Falling behind on study schedule

bisma.saleem76

Hello guys! I am taking the LSAT for the first time in August. I started studying March 18 and according to the 7sage study schedule I should be putting in 40-50 hours a week. However I work full time and I am finding it rather difficult to get through the assigned coursework weekly. I am also going through the course in order and I feel like I am not covering all the sections RC LR AR enough. The first few weeks are mostly LR. Im scared because I feel like I am not going to have enough time to do practice tests at the end. But I cant skip the curriculum either because I have no background in the LSAT. How do you suggest I go about my studying

bisma.saleem76

My old diagnostic without any prior LSAT prep was 138. My goal is 160

jadu0404

I'm on the (almost) same boat. I started March 22 and hope to write my first LSAT by June and again in Sept, but may change my plan depending on how fast I could get through the course materials and practice tests. I also work FT (and not WFH!!!). Hang in there, we can do it!!

Edit: I haven't studied long enough to tell you anything solid, but I tried to squeeze in study times here and there, like commute time, lunch break, watching & re-watching videos of confusing concepts while brushing teeth, etc. Hope you could share some of your tips?

bisma.saleem76

I start work at 9 am so I squeeze in a few hours of studying from 5-8. Also on the weekends and after work if I am not feeling too tired. But that is no where near enough time to go through 40 hours of core curriculum each week. Also I believe that the LSAT is not offered in September

jadu0404

@"bisma.saleem76" oh my bad, I meant Oct! I get off from work around 6 and get home around 7 so I generally study from 7:30 ~ 10pm after work. Hopefully I can catch up during Sat-Sun and get Friday nights off! But we just gotta do as much as we can I guess, even if that means we can't get through all of the available PTs by LSAT date!

JustaKid

Hey Bisma, hate to be the bearer of bad news. It's a pretty tough goal you've set. The truth is even if you rip through the CC in time and have time for PT's your retention rate of the core curriculum won't be optimal. I work full-time and have two small children. When I first started studying I thought 8 months would be enough. I quickly learned that it's going to be a much longer process. I think you should try to take your time and make sure you are really grasping each concept and focus on quality study time over quantity. I know that if I try to sit down after a full work day and taking care of the kids, I simply won't be able to. I try to study 2 hours a day by waking up really early and it has helped me a ton.

As for being worried about the content, I would trust the process it really is pivotal to learn all of the logic from the LR before moving on to LG. Also focusing on one matter at a time seems to be optimal. I don't know your timing or decision making process but might consider choosing to write later in the year and not being overly stressed about keeping the study schedule. For reference when I first started studying I tried putting in 5 hours a day (2 in the morning 1 during lunch and 2 at night) I was miserable and burnt out pretty quickly. Since then I decided to take it much slower and it has helped other areas of my life dramatically and kept me dedicated and focused as I study. Best of luck!

galactic

Hi bisma.saleem76, I think working full time and expecting to study for the LSAT roughly 6 hours a day is a superhuman bar you're setting for yourself.

My advice: Slow down. Focus on setting the foundation now. Yes, create a schedule for accountability. But don't be afraid of taking longer with the core curriculum and tussling around with the core concepts of this test before moving on to taking timed practice tests. I have found that when going through the CC, I exceed the nominal time set in my study schedule to learn the concepts (i.e. not procrastinating, but taking let's say 7 hours to get through a section that is marked as taking only 5 hours to complete). I was originally bummed over this before realizing I'm actually getting more value by taking the time I need to saturate the concepts rather than rushing through and taking only a fraction of value along the way.

I can't say exactly what's right for you, but let's say you scaled down all the way to 20 hours a week. This would leave you finishing the CC in early June, giving you 2 full months of timed PTs before the test in August. I think 2 months of PTs with a solid foundation is a way better scenario than 3 months of PTs on a shaky foundation brought about by rushing.

While going through the CC, I think you can be flexible in how you approach it. I've been personally good with the layout of it so can't speak too much to this approach. But I think it's totally doable to jump around a little more than is prescribed by the automatic schedule maker. I would say at the very least, get through the full logic curriculum before moving on to LG.

I think your goal of 160 is great and definitely achievable with commitment. Hope this helps.

kkole444

Hello,
To start either you will have to put the time in upfront(CC) or later (BR PTs). But I would not stress too much about falling behind you can take the August exam September/October/November and still be 'early' in the application cycle, that being said it is still better to get it in early as possible, but you should not take the exam early and suffer a lower LSAT score because of it. Pushing the LSAT off from August and take it in November to get 1 point better IMO would be better than just applying In August.
Another point, the start of each section will be slower than the rest because that is where you are learning the foundations of LR, RC, and LG. If you rush that and do not get a good foundation you will have to learn it later. I would not rush the CC either. Plus you do not need to go through every LSAT at the end of the CC to get the score you want. A hard lesson I learned is that quality study for a shorter amount of time is way better than studying long hours at an meh quality. You started studying a week ago and I assume pumped/excited to get going but this exam but the learning process is not a sprint, it is a marathon and because of that burnout is real. You can defiantly push yourself to get done but I would not sacrifice lessons and questions just for the sake of completing them there is a limited number of questions. If you are a week out and are falling behind I would recommend changing your LSAT schedule to fit your work/life schedule. Just 40- 50 hours of LSAT just by itself is a lot to do. I did not know this when I first started but is it better to just take the lsat once get the score you want and be done. I would wait until you are PTing around the scores you want on the actual lsat. If you put the time in and follow the process there is no reason why you cannot achieve any score.
Best of luck in your studies!