Advice on a study plan post curriculum?

Cee.Deezy

I took my first PT after the curriculum -- my score was one point less than my diagnostic score, and my BR was the same as my BR for my diagnostic. Needless to say, I'm disappointed and beating myself up about it, but really the only choice is to just keep swimming, right?

Anyway, I listened to Josh's webinar on post curriculum study strategies, and in Phase 1 (my BR is below my target), he recommends returning to the curriculum, doing question type drills, and then doing untimed section drills. The webinar was really helpful, but I'm still a bit unclear as to how to use these suggestions to try to improve LR, since the questions I'm having trouble with are kind of all over the place (though of course some are higher priority than others).

• Is it better to just re-do the entire curriculum, (since it's clear I don't have all the fundamentals down), or structure my studying to pertain to the specific question types that are of highest priority to the lowest?

• The study schedule post curriculum is essentially full PTs, but at this point, I'm not sure if they'll help me much with regard to where I currently am with my score. Is it ok to lay off taking PTs until after I re-do the curriculum, or should I still be taking full PTs even while I'm still in Phase 1? I recall the recommendation to be a PT every 2 weeks or so, but I'm not sure if this is once someone gets to Phase 2? I don't want to risk burning through all the material and psyching myself out by taking PTs before I'm ready, but I also don't want to end up psyching myself out if the next time I see a PT is after the curriculum.

• Is it ok to use some of the 50+ PTs for section drills, or would this be wasting new material? What material do you use to drill?

If anyone can please share and elaborate a bit more on what your approach was post curriculum, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks so much!

Leah M B

Hi there! First of all... this is such a good and thoughtful post! Great questions you asked. I clicked on the title thinking I would just refer you to the webinar, but I'm happy to see you already watched it!

First of all, it's totally normal to not have much of a change post-cc. Most people go up maybe only a couple of points. It seems like it should be more but I think it's just that it takes some time to get used to putting all the principles you learned into practice. You will definitely keep improving, it just takes a little time. So don't be discouraged! I think my first post-cc PT was only about 3 points higher than my diagnostic (and I had studied some from powerscore bibles before finding 7sage, so probably no improvement at all really). But after about 6 months of studying, I ended up with an LSAT 13 points above my diagnostic. Never would have been able to do that without 7sage!

OK, back to studying.

1) No, I don't think you should just re-do the entire cc. I'd recommend starting with some drills by question type. Then, you can re-watch the relevant lessons as needed. Like say you are drilling sufficient assumption questions. I'd probably try doing about 10 of those, BR them, then go back to the cc and watch any lessons from that section that you think would help if you aren't understanding something or forgot a part. Make sense? Rinse and repeat.

2) At the beginning as you are figuring things out, I'd say a PT every other week or so sounds about right. PTs are really to help build stamina for test day as well as get used to the timing and testing conditions. They help to check in on how you are doing and gauge your progress. Once you feel like you are getting the hang of things and improving, I'd say bump up to 1 PT per week (with thorough BR). That's all I did for all of my studying time. I would do about 1 PT's worth of timed sections and drilling during the week and then a full PT under timed conditions on the weekend. I'd probably start out with 4 section PTs and then as you progress start adding in an extra section to make it 5 sections, just like on test day.

3) Absolutely it's fine to use 50+ PTs for drilling. I used mostly 50s and 60s for drilling and then 70s for PTs. If you're only doing 1 PT per week max starting with PT 70, that would give you 14 weeks worth of recent PTs. I'd recommend starting with 30s and 40s for drilling for a while to get the basics down. Also make sure to use all of the Problem Sets from within the cc. Those are (I believe) all drawn from PTs 1-35. Those are a great place to start if you didn't do them all while doing the cc. Tthere are also plenty of questions from 1-35 that aren't included in the problem sets. I'd recommend skipping around some but starting using that earlier material whenever possible just so that you don't use the most recent tests for learning the very basics.

You'll figure out as you go along what feels comfortable for you. I will say that the more recent tests have changed somewhat from the older ones, so especially as whenever your test date draws closer, make sure not to spend all of your time in the 40s and 50s and neglect seeing the material from the 60s and up. Also, it's ok to re-use tests if needed. You really aren't going to remember every question from a PT you took 3 months earlier. Or even if you do, the act of repeating it and remembering the logic behind it is very valuable for your study.

I hope some of that helps! Happy to answer any more questions if you have them.

Cee.Deezy

Thank you so much for your thorough response, it really helps a lot! Did you find studying with both Powerscore and 7Sage to be complementary where the different approaches helped to solidify the information better? Once you got to 5 sections, did you throw in a writing sample as well, just to get used to having to churn it out at the end?

At this point, do you think it would be detrimental to still take in September considering where I am? I'm already registered and I want to stay positive so that I'm motivated to continue studying, but I need to be real with the fact that there's not a lot of time and it's unlikely I'll get to my target score by then.

Thanks again for your help! Happy Friday!

mariev22

@"C.Desiree" said:
Thank you so much for your thorough response, it really helps a lot! Did you find studying with both Powerscore and 7Sage to be complementary where the different approaches helped to solidify the information better? Once you got to 5 sections, did you throw in a writing sample as well, just to get used to having to churn it out at the end?

At this point, do you think it would be detrimental to still take in September considering where I am? I'm already registered and I want to stay positive so that I'm motivated to continue studying, but I need to be real with the fact that there's not a lot of time and it's unlikely I'll get to my target score by then.

Thanks again for your help! Happy Friday!

Hi!

Any chance you're in the West Coast/Bay Area - I ask because it sounds like we're in a very similar place with our progress/studying and think it might be great for us to stay in touch and share tips!

I've finished the CC and recently started PTing. My first two PT scores are just around where my diagnostic score came in, but my BR scores are pretty much at my target score. So I'm similarly trying to craft my plan for the next several weeks.

I'm also registered for the September test, but it's beginning to really dawn on me just how much prep and practice will be needed to raise my scores up to my goal.

Thanks for the thoughtful post that includes many of the questions swirling in my mind, and sorry to piggy back!

-Marie

Leah M B

@"C.Desiree" said:
Thank you so much for your thorough response, it really helps a lot! Did you find studying with both Powerscore and 7Sage to be complementary where the different approaches helped to solidify the information better? Once you got to 5 sections, did you throw in a writing sample as well, just to get used to having to churn it out at the end?

At this point, do you think it would be detrimental to still take in September considering where I am? I'm already registered and I want to stay positive so that I'm motivated to continue studying, but I need to be real with the fact that there's not a lot of time and it's unlikely I'll get to my target score by then.

Thanks again for your help! Happy Friday!

As for Powerscore, no. Honestly, I would have been so much better off starting with 7sage. I started with the LG bible and while it did help me understand some things, it confused me even more on others. 7sage's cc and the explanation videos are truly all you need. They're very comprehensive. I know some people around the 7sage forum have said that the LSAT Trainer by Mike Kim was really helpful and compatible with 7sage. But Powerscore is really not.

Honestly, I did mostly just 4 section PTs. I don't know that I would necessarily recommend that though, haha. I think it's a personal thing. I wanted to not overdo it. Working full time and studying was really draining. 5 sections is noticeably longer, but if you can get through 4 without feeling wrecked, you'll be ok doing 5 sections on test day. I think it's probably wiser to do 5 sections though.

I really wouldn't bother with the writing sample. The only prep with it I would say is to make sure to read some of the prompts so you understand the format. Maybe try it once to see what it's like. Then put it aside. There's no use practicing for a section that is unscored and has almost no bearing on anything. On test day, just make sure to write something that is clear and applicable to the prompt. Schools will read it, but they also know that it's at the end of a very long test and isn't going to be anyone's best work.

My general advice is that you should take the LSAT when you're ready. Unfortunately, that tends to mean that most people push it back. I registered and withdrew twice before actually sitting for it. Money down the drain of course, but I'm glad that I don't have scores on the record that were below my best effort. It's of course up to you - not sure if it's past the time frame to get a refund or change your test date to a later one. But you can withdraw (with no refund) up until the day before the test. So, you could wait and see where you are PTing by September.

Victoria.

@mariev22 I'm in the bay area and would love to form a study group/hardcore boot camp to prepare for Sept! My BR score is in the range of my target score, I just need to get my actual score in that range as well. Feel free to message me, that goes for any other bay area Sept test takers who are interested as well.

mariev22

@Victoria.

Just sent a PM to your inbox!

Cee.Deezy

@"Leah M B"
Thank you for all of your help!

@mariev22
No worries at all, I'm glad my questions helped! I'll be sending you a message in a bit!

TheDeterminedC

I think using the post curriculum PTs (36-50) to drill both timed and untimed is a huge help. Specifically, your goal is to ease yourself into this time constraint while still implementing what you have learned. Work on getting faster at this. You want to start by giving yourself maybe an extra 5-10 mins a section. By doing this, you can focus on the fundamentals more, rather then the time constraint. Speeding up is natural once you hone in on the fundamentals anyways, so have more emphasis on putting to work all that curriculum material you have learned.

Also, MAKE SURE you have all this down like the back of your hand so that you may focus on the question contents rather then the way the english is written: know logic indicators (groups) without really thinking much----drill drill drill flashcards; being able to read conditional rules and quickly understand inferences (some, most statements); be able to visually take contrapositives of a long chain in your head; and finally, knowing as many flawed argument structures as possible will help you with a grip of LR question types like NA, W, S, and Flaw.

Feel free to drop me questions at any time if you would like.

Cee.Deezy

@TheDeterminedC said:
I think using the post curriculum PTs (36-50) to drill both timed and untimed is a huge help. Specifically, your goal is to ease yourself into this time constraint while still implementing what you have learned. Work on getting faster at this. You want to start by giving yourself maybe an extra 5-10 mins a section. By doing this, you can focus on the fundamentals more, rather then the time constraint. Speeding up is natural once you hone in on the fundamentals anyways, so have more emphasis on putting to work all that curriculum material you have learned.

Also, MAKE SURE you have all this down like the back of your hand so that you may focus on the question contents rather then the way the english is written: know logic indicators (groups) without really thinking much----drill drill drill flashcards; being able to read conditional rules and quickly understand inferences (some, most statements); be able to visually take contrapositives of a long chain in your head; and finally, knowing as many flawed argument structures as possible will help you with a grip of LR question types like NA, W, S, and Flaw.

Feel free to drop me questions at any time if you would like.

Great! I think a way I can incorporate both your and Leah's advice is drilling by question type first, making sure I have those fundamentals down, and then moving on to drilling full sections both timed and untimed. I'll let you know if I have any more questions, thank you for your help!

samantha.ashley92

I would look at your BR and see where your weaknesses are. If any of them are fundamental skills, redo the CC for those. If there are any question types that you really struggled with, do some more practice sets and watch the explanation videos. If you're really not getting it, rewatch the CC videos. I also would not touch 50+ until you feel more confident-- unless you're testing in September. You don't want to recognize the questions later on when you're really trying to evaluate your progress.

Cee.Deezy

@"samantha.ashley92" said:
I would look at your BR and see where your weaknesses are. If any of them are fundamental skills, redo the CC for those. If there are any question types that you really struggled with, do some more practice sets and watch the explanation videos. If you're really not getting it, rewatch the CC videos. I also would not touch 50+ until you feel more confident-- unless you're testing in September. You don't want to recognize the questions later on when you're really trying to evaluate your progress.

Yes, great tips! I do plan to go over the CC for the ones I'm struggling with to supplement the drilling and make sure I don't just burn material all willy nilly. Thank you!