Question from 7Sager on how to study for a long time

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  TheDeterminedC Member

  April 2019 edited April 2019 1025 karma

  Congrats on your early improvement, 7sager!!!

  I have been in your situation before. Two years is plenty of time if it's used wisely. Make sure to have a solid understanding of fundamentals and that you are able to finish an entire section under time before you even think of taking full PTs. I wouldn't take any more 35 min sections until you're nearing the point of speeding up correct reasoning/intuition. 35 minute sections often create bad habits and force more pressure than what is necessary when taken in the early stages of studying. Start with untimed, begin loose timing after with maybe 45 mins or so, and then work your way down from there.

  If you were wondering, it took me around a whole semester (3.5 months) to finish the 7sage course while at school full time. Also, don't think you're going too slow if you go over all the suggested time per lesson either, just make sure you really understand everything.

  Another tip is to just straight up accept that at some points you will fail and it's alright to do so. This is a new territory with new ideas, new learning experiences and new challenges. As such, you are bound to have a a bad section or a bad test score at some point. With the amount of time you will invest into studying, it's important to view inevitable failures as a learning experience, an opportunity to get better by learning from mistakes. It's the perspective on how we will handle the failures that's important. Just never ever take a bad test score as a measure of your intellect---always view the score positively as a tool to grow. A healthy mind is important.

  Your timeframe is a marathon. That said, my #1 advice is be wise with the amount of material you are going to use over this timeframe. Running out of material is not fun. Make sure you get the most out of every question.

  Best wishes on your law school journey!
• MissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐

  April 2019 3256 karma

  The above is great advice! I would echo that it is really important to take your time and fully understand the CC before you move on to more drilling/PTing. I would also recommend that you take advantage of your breaks from school for studying. Remember, you can always study more for the LSAT or retake it, but once you have your GPA there is nothing you can do to change it. As a sophomore, I would recommend making your grades your top priority and let the LSAT take a backseat for the time being.
• theLSATdreamer Alum Member

  April 2019 1287 karma

  I can only wish i had started as early as you, if you're discipline is on point you will get that 170 guarantee, two years will allow you the time you need to become a master at the core curriculum and then take PTs at a once a week pace. Congrats on the early start!
• Pride Only Hurts Alum Member

  April 2019 2186 karma

  Sophomore year is super early! I have to agree with MissChanandler. Your GPA is something you only have control of while you're in undergrad. The best thing you can do for yourself is to focus on graduating with the highest GPA possible. But if you somehow have a lot of free time and are sitting on a 3.8+ GPA then by all means start studying. I would be careful though. You can easily eat up valuable resources if you don't study correctly. I would stop taking Prep Tests for now. If you're going to study, go through 7Sage's curriculum, do the drills, and really master the fundamentals before you start Practice tests. Good luck!
• Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  April 2019 27900 karma

  Great advice already, so I'll try to avoid redundancies by repeating, but I pretty fully endorse all the above.

  Additionally, a few things:

  You absolutely need to be at 170+ before testing, but don't rush it. You need time at that level to build consistency. The margins of error are so slim that you really can't afford any errors resulting from matters of inconsistency.

  Don't feel like you absolutely must roll straight from undergrad into law school if your scores aren't where you want them. Law school actually really like some experience beyond school, so if you need to take a little time to study further, try to land a cool internship or something for while you continue pressing forward in your test prep. This will actually be a positive for you candidacy, so there's really no downside (excepting any potential extenuating circumstances) to taking a little extra time if needed.

  Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to be redundant but DO NOT burn through all of your material. This simply cannot be overstressed. Sacrifice the early PT's, maybe something in the range of 1 - 45 to use for practice while you're working your way up into the full on PT phase. To best manage 46+ once you start PT'ing, take every fourth test in sequence. This allows you to work chronologically while giving yourself multiple rounds through the test.

  The hardest lesson for me to learn on my way up was actually not logical but more psychological. Initially, I was working for self-validation rather than for self-improvement. Seeking self-improvement implies inadequacy. For a long, long time I was unable to adopt inadequacy as my starting point. So I studied to prove to myself how smart I was and to justify rather than perfect my reasoning. This can only ever lead to intellectual stasis and score plateaus. I sort of adopted "You are not good enough" as something of a strangely motivational personal maxim. If I was good enough, I'd've actually had no chance because I'd've been there already if I were already good enough to be there. And I wasn't there. As long as I wasn't good enough though, I could always improve and press forward. So embrace and celebrate your inadequacies. Because without them, you have no chance.