How should I be studying?

Return On Inference

Hi all,

So I just finished with the core curriculum, and took my first post-curriculum simulated exam. I scored much higher than my diagnostic (thanks 7sage!) but I'm still around ~8-9 points away from my target score. My current schedule is to take 2-3 timed exams per week each week until the June exam, where I plan to sit for my first LSAT.

When I take simulated exams, I usually spend the whole day taking & blind reviewing the exam. I understand that part of the blind review process, but what I don't understand is what I am supposed to be doing on my days off when I am not taking PTs.

My weakest section is logic games (-6+), and I'm currently working on fool-proofing the games from PTs 1-35, which seems to be the recommended course of action from this forum.

But, other than blind reviewing my PT and reviewing the core curriculum, what should I be doing to improve LR and RC? Just drill timed sections? Or should I be focusing on question type? I've done all of the problem sets on the CC.

Those of you who are done with the CC, what do you guys do on days where you want to study but don't have time for a full PT?

goingfor99th

Too much timed work. You should do lots of untimed LR question type/LG game type drills until you feel you've achieved a mastery over the fundamentals. The 'fundamentals' are incredibly complex, btw--don't let the name fool you. Then, towards the end of your preparation, you should do a lot of timed sections of all three types.

LG is the easiest to improve on, so you should focus on perfecting this section type first.
LR is second easiest to improve on, and it's ~half of the test, so there's a ton of bang for your buck, so to speak.
RC is third easiest to improve on (;]), so you should dedicate some time to it but definitely prioritize the first two.

Return On Inference

@goingfor99th

Would you still recommend taking untimed drills if I'm generally getting all questions correct under untimed conditions? For the PT I did, I BR'd to a 179, missing 2 questions despite blind review and missing 1 question that wasn't marked for BR.

On the timed PT of course I missed many more, just in BR was able to have another look and found the correct answer

Leah M B

If you haven't watched this webinar yet, it is such a fantastic resource: https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies

It gives you all kinds of tips on how to work through your studying post-cc.

First of all, I think you're taking too many full PTs. I typically recommend only 1 per week. The point of a PT is mostly just to check in on your progress and build stamina for test day. The bulk of your studying should be spent on drills, timed or untimed.

My personal study schedule looked sort of like this:

Monday: timed LR section, BR, 2-3 LGs
Tuesday: timed RC section, BR, 2-3 LGs
Wednesday: 2 timed LR sections, BR
Thursday: off, no studying!
Friday: LG foolproofing
Saturday: full PT
Sunday: BR PT

Once I felt like I had the fundamentals down, practicing timed sections with deep review and consulting the CC when needed was mostly what I focused on along with foolproofing LGs. If you are consistently BRing in the 170s, then you also definitely have the fundamentals down and mostly need to work on test-taking skills. Things like skipping strategies, confidence drills, and foolproofing to increase LG speed.

The webinar I linked to though really covers all that and will give you good tips on how and what to study.

Leah M B

I would also recommend a deep dive into assessing the gap between your timed PT score and BR score. Is it because you are running out of time? Are you getting answers wrong? If it's because your first choice is wrong but on BR you get it right immediately, then figuring out where the breakdown is happening, why you're choosing the wrong one. Did you get stuck on a trick answer choice? Did you read too quickly and miss important info? Really analyzing things like that is much more valuable than just continually doing PTs.

goingfor99th

@"Return On Inference" said:
@goingfor99th

Would you still recommend taking untimed drills if I'm generally getting all questions correct under untimed conditions? For the PT I did, I BR'd to a 179, missing 2 questions despite blind review and missing 1 question that wasn't marked for BR.

On the timed PT of course I missed many more, just in BR was able to have another look and found the correct answer

Might want to work on your skipping/pacing strategies a bit. How do you feel under time pressure? How much timed work have you done?

Return On Inference

@goingfor99th

Might want to work on your skipping/pacing strategies a bit. How do you feel under time pressure? How much timed work have you done?

So I've done timed work for all of the core curriculum practice sets, haven't done timed sections. I definitely feel a lot of time pressure on the exam, even though I usually finish my LR sections with 4-6 minutes left and RC sections with 1-2 minutes left.

@"Leah M B"
First, thanks for linking that Webinar. I hadn't noticed it before, and it looks like it'll be super helpful!

I would also recommend a deep dive into assessing the gap between your timed PT score and BR score. Is it because you are running out of time? Are you getting answers wrong? If it's because your first choice is wrong but on BR you get it right immediately, then figuring out where the breakdown is happening, why you're choosing the wrong one.

I've tried to analyze why I'm getting questions wrong, and I think it's a mixture of feeling time pressure and mental fatigue during the exam. Once I hit the 3rd/4th sections I find it really hard to engage and focus on the material.