How to space out PTs while working full time

larafuturelawyer

Hi friends! I've been studying for the LSAT while working a full time job, which means I wake up three hours early every morning to do my lessons and then do a few hours of studying each day of the weekend. I'm approaching the part of my course where I'm just supposed to be doing practice tests, and I was wondering how other 7Sagers in similar situations spaced these out.

I obviously can't complete the whole practice test before work during the week, but I also don't think I can do two practice tests and blind review them on the weekends in between. I was wondering if for the weeks with two PTs, I could do one Saturday and one Sunday, and then spend the rest of the week BRing both of them?

Let me know your thoughts!

Cayenne43

I worked full time while studying too. And I did a different schedule from 7sages' for PTs because I found that taking PTs before or after work was never as good as when I woke up well rested and fresh on a Saturday or Sunday. And taking back to back was a lot for me to handle...I found that I needed at least a day in between PTs. So I took one PT a week. I would wake up on Saturday, go to a coffee shop, and take a PT. I would BR on Sundays. And during the week I would split up a PT, so take one section a day during the week.

Maritzaa

I usually take 2 PTs a week. One on a weekday and one on the weekend. For the weekday PT, I make sure to get 7 - 8hrs of sleep the night before; the next day I decompress for about an hour after work and then I begin at around 7:00P. I BR the next 2 - 3 days. I then take one day to reassess go over lessons. Once the weekend approaches, I take the second PT and BR.

EX: Mon - PT / Tues, Wed - BR / Thurs - Review/Drill / Fri - Off/catch-up / Sat, Sun - PT & BR

Aside from PTs, I try to keep my chops up by doing a section before work during the weekdays (except on the weekday that I PT - need all the sleep I can get!).

I pull a section from PTs 1 - 10 and add as the fifth section to my timed PT. I use sections from PTs 11 - 35 for morning drills.


Hope this helps!

Cant Get Right

Just do one a week. Working full time while studying is tough. Respect.

You've got to acknowledge the limitations this puts on you and manage your energy carefully. Aim for quality, not quantity. That means 1 PT/BR a week.

the part of my course where I'm just supposed to be doing practice tests,

This part of the course doesn't exist, haha. Use your more restricted time blocks during the week to drill, foolproof, and return to the curriculum.

blueyayfree

As a fellow full-time worker, I agree with those who suggest only doing one per week. That's what I did and it worked out fine for me. Also, when I tried forcing myself to do a PT during the week, and one on the weekend, I ended up burning out and getting really bad scores. I then took a week off, went back to once a week, and did really well on the real test.

In terms of specifics, what worked best for me was this:*

Monday: timed full LG and LR sections, BR both
Tuesday: timed full RC section, BR + workout/exercise
Wednesday: timed full LG and LR sections, BR both
Thursday: timed full LG section, BR + workout/exercise
Friday: take the day off, it's Friday. You need this.
Saturday: PT, then workout/exercise
Sunday: BR PT, then workout/exercise

*note that this was after I had finished the course and felt confident in all of my underlying skills, and after I had really drilled the crap out LG and felt very confident with it. If LG is a problem area, dedicate a ton of time to it, and you'll get better very quickly and your skills will stick around because the games are all just bad copies of each other.

So, you're essentially getting two PTs per week, plus some extra LG (which can be swapped with another section, obviously), while also maintaining some sanity, which is actually really important for the LSAT. Quality of time spent studying, which is dependent on the quality of one's mental state, is way more important than just taking a ton of PTs. The whole exercise thing is actually essential to LSAT prep, too (and, in my opinion, also for life in general) because it helps you de-stress, and perhaps most importantly, get good sleep.

The weekday sessions can also be used for drilling specific questions types, reviewing basics, or working on timing, e.g., limit section time to 30 minutes, 28 minutes, etc.

Nicole Hopkins

@larafuturelawyer said:
I could do one Saturday and one Sunday, and then spend the rest of the week BRing both of them?

I did something similar to this while working full time!

Pacifico

Do what you can, when you can. Understand that burnout is a cumulative condition from all your obligations, not just LSAT prep. And know that this may just take a lot longer than you think it will.

MrSamIam

Props to you for balancing a full-time schedule and the LSAT. Take PTs on days where you are well-rested. BR and drill on the days that you work.

a_reubin

@blueyayfree said:

Monday: timed full LG and LR sections, BR both
Tuesday: timed full RC section, BR + workout/exercise
Wednesday: timed full LG and LR sections, BR both
Thursday: timed full LG section, BR + workout/exercise
Friday: take the day off, it's Friday. You need this.
Saturday: PT, then workout/exercise
Sunday: BR PT, then workout/exercise

So my study schedule is quite different, how do you go about doing just single sections under time a few days? Is it still out of a specific preptest that you don't do in its entirety? And then do you just not do that preptest? I guess what I'm asking is do you set some preptests aside to just work on a few sections at a time than BR?

I fully recognize my study habits before under a different prep course was not good enough, so I'm hoping for clarification here.

blueyayfree

@a_reubin Yes I just don't do those preptests.

You can also just re-use old preptests, too. I think reusing is really helpful because while I can almost always remember seeing a given question before, I can almost never remember what the answer was, so you still get good practice solving the problems.

@"a_reubin" said:
I guess what I'm asking is do you set some preptests aside to just work on a few sections at a time than BR?

Not sure exactly what you mean by this, but interpreting the "than" as a "then", then the answer is yes.