LSAT study plan. PLEASE HELP! Forum

[nbhatia]

Hey guys, first of all, thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this. I am canadian student who plans to take the lsat in december. I have NO lsat experience what soever : I hate, hate, hate RC, so lost in logic games, but LR is a bit better. I basically have 3 big questions:
1) When do i start studying, and how often?
2) How do i study?
3) What materials are best?


1) I started an 8 month coop in may, and it goes till december. I decided to write my Lsat in december because I wanted to enjoy atleast 3 months of my summer. I am thinking the best time would be to start would be in mid August (too late?) Remember that I work 40 hours a week and I am home around 5:30 everyday. My plan was to study twice during the week, and then on Sat/Sun (so 4 times a week, ramp it up for last month). (pros/cons? too little?)

2) Since I have no Intro to this stuff, I have no idea how to start. Wheter I should take a course first, then do a bunch of books, then practice exams. Or a general book first, then the power score bibles, then exams? Or any combination of book/bibles/course/PT's??? I was thinking a genreal book first ot get used to the concepts, than the powerscore bibles, then lots of PT's (altough I heard RC bible was no good). I really want to use my time wisely.

3) What Courses? I have Kaplan, Princeton, Renert (canadian), Oxford (?) to choose from.
What Books/bibles? With numerous books, It's hard to pick the ones that would be most beneficial, specially at my stage (not knowing anything).

This is just a generalization of what is going on in my head, so please say something if it is important to know, or maybe something you wish you knew before you started studying. I can give more info if needed. Thanks again!

Also, I have read lots of stuff on TLS, but I wanted more personalized response for me.

[psteele99]

blueprint the movie worked for me... a little spendy but overall kept me on track at a manageable pace for my 40 hour work week (not including two hours of commute time and two little girls under 4).

Also, there are some great study guides posted by folks who did self study. You could check them out too.

[NU_Jet55]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =6&t=41657

Enjoy.

[nbhatia]

I have read most of Pithypike's study plan, but I was still hoping I could get more than once person's insight, and a little more personalized answer. Thanks.

[NU_Jet55]

I have read most of Pithypike's study plan, but I was still hoping I could get more than once person's insight, and a little more personalized answer. Thanks.

The first time I did a "Get Prepped!" Weekend Course and a full length Kaplan Course. The second time I self studied using a combination of TLS, the Powerscore Bibles, and Preptests. There was no comparison for me. Kaplan sucks-just awful. Get Prepped is too short to be of any real use, but I liked some of their methods. If you have the self control, self study. If you don't have the self control, don't go to law school.

[LSAT Blog]

1) I started an 8 month coop in may, and it goes till december. I decided to write my Lsat in december because I wanted to enjoy atleast 3 months of my summer. I am thinking the best time would be to start would be in mid August (too late?) Remember that I work 40 hours a week and I am home around 5:30 everyday. My plan was to study twice during the week, and then on Sat/Sun (so 4 times a week, ramp it up for last month). (pros/cons? too little?)

Mid-August through early December is enough time.

I would study more than twice a week, even before the final month. There's a lot of foundational stuff to learn - you don't want to end up cramming in the final month. You can't cram for this thing if you want to do your best.

2x a week is probably too little. It's hard to say how often and how many hours/week you'll need. A large part of it will depend upon your goals and your natural aptitude.

You may find 2x a week is enough, but you may find 4x a week isn't even enough. You may adjust the amount as you move forward depending upon how comfortable you feel with the material. Whatever you decide, I'd recommend spacing out your studying over the course of the week to avoid burnout (and avoid forgetting stuff as you dip your toes into the water). Consistency is very important.

I'd recommend spending at least some time with the books before deciding whether to take a course (and if so, which one). You mentioned that you have no experience with this stuff, but that you "hate, hate, hate RC". Most courses spend less time on on RC (less demand for courses to cover it), but and more time on LR (which you seem to need less help on).

You may want to wait before dropping a large chunk of change on one until you see whether self-study is a viable option for you,

I've written several LSAT study plans that involve using the bibles and a bunch of PrepTests. That link also includes some tips on balancing LSAT prep with work. There's no reason you can't squeeze in some studying on more than one weekday each week.

[trudat15]

1) I started an 8 month coop in may, and it goes till december. I decided to write my Lsat in december because I wanted to enjoy atleast 3 months of my summer. I am thinking the best time would be to start would be in mid August (too late?) Remember that I work 40 hours a week and I am home around 5:30 everyday. My plan was to study twice during the week, and then on Sat/Sun (so 4 times a week, ramp it up for last month). (pros/cons? too little?)

Mid-August through early December is enough time.

I would study more than twice a week, even before the final month. There's a lot of foundational stuff to learn - you don't want to end up cramming in the final month. You can't cram for this thing if you want to do your best.

2x a week is probably too little. It's hard to say how often and how many hours/week you'll need. A large part of it will depend upon your goals and your natural aptitude.

You may find 2x a week is enough, but you may find 4x a week isn't even enough. You may adjust the amount as you move forward depending upon how comfortable you feel with the material. Whatever you decide, I'd recommend spacing out your studying over the course of the week to avoid burnout (and avoid forgetting stuff as you dip your toes into the water). Consistency is very important.

I'd recommend spending at least some time with the books before deciding whether to take a course (and if so, which one). You mentioned that you have no experience with this stuff, but that you "hate, hate, hate RC". Most courses spend less time on on RC (less demand for courses to cover it), but and more time on LR (which you seem to need less help on).

You may want to wait before dropping a large chunk of change on one until you see whether self-study is a viable option for you,

I've written several LSAT study plans that involve using the bibles and a bunch of PrepTests. That link also includes some tips on balancing LSAT prep with work. There's no reason you can't squeeze in some studying on more than one weekday each week.

I'd go to the website above. He's written a lot of great study plans based on how long you would have to study (in your case, it sounds like the 4 month plan (or 3 month plan if you plan to start in late August as opposed to early). Get the Powerscore Bibles and a BUNCH of preptests (get all of those LSAC Preptests books that have 10 tests each, and buy individually some of the more recent preptests). Good luck!

[balzern]

I started prepping in October for the June test. Went through Powerscore LG bible and LR bible. Did Kaplan book and Kaplan LG workbook. Took 1-2 PTs a week (later 3). Total around 35 PTs felt pretty prepared for the test other than last logic game and last RC passage because i ran out of time. It is really hard even with immense practice to determine how you will mentally react to the pressure and timed constraints, as well as the sometimes lackluster test taking environment. Get to it.

[apropos]

My suggestion: Since youre having trouble on the two dedicated reasoning sections, concentrate on the logic games. Get the powerbook bible for logic games, read it, do the work in there. Then get as many old LGs from PTs as you can (I'd suggest getting really old ones for initial study so once you have the basics down you still have new ones to work with). Do them--as many as you can.

If you're somewhat okay on the RC, then it's not so much the reading part of the LR that's giving you trouble. It's the stucture of arguments. The logic games will improve your performance on RC, then you can work on those directly.

I think that intuitively understanding the stuff behind sufficient and necessary conditions, contrapositives, etc. really help on the LR sections, whereas doing them simultaneously will be less efficient.

[nbhatia]

So since I will probably be ordering the LR and LG powerscore bibles, should I have anything, or order anything for the RC?

[balzern]

So since I will probably be ordering the LR and LG powerscore bibles, should I have anything, or order anything for the RC?

I bought RC Bible, got about half way through before I ran out of time....Doing previous RC sections from previous tests helps...

[psteele99]

get the tests and do some rc passages. time yourself and force yourself to cut down to 8 minutes per passage. this worked well for me as i had 4 minutes to spare to review and make sure i bubbled properly