Studying after 9-5 day Forum

[Easy-E]

Just a basic studying question for those who are working a full day and prepping. How do you motivate yourself to study after work? It's not that my job is soul-crushing or physically tasking or anything, I just can't help but want to sit around do nothing when I come home. I really can't stay up late to study because I completely lose focus, and I usually get up early to go to the gym before work. Any tips to avoid burning myself out?

[20130312]

Worked on a different section each night. Gave myself occassional break nights. Never studied on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night.

[Easy-E]

Worked on a different section each night. Gave myself occassional break nights. Never studied on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night.

I'n working Velocity right now, which is pretty much broken up like that, give or take a few days. The schedules are obviously as flexible as I want though, so I try to give myself days off.

[rinkrat19]

Eat dinner or work out before starting to study to reboot. Even an easy job (especially an easy job?) dulls your brain.

[20130312]

Do a full PT on Sat and Sun mornings (or around noon if you're taking the June exam).

[Jeffort]

Love the test. Don't dread seeing her, look forward to spending quality time with her.

Your attitude towards the LSAT is important and makes a difference in your prep efforts, motivation and test day performance.

You might have to lie to yourself for a while repeatedly saying to yourself "I love you LSAT, let's get it on" when you don't feel it, but do it enough and hopefully it will re-shape your attitude.

Build in some sort of reward system to help get you disciplined. For instance, forcing yourself to not watch TV (or whatever entertaining & relaxing things you like to do) until after you have spent at least two hours doing LSAT prep so that you have something to look forward to after studying. It helps you get into a routine.

Self-discipline is crucial and can be difficult at times, but once you get into a regular routine that you force on yourself (and possibly recruited friends/family members to hold you accountable to) it is easy to stay in the routine. The hard part is getting into it at the beginning.

[LaRon James]

Love the test. Don't dread seeing her, look forward to spending quality time with her.

Your attitude towards the LSAT is important and makes a difference in your prep efforts, motivation and test day performance.

You might have to lie to yourself for a while repeatedly saying to yourself "I love you LSAT, let's get it on" when you don't feel it, but do it enough and hopefully it will re-shape your attitude.

Build in some sort of reward system to help get you disciplined. For instance, forcing yourself to not watch TV (or whatever entertaining & relaxing things you like to do) until after you have spent at least two hours doing LSAT prep so that you have something to look forward to after studying. It helps you get into a routine.

Self-discipline is crucial and can be difficult at times, but once you get into a regular routine that you force on yourself (and possibly recruited friends/family members to hold you accountable to) it is easy to stay in the routine. The hard part is getting into it at the beginning.

+1. And start sleeping 8pm-4am. Study 4-6am

[hooma]

I also did Velocity (and am thankful I did, although jury is still out until I get my February score). When I tried to study at home after work I would just veg out in front of the tv and not get anything done. So I stayed at the office every day to study, except Fridays, took Saturdays off, and did PTs on Sunday mornings. It was pretty grueling, but if you're taking it in June you should be able to space everything out more. If you don't have an office or a door to close, maybe you can find a starbucks/a dedicated study location that isn't your home. If you don't mess around you should be able to get each lesson done in less than 3 hours which should let you get to bed earlier and able to get up and go to the gym before work.

[bdeebs]

I take at least an hour brain break (like someone else said, working out/eating/watching a tv show), then I have a warm-up with a LG or two that I've already done. This helps me because I love logic games so it's not difficult to get myself to start doing them, and it primes my mind for the type of more laborious studying that needs to happen.

[franklyscarlet]

Love the test. Don't dread seeing her, look forward to spending quality time with her.

Your attitude towards the LSAT is important and makes a difference in your prep efforts, motivation and test day performance.

You might have to lie to yourself for a while repeatedly saying to yourself "I love you LSAT, let's get it on" when you don't feel it, but do it enough and hopefully it will re-shape your attitude.

Build in some sort of reward system to help get you disciplined. For instance, forcing yourself to not watch TV (or whatever entertaining & relaxing things you like to do) until after you have spent at least two hours doing LSAT prep so that you have something to look forward to after studying. It helps you get into a routine.

Self-discipline is crucial and can be difficult at times, but once you get into a regular routine that you force on yourself (and possibly recruited friends/family members to hold you accountable to) it is easy to stay in the routine. The hard part is getting into it at the beginning.

+1. And start sleeping 8pm-4am. Study 4-6am

Did... Did you do this? And then go do the job we do? Legendary.

[03152016]

.

[Tiago Splitter]

I took a prep class for exactly the reasons you cited OP. Went right to it after work on Monday and Wednesday from 6-10. As the test came closer the fear of not achieving my desired score motivated me to put in the extra time on non-class days.

[Nelson]

I took a prep class for exactly the reasons you cited OP. Went right to it after work on Monday and Wednesday from 6-10. As the test came closer the fear of not achieving my desired score motivated me to put in the extra time on non-class days.

+1 I think the mandatory schedule and dropping 1k from taking a class is the best way to stay motivated when you're working full time.

[zimmejs]

I'm in the same situation myself and just started studying for my first exam (Oct '12) a week or so ago. I try to start as soon as I get home, while I'm still in the work mode. If I sit down to take a break before starting it is harder to motivate myself to get started.

The main thing though is that I just keep telling myself that it is entirely up to me how well I want to do on the test. Sure I could take a few days off here and there and probably do well enough to get into some schools, but the schools I want to go to are going to require some pretty high scores, and the only way to do that is by studying more, so I am always thinking of the ultimate goal. That has been my biggest help.

[Easy-E]

Eat dinner or work out before starting to study to reboot. Even an easy job (especially an easy job?) dulls your brain.

I work out in the AM and eat a late dinner usually, but I've been trying to just take an hour or so break in between work and study, whether it be just watching an episode of a show or playing video games. Seems to help.

Do a full PT on Sat and Sun mornings (or around noon if you're taking the June exam).

I haven't arrived at doing full PTs yet (at least during this prep), but when I do, it will be on the weekends. One upside to my job is that I have access to the office on the weekends, and no one is ever there, so I cant take the tests in a quiet, distraction free environment.

Love the test. Don't dread seeing her, look forward to spending quality time with her.

Your attitude towards the LSAT is important and makes a difference in your prep efforts, motivation and test day performance.

You might have to lie to yourself for a while repeatedly saying to yourself "I love you LSAT, let's get it on" when you don't feel it, but do it enough and hopefully it will re-shape your attitude.

Build in some sort of reward system to help get you disciplined. For instance, forcing yourself to not watch TV (or whatever entertaining & relaxing things you like to do) until after you have spent at least two hours doing LSAT prep so that you have something to look forward to after studying. It helps you get into a routine.

Self-discipline is crucial and can be difficult at times, but once you get into a regular routine that you force on yourself (and possibly recruited friends/family members to hold you accountable to) it is easy to stay in the routine. The hard part is getting into it at the beginning.

It is definitely difficult transitioning from the "works done, do nothing!" mentality to LSAT prep. I guess one benefit to working a fixed hour job (9-5) rather than my previous jobs is that my schedule is pretty rigid. I know how important a routine can be, getting up to go the gym before work was grueling at first, but then I started getting to sleep at the same time every night, and now it's just a reflex. Hopefully studying will follow the same pattern.

+1. And start sleeping 8pm-4am. Study 4-6am

You crazy.

[20130312]

Yup, that's pretty much it. Kill the LSAT and maybe we'll be classmates at Penn or Mich next year

[Easy-E]

I also did Velocity (and am thankful I did, although jury is still out until I get my February score). When I tried to study at home after work I would just veg out in front of the tv and not get anything done. So I stayed at the office every day to study, except Fridays, took Saturdays off, and did PTs on Sunday mornings. It was pretty grueling, but if you're taking it in June you should be able to space everything out more. If you don't have an office or a door to close, maybe you can find a starbucks/a dedicated study location that isn't your home. If you don't mess around you should be able to get each lesson done in less than 3 hours which should let you get to bed earlier and able to get up and go to the gym before work.

I've considered this, as I have access to the office at all times, and it's only a 5 minute drive from my house. I do have a room at home that's pretty distraction free, just a big desk and my laptop. I'm glad I started fairly early, so I can afford myself some days off as need be.

I like to keep some prep material on hand so I can study when I have downtime throughout the day. Waiting on line at the bank? Do a few LR questions. Riding the bus? Get a head start on reviewing your last PT.

Seems look a good idea. Is there any smartphone apps that provide this type of thing, with actual licensed questions? Or do you just keep them on you?

I took a prep class for exactly the reasons you cited OP. Went right to it after work on Monday and Wednesday from 6-10. As the test came closer the fear of not achieving my desired score motivated

Another big motivation is remembering how I felt when I got back my October score. I knew I had done a poor job prepping for the test (personal problems), but still, when I saw I had scored lower than any of my last 5 practice tests, I was pretty crushed. Now all I think about is how I want to open that page and see a score that makes me want to do a back-flip (170+).

[Easy-E]

Yup, that's pretty much it. Kill the LSAT and maybe we'll be classmates at Penn or Mich next year

I certainly hope so! Might be tricky with my GPA, but gotta aim high, right?