How much time did you spend studying?

kimste17

Right now, I've been studying full time since January, but I also studied all summer last year, and on-and-off during the fall semester. I've been dedicating 5-6 hours every day with one day off per week, but even so, I'm not seeing much change in my results. I know progress isn't always linear and everyone's experiences are different, but right now I'm starting to get discouraged because I feel like nothing I do is working, and the April administration will be my third exam. I'm aiming for at least a 170, but my last real test was a 164 and all my recent PTs have been in the low/mid-160s range. I know it's significantly harder to break into the 170s from the 160s than it is to get into the 160s from the 150s and so on, but it's so agonizing to be so close yet so far! How long did it take for you to get the results you wanted, and how did you get there without getting burned out?

aiman.shahab

Hey @kimste! This is a really valid question and something that happens to many LSAT takers (myself included)!

Right off the bat, I would say you might be leading towards burnout. I usually advise my students to study for no more than a maximum of 4 hours a day. I would also recommend scheduling a few days/a week break in between your studying, particularly when you're feeling like you're stuck in a plateau/studying non-stop but not seeing results. It's crucial for our brain to get breaks in between to absorb the information we're studying.

Breaking into the 170s requires a lot of analyzing of your patterns. For this, I recommend three things:
1. If you're not already blind reviewing your drills and/or Practice Tests, I would begin immediately! Give yourself at least an hour of time after a Practice Test to start blind review.

1. Keep a Practice Test log. In this, record what time you take a practice test, how you felt before and after, any other routines you practiced, if you warmed up with practice questions, etc. This is very helpful in figuring out what will work best for you when you sit for the real exam.

2. Keep a wrong answer journal. This, imo, is the most important thing you can do to break in the 170s. Record your wrong answers in the journal or any question you struggled with and write out how you can avoid the error the next time. Every week or two, go back and re-do old questions from the journal.

I know it's inherently frustrating to feel stuck when you're putting the time and energy in! Keep your head up and try taking a slight step back to make progress. If you'd like to talk through your plateau more or are looking for more personalized help, 7Sage offers an in house tutoring program that can be really helpful for breaking into the 170s. You're welcome to schedule a free consult here: https://calendly.com/7sage-tutoring/7sage-tutoring-free-consultation?utm_source=FCA_A.

spittingnickels

i have been studying since september 2020 lol. i started out using the princeton review lsat book which didnt work out well for me. it wasnt until i started using the powerscore books and 7sage that i started making improvement. the duration of time youve been studying matters less than the QUALITY of studying youre doing. so ive been studying 3 years but only about 6 months of that 3 years has been productive and qualitative