I hope it's helpful for future test takers.Important stuff first:
What worked for me this (third) time around
This time around, I went all out. I studied for five months, maybe 3-4 hours a week at the beginning and then up to 12 hours per week at the end. I pretty much just followed lsatblog's 5 month study plan (lsatblog.blogspot.com) with extra LG practice since that was my worst section.
Logic Games drilling: I made 3 photocopies of all the logic games in PT 19-38 and arranged them in a stack, so I'd run across the games again about a week after I did them. I did four games a day. At first, I timed myself, but I kept working until I finished the game and then noted how long it took. Once I could do the whole games 100% accurately in about 10 minutes/game, I started timing myself and stopping when the timer went off: 9:30, then 9:00, etc. until I could do them all in 7 minutes. I really think repeating the games helped me ingrain the basic patterns until they were automatic. I didn't remember the specifics when I redid each game, but stuff like the basic not-laws became much more automatic. When I started doing fresh LG's as part of unseen PT's, I was MUCH better at them.
LR: Once I was square on LG, I really focused on LR (all within the lsatblog study plan). I worked through the LR bible then went back through it and wrote a five page summary of the main points. Then, I read that summary before every prep test until I pretty much had it memorized. (I'm not giving out copies of this because it's not a magic cheat sheet- the value is boiling down the strategies in a way that works for you. It's about the process, not the product.)
RC: I didn't do a lot of specific RC prep. It was my strongest section, and just analyzing my mistakes after the PT's was enough. I already do a lot of non-fiction reading (nerd
), so that might not work for others.Accountability:Finally, this time around, I had a study partner. We didn't meet but once a week, but knowing that he expected me to cover certain material before we met really helped me stay on schedule. We'd also review our PT's together and fill in a simple spreadsheet of types of ?'s missed. I hated reviewing PT's, but Keeping a Record of the kind of questions I missed really helped my fix weaknesses the last two months or so.
What didn't work before
I first took the LSAT in June before my senior year. My first score (157) was mostly just the result of stupidity. My mentality was very much, "Oh, I did great on the SAT, so the LSAT will be no problem." Wrong. I think skimmed a Kaplan book and did a couple (literally, two) PT's, but that was it.
I studied for my second attempt, but I focused mainly on chugging through the Princeton Review books (which I do not recommend) and then taking as many PT's as possible. I didn't review PT's, and I never did a logic game more than once. I was actually pretty happy with my 164, until I realized that, while a 164/3.3 might get me admitted, I would have zero chance at money, which I really need.
ETA: Please let me know if anything is unclear or if I could be more detailed <3
