might not have.

David