Study Plan for August 2022 LSAT

[found.antlers]

Hello, I am planning on taking the August 2022 test and I'm feeling frustrated  by my lack of progression. What I believe to be part of my problem is that I do not have a strong study schedule and essentially feel as though I am "winging it". I was initially supposed to write June and postponed as I wasn't where I needed to be and now I am panicking that August is quickly approaching and I have made no additional gains.

I started studying in January and took a fundamentals/core course that gave me a thorough foundation for the basics. In May I began a study process of PT - thorough review/analysis of that PT(all questions) and then a subsequent retest twice a week. This burned me out and I ended up taking a bit of a break and came back trying to focus specifically on LR which is my weakest area. I spent a considerable amount of time focusing just on LR and trying to drill and learn the structure of the various questions but it seems to have yielded very little progress as I am still getting -7/8 per LR section.

I am consistently scoring 155-157 on my PT's with a  10-12 point jump when I retest. I generally get 17 right on the LG sections and 18-19 on RC. However, I have spent no meaningful time on drilling or studying these sections in quite a while. RC was always my strongest section going into this so I have consistently neglected it, thinking that I can pick it up and improve easily . LG's was my weakest area and I spent a lot of concentrated time drilling and repeating and managed to get it up -2/3 when I was working hard on it. I have since let it lapse as I focus on LR.

My accuracy on timed vs. untimed is pretty much the same.

For LR I try to break down the question structurally before going to the stem but I'm finding that I get consistently flustered and "forget" the process/what to look for and everything that I have tried to absorb in my study sessions goes out the window. When I do get to the question stem I eliminate the obvious wrong answers first and then go back a second to discern and dissect the remaining 2 or 3 questions.

I find myself looking at sites of different LSAT tutors and courses hoping to find the "magic bullet" and have debated getting a few tutoring sessions, but I am concerned about learning a new system or breakdowns so close to the actual test. Not to mention I am reticent to spend more funds on the LSAT, shit adds up yo!  I guess what I am really trying to figure out is how to best structure my time at this point. What should my emphasis be on? How do I balance improving on all the sections while also working on PT's to keep my endurance up?

 

 

 

[Byzantine]

I found 7sage very useful especially for LG, not sure if it's one of the sources you tried yet. They have a part of the course open as a "free trial" to check out to see if it works for you.

[found.antlers]

Thanks @Byzantine I did look them up a while ago and tried the free trial option but it wasn't a good fit for me. They only offer programs/plans that include the entire core curriculum.

[pink222]

Hey! I wrote the LSAT in March and am re-writing in August and I can let you know what my study schedule sort of looked last time and is looking like now. I did score lower on my real test than I wanted so take this with a grain of salt I guess lol. I'll start with what/how I studied and then get into what my study schedule looks like for August.

I started with a 155 and then got up to a 160ish my really focusing on the fundamentals of LR so like conditional reasoning, learning what the flaws, learning how to resolve a paradox, etc. This was just reading the books and doing the drills at the end of the powerscore book. I then became super unmotivated and needed something that gave me more gratification/results so I moved to logic games. Again, studied the lsat books. Although, if you don't have them I think there's youtube vids by lsat lab online. The most important thing is just to get the diagramming down. I bought the powerscore testing and analytics package ($20/ month with 2 months minimum) and I found that really helped me. They break down drills into specific question types (assumption questions, must be true questions, grouping games, and so on). When you write practice tests they also show you what type of questions you're getting wrong and how long you're spending on things. I then just drilled a TON. I did games over until I could do a timed section (4 games) with about 5 minutes left to double check. This brought me up around a 165ish.

After that, I returned to logical reasoning to finish the powerscore book but I found I didn't learn anything without actually practicing. So I would take the main points from a chapter (or, if you have notes from your course just re-read those) and do the drills. I'd then go to lsat hacks, the powerscore forum, or the manhattan prep forum to figure out 1. why the right answer is correct and 2. why i chose the wrong answer (so important!!!). I really didn't focus on reading comp so with the LR I was PTing in around a 169 and sometimes low 170s. 

For this re-write I am focusing on doing harder games and foolproofing every logic game I don't master (you can look this up) to make sure that it's my reliable section no matter what. I got caught off guard on my test day in the LG section so I want to make sure that doesn't happen again. I also just slowed down with reading comp and just took a minute ish extra to read the passage and this has made my score in that section jump. Overall, especially if you're tight on spending money (which I get, this test sucks), really spend your time reading explanations on why you're getting questions wrong. 

Also, I am a total control freak so I found having a schedule has helped me a lot too! I'm working a full time internship this summer so this can change based on your schedule. I'm studying about 5 hours on weekdays (3 if I'm not feeling it) and 7 hours on the weekend. However, I get up early and finish my 7 hours by like 1 pm so I have the rest of the day off. It's so so so important to take breaks and have fun because the burnout is real. Because I've learned all the fundamentals I take 1-2 (Saturday and Wednesday) practice tests a week. I'll take these in the morning. Then, either after work or right after I'll review these. I'd spend two hours reviewing that. Then on monday, tuesday, thursday, friday I do drills. I used up all the powerscore drills so I'll just choose 4 practice tests and do all the lg, lr, or rc (make my own drills) from there. And then give myself 35 mins per section to do that. I'll do this in the morning before work and then review these after work. Sunday is my "review" day. All the questions I got wrong I put into a quizlet type thing, re-do them, and do them to make sure I actually understand and can do it timed. If not, I'll go over the explanations again. This is what works for me. I have a friend that scored in the mid 170s and studied 3 hours every weekday and like 5 hours on saturday and took sunday off. I just wanted to give you an idea of what days I devote to what things. 

This is sort of unrelated but I highly reccomend for everyone to watch the powerscore test mentality webinar. I kid you not it raised my score 2 points (consistently) and helped me SOOO much on test day. 

All that being said, I know this seems like a lot but please remember, your well being and mental health comes before anything else. Discipline is important but I will choose to watch a movie if I'm sad or attend a friend's bday party over studying. I also make sure to socialize on the weekends or at least distance myself from studying (after my 7 hours). Just like the actual test, studying for the test is a measure of grit and at the end of the day, you just have to get through it. But, not at the expense of your well-being. 

I believe in you buddy, we'll get through this together!

Edited June 19, 2022 by pink222