One Year Study Plan

MarClaAve

Hey guys, so I recently decided to postpone from taking the June 2018 to June 2019. Now with all this extra time on my hands I'm trying to figure out how to pace myself. I've been studying about 2 hours/day during the week and 3 hours/day on weekends (working full time + two kids). I want to start with the CC and then once I work through it upgrade to the Ultimate package, but I'm also seeing talk of the Trainer by Mike Kim? Any advice on what rate to pace myself at as to not run out of preptests, go too slowly as to not be actively involved, and also if purchasing the Starter now and upgrading as I progress throughout the next 14 months?

Backround: my diagnostic is 157, the highest I've scored is 161, I want high 160s to low 170s (or higher obv.)

Seeking Perfection

I have never used the Trainer. However, 7sage methods are sufficient to get the answer to any LSAT question so I doubt you need it.

If I were you I would do the core curriculum(1-2 months) and foolproof the logic games from tests 1-35(probably 2-3 months at your current pace of studying). I'm actually not sure which of these I would recommend first. You might not want to start the timer on whatever package you buy running down until you have already done your foolproofing. However, if you intend to buy the package that comes with those tests, then you should probably buy it before foolproofing and might as well do the CC first. You don't want to buy the tests and pay for them later in a package.

After this I would take another PT or two to see where you are at. Depending on where you already were with games and whether you progress on the other sections from just the CC this could get you scoring in the range you want.

Regardless, you are going to want to use 7sage to input the results of those practice tests and see what LR question types you miss the most. In addition to your blind review, you are going to want to both revisit the core curriculum regularly and drill on problem sets of these question types(I only got the starter course, but I think the other courses come with better problem sets all drawn from PTs 1-35.)

Finally, you'll have to tackle RC. I think most people here either just go with their instincts on this section or use the 7sage memory method where you try to memorize the structure of the essays. This is the hardest section to improve on bevause your habits(good or bad) are already formed from years of reading and sometimes even answering similar questions. That said if a lot of your misses are in this section, know that people do improve on it.

I would take PTs quite regularly(probably every weekend or everyother weekend) once you finish foolproofing. They will help you diagnose where you are on RC and LR progress and the blind review as well as the regular review make them excellent study tools as well.

I started out good at LR and RC, but followed these steps(with most of my focus on games and prep tests since I didn't have as much work to do on the other sections) to get an 8 point increase.

Cant Get Right

From what I've heard, The Trainer is pretty good and more or less compatible with 7Sage. I think maybe it uses a different approach to RC, but I've never actually used it. I'm kind of a fan of picking one thing and committing to it. A lot of people go from one source to another thinking that more is better. But depth, not breadth, is what advances people. If you study everything available at a 160 level of study, you'll end up with a 160 give or take 5. If you study 7Sage at a 180 level, that is plenty to end up with a 175+.

With a great diagnostic, your target score is very reasonable. And you've set a reasonable timeline for yourself which is something a lot of people really struggle to do.

1. Stop taking PTs immediately. Your diagnostic should be your high score because it should be your only score. Notice how your high score is in very close range to your diagnostic? That's because PT's are very blunt instruments; your score is not going to improve other than random fluctuations within the margin of error.

2. Choose a curriculum. I recommend 7Sage, and can confirm it's everything you need.

3. Work through the curriculum. Work slowly and carefully. Learn the material. Remember that there's no rewards for finishing, only for absorbing the information.

4. Begin taking PT's:

a. Take a PT.

b. Blind Review it.

c. Analyze your timed and BR performances. Identify your weaknesses. If you missed something under time but corrected it in BR, why didn't you get it right under time? If you missed it in BR too, what essential skill or concept are you missing? Answer these questions for each error.

d. Devise a study plan based on your analysis. (This will certainly include Fool proofing LG, so you can take a month or two to do this as you hit LG in the curriculum if you want to anticipate.)

e. Study! Execute your study plan so that you can address the weaknesses exposed by the PT.

f. When, and only when, you feel like you have made meaningful gains, take another PT and repeat the process starting from Step 4.

A lot of people skip everything after blind review and instead just jump straight into another PT. These people tend to plateau and get really frustrated with why they're not improving.

So for your study schedule, I'd maybe take the next three or four months to work through the 7Sage Core Curriculum. Then work LG for a month or two. Then start taking regular PTs. At first, you'll have a lot of work to do between each one. With 16 hours/week max, I'd start out trying to aim for one PT every two weeks. As you improve, you'll have less to address after each PT and you can maybe up it to one a week around February or March 2019. If you maintain good study habits, then by test day I see no reason why you shouldn't be falling into the high 160's even on a bad day.

MarClaAve

That makes sense very thorough is deff my intention. So another issue I have is I’ve already signed up for the June 2018 and it’s to costly to push it the two times I’d need to for June 2019, so I am going to take it just for the testing experience and not get too caught up on my score. Because it’s 1.5 months away, I thought maybe I could start foolproofing LG until then and then once it’s passed, finish fool proofing if I haven’t already and then work through CC? I also started with Power Score, so I have all the Bible’s (and training type booklets which I’m now avoiding as to not burn through preptests unnecessarily), AND Kaplain has a free study course happening for the month of may that I signed up for (before finding 7sage)... feeling a bit lost which to start with and if it might be more damaging to continue with power score/kaplain until I switch to CC. But I don’t want to start CC now and be “disrupted” so to speak by the June 2018...