Falling behind on study schedule... help/advice?

gardeniablue

Hey, I'm a second time LSAT test taker. I just started studying again this week (Tuesday) and have been consistently studying for 2-3 hours a day up until this point. I am trying to build up my endurance so I can eventually study for long hours and I have been taking it slow to avoid burnout. I looked at my study schedule and I am about 19 hours behind on my schedule for Monday (which already has me starting an entirely new plan for the week). It is currently 8:00 PM where I live and I don't think I can crank out 19 hours of studying until Monday without major burnout. I really don't want to fall behind on my study schedule, but I also need to be able to sleep and function.
What should I do?

Edit: For context, I plan on re-taking in April but I'm flexible and could take it in June.

lucasjamesziegler

I would say do not be so beholden to the time constraint. It is more important to make sure you understand the material as opposed too sticking to some rigid hours studied goal.

equallyyoked

I agree with the above poster. At the end of the day, You have to be able to say that you are at least close to mastering whatever you are working on for the day. So if you are working on LG sequencing and you have understood all the curriculum that is available, then move to drilling. But even that is not super simple.

With drilling you may have missed key elements and need to go back and review or relearn what you are missing from the curriculum. You don't want to drill the wrong way using the wrong techniques so make sure that you understand what has been taught. The study schedule may not account for that since that is a very relative point.

I did a sequencing curriculum (here and somewhere else) and then it took me maybe 3 weeks to almost master sequencing. That is 3 weeks straight but I had been learning sequencing a long while but studying this one section consecutively has really helped me personally. I have now decided that I will move to grouping and make sure that I do at least 1-2 sequencing games a day to keep it fresh. I am focusing on LG as a whole and then I will move to other parts of the test again (LR and RC).

I will be taking the LSAT for a second time like you, but my goal is to do as many dedicated hours per day and end each day with having mastered a small portion of the test then rinse and repeat. Sometimes that is only truly mastering two games for that day. But since those skills build on the next steps of what I am doing, I do not count that as a loss because I only mastered 2 games that day. Tomorrow could be more for each of us who attempt!

I am Hoping that you make a realistic study schedule for yourself depending on what you need to work on and then commit to doing it. You may do 3 hours a day (broken into 1 hour increments) for a while and then you will see at the end of each day how much you accomplished knowing that you worked on what you needed for that day. If you did 3/hours a day for 6 days a week, that is 18 hours for the week of studying. If you can do more in the evening, I would suggest a review of what you did for the day and you can add that as an extra 30 min or an hour. You sound very focused and determined so keep at it but dont look at the general study hours as do or not do for you. Some people can master a question type in LR for example in only a few lessons so figure out what you need and push yourself as much as possible. At one point you will be doing entire exams timed. My goal is to start that in mid February. What is your goal or have you already started whole timed exams?

If you have the live feature, I would also suggest dropping in on a class per day as well. That way you would have access to a teacher who can answer a question directly.

Above all, I do ask The Lord to guide my studying and He is helping me make a daily schedule that suits me.

I know that you too will do well. Thank you for your question to the forum. It will help many!