I might be jumping the gun here, but I wanted to get all the keeners / retakers / cycle-sitter outters / people who may have used their 3rd LSAT and can take October 2012 LSAT - whatever your reason, jump on board!

If I should make any amendments to this post, let me know.

I'm going into this as a Marathon, not a sprint to October 2012. I have every LSAT book and Testmasters book, and will be building a new plan of attack. I know I am strong in games, weak in LR, and unpredictable in RC. I believe my foundations need work and I need to re-develop my confidence so that I can master the LSAT.

Good luck everyone!

So a general question I have is: given as how intense I studied for the december 2011 test (6 hour max days 5 days a week drilling / PTing / prep course hmwk) should i take a long and slow approach and work on keeping my mind sharp ? If so, then I'm thinking of doing 2 LG games a week this far out and drilling 10 LR questions and reviewing. Hold off on PTs until 2.5 months out.

Any retakers who have had experience moving from intense study sessions to more relaxed and draw out study sessions and have seen improvements?

I applaud your enthusiasm but wow prepping now for OCTOBER seems just a tad insane given how far away that is. To each his own I guess. good luck.

there is a method to my madness. I'm very keen on PI law, and have taken a stressful community non-profit job (part time) to balance a cushy retail job. Gotta keep the money flowing in.

Therefore, rather than try to cram all of pithypike into 3 months, I am hoping a 9-month approach will deliver me an LSAT 180-baby.

I'm starting in March for Oct 2012.

Modified LSAT Blog/Pithypike method.

Starting with Logical Reasoning, then Reading Comp, then LG, then PT's interspersed with lots of LG drilling.

ETA: 4th time retaker. Have not used up my study prep materials which may explain why I have to retake.
Lowest I am accepting is a 168.

Strongest section is Reading Comp, weakest is LG (especially in regards to time management).
When I start PTing, my extra section will be LGs.

Unfortunately I have a big girl job and big girl commuting which is a time killer, and athletic time commitments as well until beginning of Sept. However, the 7ish months of studying will allow me to cover everything I need to as long as I actually do it.
(And in preparation for my preparation, I've picked up "Getting things Done".

Are you in college too and a div 1 athlete with a big girl job?

damn. Hustle Hard!

Nope, been out of school for approximately a hundred years...or 6.

I'm relieved to see that I am not the only psychopath scheduling October 2012 LSAT preparation throughout most of this year. I will be a multi-retaker; however, two adminstrations are older than five years now, and as I understand, most schools do not accept those grades (are these still released to schools in the LSAC reports?).

The goal is 180. I have terrible focusing issues, to the point of inducing anxiety and depression, which hinder my reading skills. Need to fix a few fundamental test and reading skills before I sit down to study at the end of February for the long haul. Open to study groups - I am very good at games; right now not scoring my highest in LR or RC.

Out of undergrad for just about five years. Finished my Master's in December. Working in corporate America for almost six years. Looking to apply to schools in the NY/NJ metro area in the next cycle.

Best of luck to all.

If you are unpredictable in RC - you can spend next 2-3 months reading several non fiction books to improve your general reading speed and comprehension. Try to ask Dave regarding this.

I think it's a great idea to start now for October.

Hello All. A bit about myself.

I took the Oct 2011 LSAT and got 154. I was consistently PTing between 159-161, so I'm convinced I bombed because the night before the test my wife said "I was talking to this girl that just graduated law school in like top 5% and she still can't find a job" ..... ROTFLMFAO ... spilled milk right? I mean seriously, that couldn't have waited until the following afternoon? /shrugs

I'm planning to retake in June 2012, with a goal of 170+ (though if I break 160 on the real test I'll stop retaking), but considering my overloaded work and school schedule, and a wife to attend to (bow chica bow wow ), October 2012 might be more realistic to hit that goal.

I work full-time (40 hours) and take MBA courses part-time(6 hours). A bit overambitious but my undergrad gpa is extremely weak (it's embarrassing so don't ask )

I think my biggest weaknesses are specifically time management on the RC, and advance games on the LG, and stamina overall. With LR, one section is always extremely strong, and the other is incredibly mediocre. I tend to miss the hardest problems consistently.

I have all Powerscore books and Manhattan books. I don't practice often enough though.

I'm also taking an LSAT prep course at a local law school, but its a bit basic considering my prior experience with the test (COME ON SIR NOT ANOTHER LINEAR GAME WE GET IT! ).

If I can pair up with someone around my level (mid to high 150s) with similar circumstances, i think that would be extremely helpful.

Thanks in advance

My materials:

LR Powerscore Bible + workbook
LG Powerscore Bible + workbook
RC Powerscore Bible (This book was trash, and a big waste of time, won't use it)
LR Manhattan ( I like the approach, will start with this for LR)
LG Manhattan ( good supplement to Powerscore book, feels like its missing something though, will use both simultaneously)
RC Manhattan (really helpful. Going through this right now)

PTs (everyone from 20-last. Used a bunch of them, but still have most of them untouched. I'd say I have 30 completely unused).

workbooks with problems from the first 20 lsats. I'll check when I get home.

Hi, new to the TLS. Actually this is my first post! I will be taking the October exam, but if things go well, I *might* take the June exam. This all is based on how I score on PT's and the improvements I see over the next few months.

I have the powerscore materials and tons of PT's. I haven't really come up with a super concrete plan yet, except 2hrs/mornings and 2 hours evenings. Sat/Sun are for PTests. Saturday - untimed for accuracy and Sunday will be spent doing a timed sections and eventually whole exams to improve stamina/speed.

I have a full-time job, and almost 10 years out of UGrad with some pretty good softs. Shooting for 165+ and a T50.

This post is hilarious. Your wife, sir, fucked you! haha Good luck this go-round. I have complete faith in you.

EDIT: GOING TO UVA 2015.

I would take a significant amount of time off if I were you. It gives your mind a very necessary refreshment, and it's important, when retaking, to feel like you're learning something new, rather than just reviewing stuff. I feel like it helps you feel like you can make significant gains rather than subtle improvements.

Its comforting to see other people who dont think its crazy to start preparing 9 months before the exam... with a full time career of about 10-12 hrs work daily i find it very difficult, physically and mentally, to drag myself to study everyday.

I dont know how you guys stay motivated enough though... sometimes i just feel like since there is so much time left it wouldn't really adversely affect me if i took a day off here and there... and before you know it that one day has turned to a week off... Any tips???

I'm strongly considering retaking in October, so I'm potentially checking in.

This will sound stupid, but I save random internet things to motivate me.

Like reading the threads about my dream school, or looking at houses in the area, or anything like that. I read a few pages in one of the threads about lawyer attire and it gave me a big jump of motivation. Stupid, but whatever gets me through this test for the 4th time.

It's not stupid; I'm confident most people have similar quirks. During downtime, I find myself looking at law schools' course lists and plotting out how my four years would work. I should probably know better by now that it never works out the way you plan, but like everyone's getting at, whatever keeps you motivated.

Anyone from the NJ/NY area?

I am registered for Oct. 2012 and only recently made the decision to pursue law school. I currently work as an engineer full time and would like a law degree to practice construction law. I have yet to take a full practice test yet, and so far my studying has consisted of reading pars of Kaplan's Logic Games and the Princeton Review LSAT overview for a couple of hours each night. I'm also in the middle of moving 700 miles away right now so my time is limited. In the next few weeks once I get settled in I am going to focus on the practice tests and really make it a top priority.

Somewhat off topic - Would I be hurting myself by taking the June 2012 test? I'm thinking I've got nothing to lose, and if I do decent enough it would be nice to have a better idea of where I stand. I just worry that I may be rushing into it too fast and risk getting a pretty low score.

Honestly I would not take the June test. If you start taking PTs and you are scoring higher than you really need to for your goal school- then MAYBE. But all those points lead to acceptances, and then cash dollas.

Grad school courses bit a chunk of time out of my study schedule, so June is out. I don't want to rush through my materials, and want to make sure the concepts sink in deeply. So I'm definitely looking at October.

I've gone through games in this order:

sequence
Linear
Advance Linear
Grouping ( lots of different methods for this )

I've also gone through Inference/must be true questions. I've a pretty good handle on these. Not perfect, but hoping that I'll have plenty of time to go back and review.

I'm currently working through Necessary Assumption/Sufficient Assumption LR questions. These are giving me some trouble. For some of the tougher ones, I'm narrowing the answers down to two candidates (of which one is correct), and consistently picking the wrong one. I know that for necessary assumptions, answers that are sufficient are extremely attractive to me. Gonna slow down and spend some extra time on these.

I was debating retaking the test for June or Oct. Then I found out got into a 6 week program for the summer which would effect my ability to take the June test. If I start studying now, then start the 6 week program (June-mid Aug), will it hurt my ability to perform on the Oct test? I have to assume I will not have time to study during that 6 week period, or if I due it will be limited.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Hi everyone! I'm ready to kick some butt on the October 2012 test (well not ready yet, but I will be!) I have been out of college for a few years and I work 50 or so hours a week, so I knew I would need to give myself sufficient time to study since I don't have the luxury of summer vacations these days

So far I have read/done problems in the Master the LSAT book. I'm using it as an introduction to the test. When I finish reading it I will tackle the LG and LR bibles. I hope to finish both before my LSAT class starts the second week of June. Yes - you heard me right - I'm planning to take a class. Don't worry though, its not any of those Princeton Review/Testmasters/Powerscore/Kaplan classes. Its a local company which comes highly recommended by my cousin, who studied for 4 mos and got a 172. Basically, the class meets 3 times a week for 3 hrs per class for 16 weeks and requires you to do another 10 hrs of homework outside of class. We will see how it goes. I'm also keeping track of how much time I study per week - aiming for 15 hrs/week currently.

During any/all of my preparation I'd love to have a partner or group to bounce questions off of - maybe we should make a Google group at some point? My goal is 170 + and if I don't reach that then I probably will put the law school idea to bed, so yes, the stakes are high. Time to go to work!

Alright everybody... I hear crickets ITT. Everybody still studying?