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I found giving myself two full days off each week (not even 2 hours) was critical for not burning out, especially when I got into the stage of taking and reviewing PTs every prep day. Ideally you want to devote these days to your hobbies, and not even visit the forums or talk or think about the LSAT. You might not like the idea of disengaging from the test for so long (neither did I at first), but you won't know what's effective until you try it. Maybe you do better with full breaks, maybe you need that little bit everyday to prevent rust or sloppiness. You'll find out, but for now, don't lock yourself in.

The gym stuff is good, keep doing it. Feel free to experiment, at least in the early stages--maybe you do better right after a light exercise.

Later in your review, you'll phase out reading study guides and do more PTs and reviews. Don't forget to budget enough time to revisit tough games, passages, and LR questions. Also, review can take surprisingly long, sometimes longer than the PT itself. (Part of this definitely has to do with the fact that reviewing is less urgent and intense than testing, and far more prone to distractions like Facebook and TLS.) I have a somewhat annoying (but ultimately helpful) routine of typing out every single LR Q I get wrong or almost get wrong, along with detailed explanations or alternative approaches. I've done all but three LR sections in existence, and my LR document contains over 300 questions. The explanations got less and less detailed as time went on, but I always made sure they were substantive, not "B is wrong because it's irrelevant" or "C is wrong because that's not what the author does." Don't get lazy when diagnosing your mistakes. Don't give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Don't skip over a wrong answer just because the correct answer seems obvious in hindsight. Unless you really made an honest mistake (misbubbling, misreading), you obviously didn't think it was obvious when it counted. (Wow, totally digressed there, sorry.)

You're at an advantage since you seem to have devoted your entire schedule to LSAT prep. I had a part-time job, but one with extremely few and flexible hours, so I was in a similar situation. Friends, work, family, illness, hobbies, sports seasons, movies, etc. will distract you, and the few hours of break each day and on weekend afternoons might not be enough. Maybe I'm just not as disciplined as you, but I couldn't do it. I'm still going to meet the goal of taking and reviewing every PT in existence, but I definitely wasn't as disciplined as I thought I was going to be. Similarly, I would consider whether your relatively strict schedule is realistic. Again, different levels of planning work for different people, but for me, weekly goals set out at the beginning of my prep period + daily goals enumerated at the beginning of each week worked well.

soj wrote:Looks good.

I found giving myself two full days off each week (not even 2 hours) was critical for not burning out, especially when I got into the stage of taking and reviewing PTs every prep day. Ideally you want to devote these days to your hobbies, and not even visit the forums or talk or think about the LSAT. You might not like the idea of disengaging from the test for so long (neither did I at first), but you won't know what's effective until you try it. Maybe you do better with full breaks, maybe you need that little bit everyday to prevent rust or sloppiness. You'll find out, but for now, don't lock yourself in.

The gym stuff is good, keep doing it. Feel free to experiment, at least in the early stages--maybe you do better right after a light exercise.

Later in your review, you'll phase out reading study guides and do more PTs and reviews. Don't forget to budget enough time to revisit tough games, passages, and LR questions. Also, review can take surprisingly long, sometimes longer than the PT itself. (Part of this definitely has to do with the fact that reviewing is less urgent and intense than testing, and far more prone to distractions like Facebook and TLS.) I have a somewhat annoying (but ultimately helpful) routine of typing out every single LR Q I get wrong or almost get wrong, along with detailed explanations or alternative approaches. I've done all but three LR sections in existence, and my LR document contains over 300 questions. The explanations got less and less detailed as time went on, but I always made sure they were substantive, not "B is wrong because it's irrelevant" or "C is wrong because that's not what the author does." Don't get lazy when diagnosing your mistakes. Don't give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Don't skip over a wrong answer just because the correct answer seems obvious in hindsight. Unless you really made an honest mistake (misbubbling, misreading), you obviously didn't think it was obvious when it counted. (Wow, totally digressed there, sorry.)

You're at an advantage since you seem to have devoted your entire schedule to LSAT prep. I had a part-time job, but one with extremely few and flexible hours, so I was in a similar situation. Friends, work, family, illness, hobbies, sports seasons, movies, etc. will distract you, and the few hours of break each day and on weekend afternoons might not be enough. Maybe I'm just not as disciplined as you, but I couldn't do it. I'm still going to meet the goal of taking and reviewing every PT in existence, but I definitely wasn't as disciplined as I thought I was going to be. Similarly, I would consider whether your relatively strict schedule is realistic. Again, different levels of planning work for different people, but for me, weekly goals set out at the beginning of my prep period + daily goals enumerated at the beginning of each week worked well.

this is extremely helpful, thank you! yeah i'm assuming once in a while i will take a couple hours off to hang out with friends, but the only way i'll be disciplined is with a packed schedule. i'm actually printing out what you wrote, it's great advice. thanks again!

Your schedule is a recipe for burnout. If you're going to go that hard, then take at least 2 days off.

Sh@keNb@ke wrote:Your schedule is a recipe for burnout. If you're going to go that hard, then take at least 2 days off.

this is what i'm afraid of, but i don't really think i'll have time to study the month of september, because i go back to school in very late august. i'm hoping that if i make up for it now, it'll be fine. thoughts?