Am I setting myself up to fail?

Hans Zimmer

Hi everyone,

So I started my LSAT journey 2 months ago and got a 144 diagnostic.

I had this idea in my head (probably ill-founded) that 4 months is all one should need to study if you study close to fulltime.

So I put in 4/5 hours a day for a good month and half and have now upped my efforts to around 6-8 hours a day -this is chiefly due to anxiety about not being prepared for the August test.

We're two months out and I have only completed 65% of the CC (I'm trying to be thorough: BR, Foolproofing LGs etc).

I'm getting pretty anxious because I've only started LG a week ago and while fairly accurate, I'm quite slow at them. Moreover I've seen many people here mention that one should FP the LGs from PT 1-35 before taking PTs and there's no way I have time to do all of that- I could maybe, maybe do half.

Best case scenario I finish the CC and have a month to take PTs. I guess I just wanted to reach out and see if people have seen substantial improvement with only a month of PTing, given they've spent a good amount of time on the fundamentals.

I've signed up for the October test as well just in case, although even then, I've heard a month between takes is too short?

I'd really appreciate any advice!

lexxx745

idk if you do 6-8 hours a day I dont see how your only 65% of the CC. I think you might be doing every single problem set which isnt necessary. You should be PTing quite soon, with 1-2 PTs a week. I dont think foolproofing all games 1-35 is necessary

manvitha

I think it's time for you to move to PTing! You will learn a lot from taking the tests and doing a thorough review. And don't worry about being slow on LG - as long as you keep doing them (and redoing the ones you were unsure of, even if you have to redo it 5 times), you will get better. I used to consistently miss 5+ questions on LG, and now I consistently miss 0-2. Anything you haven't learned in the CC you will learn by doing on the PTs. And if you notice that you're consistently missing certain question types while you PT, then you can go back to that question type in the CC. Good luck! And don't forget to take breaks.

Journeyto99thpercentile

@"Hans Zimmer" https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-ultimate-test-mentality-resource-list/

Journeyto99thpercentile

Stay positive @"Hans Zimmer" we all have different experience we bring to the table when studying for the lsat. Just keep your head down in your books and telling yourself that you're just looking for the right way to think about the many different things the exam teaches and it will all click. Your future self will thank you after you've put in the test. There are way too many success stories for you not to add your name to the list!

DINOSAUR

I think it is very important to learn the CC well before going into the PT phase. The understanding of logic and reading ability just does not come fast. I would say don't burn yourself out. Don't just do the LSAT all day. This would make you even more anxious if you don't do as good as you want. And it's just so normal to be stuck in a plateau or not improve for a long time. But as your ability grows, higher score will come naturally. Just balance your life with something else.

Hans Zimmer

@lexxx745 Yes I did every single problem set. Additionally I've been FP games as I go through the CC, which is very time consuming.

I guess I just have this fixation on not passing up any potentially important details?

Perhaps I need to get over this is just get to PTing...

Hans Zimmer

@Journeyto99thpercentile Thanks for sharing that resource and for the encouragement!

Definitely going to try to just keep my head down and work.

Hans Zimmer

@manvitha @DINOSAUR thank you both for the advice!

I'm not 100% sure how I will proceed. I think I'll skim the rest of the CC and get to the PTs, reverting back when needed.