For those PTing, how many per week and how many do you plan to take total?

Gunningfor121

I believe JY said 40 is the ballpark number of PTs a student should aim to take before the LSAT, but I may be misremembering.

TheDeterminedC

Take all of them. There is something new to see in each one. Write out, abstractly, new information that you leaned after running into a difficult question or one you didn't fully understand in a notebook. Read that notebook before you take a PT to remind yourself of your weaknesses and add to this notebook after you complete a blind review.

Like I said, take all of them if you can. The reason is that many of the same logical forms from previous tests you were exposed to and studied well will show up again, only to have different substance and a slight tweak to the logic.

J.Y. did say 40 but I state that should be the MINMUM. I know you asked a specific question but that's the logic behind why J.Y. would advocate to take PTs. As for exactly why the number is 40, I have no idea. Maybe logical forms have a tendency to be pulled 1-40 PT's from the current administered one; or maybe 40 is the round about times that one needs in order to get the timing per section down; or maybe both/neither. This is just horrible speculation but really try to get exposed to everything.

The more you are able to see through the substance and get the hint it's a logical structure you've somewhat seen before, the faster, more accurate, and confident you'll feel when this happens. If this process happens for lets say 20/25 questions on a section, then you leave the extra time you banked from using intuition/experience to answer the 5 that will take more time.

So, get exposed to/learn from as many PTs as you possibly can. It will only help you more.

Gunningfor121

@TheDeterminedC Well I'm hoping to take the March LSAT and I just started PTing, so I'd need to take about 3 a week... Do you think that's doable? Can you review each one solidly in that amount of time?

LSAT_Wrecker

I offer a slightly different opinion. Take as many as you need to take in order to feel confident you can attain your target score. One popular rule of thumb is take enough that your running average of the last 5 tests is 2-3 points above your target score. Whether that's 5, 40, or 85 PTs, there are many variables to consider instead choosing some randomly assigned target number.

A clear assessment of where your current skill set is and where you want to end up at is required. This is a journey that should focus on the process and not a specified number of way-stops along the path. Either way, good luck!

ETA: To address one of your questions, for me, I found that 2 PTs per week was the max I could do and allow for effective review and remediation. I also found that 3 PTs every 2 weeks was better because it allowed a fuller remediation period.

MissChanandler

I think it depends on your goals and where you start out. If you've scored in your goal range for ten PTs in a row but you've only taken twenty PTs total, it makes no sense to wait to take the test just so that you've taken an arbitrary number. More is always better as far as exposure to the material goes, but at a certain point you get diminishing returns and it's not worth it anymore.

Late Not Never

Ok, ready for a dose of real world-ism? I work full time, am a single mom, and am a graduate student. Studying for a year, studying for 40 hours a week, and taking 40 practice tests are all 100% out of the question for my life. I started the CC at the end of May and took the diagnostic and 4 practice tests before taking the September LSAT. Although I was not unhappy with my score, I am retaking in November because I left some very specific (aka: attainable) points on the table. Since September I have taken 3 more full PTs, reviewed key points of the CC, and used timed sections of other PTs to drill. My average score is up 6 points. Make your study and PT experience and plan suit your needs and your schedule and it will be productive for you. Trying to live up to an unrealistic number of study hours or numbers of PTs will stress you out and detract from your ability to learn what you need to know for you best score on test day! Good luck!

drbrown2

I work around 30 hours per week and usually only take 1-2 PTs per week. I would love to have more PTs under my belt but there are other important things to focus on, like practicing games and drilling certain question types. Everyone is different. People learn in different ways and improve at different rates. I think the danger is trying to blow through PTs as quickly as you can to try to hit some magic number before test day and neglecting other aspects of studying for the LSAT. Rest and time away from the test help you reconcile all the information you are processing. More is better as long as they are done correctly.

SLP_futureJD

I work full-time. I've been taking 1/week and will have taken 10 by the November test (besides my diagnostic test and the 1 I completed immediately after finishing the CC). I'm not feeling burned out and my score has been improving/consistent with each of the PTs. I've used the time between tests to blind review, fool proof LG, drill, and target my studies to weak question types. In an ideal world, I would have more weeks before the LSAT and would take more, but I'm feeling good going into the November test with my 10. I feel like 2/week is the maximum I could do to not feel burned out.