Between the Curriculum and PT/BRing

Cant Get Right

So, I’m wanting to participate in the September BR group, but I’m in a good place with the curriculum and eager to start; so thought I’d lay out my ideas of how to balance that and get some input.

I’ve begun fool proofing the games and have developed what I think is a really good system for me based off of 7Sage’s recommendations with some modifications of my own. I feel great there, so it’s more LR and RC I’m unsure of how to study in the meantime. I guess I’ll just drill sections, alternating between using a timer and a stopwatch to develop my pace, followed of course by thorough Blind Review. I will return to the curriculum to address any BR misses and over confidence errors.

Does that seem like a productive use of a month? Or should I not worry so much about the group and just go ahead with PTs?

stepharizona

I would keep drilling and working on timing. And when you feel you are ready start with PTs, you can always go into the group review, even if you haven't taken the test in the while.

If you've already taken the test that is being discussed that night and you want it fresh in your mind, you can add the test into your rotation for that week, as a retake. It wont hurt you to take a test more than once, in fact, many people have taken tests multiple times, especially when they are spending more than 6 months studying for the LSAT.

I wouldn't hold off your study schedule for PTing because of the BR schedule.

You can start PTing when it is right for you and still join in on the BR calls. There is a large variety of people on those calls, some in the early stages of prep, others that are there for review.

runiggyrun

You could start by doing a few of the old PTs as full length practice, understanding that the scores might be inflated due to familiarity with the material. That would combine the benefits of drills with getting used to sitting through a full length test.

Cant Get Right

Thanks guys, that makes a lot of sense. I’ve still got a lot of ground work to do on games, so I think I’ll drill and do old PTs until I’m comfortable with games, and at that point move on to the newer PTs, whenever that may be.

runiggyrun

Sounds like a plan. Plenty of time till September - go crush it!

allison.gill.sanford

I would say get started on PTs in some form now, because that is precisely the work that will help you diagnose where you have weaknesses. You don't really get great data from your PTs before taking about 10 of them (post core curriculum), so getting started early is always helpful! But you've got time - a rare commodity in the world of LSAT prep. Best of luck!

MrSamIam

I would do at least one PT to gauge where you stand. You may find that you still need to work on LG, and that you're fine in the RC and LR department. Or, the opposite. Figure out where you're lacking, and drill those.

Cant Get Right

I did one @MrSamIam and was really pleased with both the timed PT and BR. Outside of Games, which I hadn’t started fool proofing yet, no immediately conspicuous weaknesses. I definitely want to start building my data to start identifying weaknesses in analytics. I hadn’t even considered that, @allison.gill.sanford, but that’s a really insightful point. I’m only a few days in on fool proofing games but I can already tell that I’m making really big strides there. That was definitely a soft spot, so I’m really excited the fool proof method seems to be working so effectively. So while I’m still fool proofing, I think I’m going to do PTs from 1-35. That’ll allow me to stay sharp on LR and RC and start building my data bank as well. Then, once I’m really confident with Games, I’ll unleash the beast on 36+.

allison.gill.sanford

I didn't realize you were still foolproofing the games, that's definitely a reason to delay PTs - you won't get great data out of them until you get your games game on point! Great that you are already seeing improvements. I drilled the games for at least a month before starting PTs, so my recommendation is to do as much as you can to master those before moving on. But your plan to take some below 35 while still working games is also pretty solid, it's good to save the later material. You got this!