On the right track?

harrismegan

Hi! I've posted before.... earlier this week as well... but I have a question for those in the 168-180 range!

Right now, I took a prep test and received a 170 w/ BR of 175 and a 168 w/ BR of 180. While I know two scores aren't a clear sign of a trend YET, I feel as if something has "clicked" within me for the LSAT, and I do feel confident that my mark on my next PT will be in that range.

I'm looking to be scoring in the 170s for my PTs from here on out, and looking to score a solid 170 on the October exam. With that goal in mind, I want to make sure I'm prepping in an effective manner. I also want to reduce my risk of burn out. So, with those two goals in mind, I will outline my situation below:

My boss is allowing me to work a reduced schedule, so I can being prepping everyday from 2-whenever I go to bed. I wake up, go to the gym, come home and get ready. As I'm getting ready I read through some LSAT notes. Things like... how to do certain questions/what to look for for Reading Comprehension/how to translate conditional statements, ect.
When I get to work, I study usually from 7:30-8:30. I do 1 timed RC, 4 passage section, and 1 timed LG section. I use ONLY the allotted pencils, sharpener, highlighters that we will be using during the exam, and I always time myself. I then correct the LG and leave the RC BR for after work.

When I get home I BR the RC, check my answers, and review them to see where my problem areas lie. I then usually do 1-2 LR sections and BR them. I do an additional 1-2 LG sections as well.

I plan to PT every Wednesday from 2-5, and every Saturday from 9-12 ish. On Saturdays, I try and set up the routine exactly how it'll be on The Day: wake up, go to the gym, come home and eat breakfast and have a coffee, start my exam, on break I plan to drink an energy drink and eat the same snack I will come test day. I do 5 sections. I want to continue like this until September.

In September, I plan on testing in areas with noise: open libraries, ect.

At this point, I've been through a lot of Cambridge packages, and I am doing prep tests 58-74. I left prep tests.... 45 ish to about 50 to use as the material for the LR/RC/LG drilling. I constantly drill past LG sections. My LG is usually -1 to 0 every single time.

Does this appear to be an effective strategy? I also have began reading articles on my train rides to and from work, to help with RC.

Should I be doing something else? I also fear burnout, so I was thinking of doing light studying every Friday from like... 2-5 PM, and then taking the evening off. Writing a PT Saturday, BR Sunday morning, and taking Sunday afternoon off.

Thoughts? I AM SORRY IT'S SO LONG! xo

GSU Hopeful

I've been doing something similar. Have you noticed any differences in gains in taking the PT in once sitting versus doing a section, reviewing it and then doing another section? Which has worked better for you?

Pacifico

If your PTs and BR are that high I'd say cut the drilling out almost completely at this point... Take 2-3 PTs a week with a light warmup and just maintain an excellent BR... You obviously have a grasp of the fundamentals so I don't see the point in continuing to drill like that...

c.janson35

I'd agree with @Pacifico and say that drilling at this point may be unnecessary, but if you do want to then drilling complete sections is more beneficial than doing problem sets. On the whole it seems like a really good plan, and if you want to continue to do timed sections on top of PT then go for it! I would probably scrap going over the notes in the morning as it seems like you might just be doing it because you feel like you have to be doing something; at this point in your studies you obviously have the fundamentals down and so a break in the morning for some yoga or meditation would probably help out even more than going over notecards would. Personally, I think doing PTs with BR is the most effective way to study and should be first and foremost in any plan, so as long as you are getting those in you should be golden!