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7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 11:58 am
by h3jk5h
I literately have nothing to do at home since school is now over.

Here's my routine for the past week:
10:00-12:00pm: 3 sets of LG
12:00-1:00pm: lunch
1:00-4:00pm: 3 sets of LR
4:00-7pm: dinner and do nothing
7:00-9:00pm: 3 sets of RC

I've already used much the vast majority of the LSAT material, and I'm pretty much redoing the LG/LR/RC that I've done before. This morning I felt really fatigued and didn't go to the library, I don't know what to make of it. I still enjoy doing LG, but the LR and RC questions are starting to "disgust" me after doing so many of them in a row.

I'm scheduled to write in June, so I have a month left to prepare.

Is my routine too much? I get the feeling that doing nothing except prepping for the LSAT may be counterproductive. How do I study smart?

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 12:01 pm
by The Abyss
h3jk5h wrote:I literately have nothing to do at home since school is now over.

Here's my routine for the past week:
10:00-12:00pm: 3 sets of LG
12:00-1:00pm: lunch
1:00-4:00pm: 3 sets of LR
4:00-7pm: dinner and do nothing
7:00-9:00pm: 3 sets of RC

I've already used much the vast majority of the LSAT material, and I'm pretty much redoing the LG/LR/RC that I've done before. This morning I felt really fatigued and didn't go to the library, I don't know what to make of it. I still enjoy doing LG, but the LR and RC questions are starting to "disgust" me after doing so many of them in a row.

I'm scheduled to write in June, so I have a month left to prepare.

Is my routine too much? I get the feeling that doing nothing except prepping for the LSAT may be counterproductive. How do I study smart?
Just listen to yourself and adjust appropriately. I don't think that is too much, but if you are feeling burnt out take a day or two off and get back at it. Make sure to exercise too.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 12:02 pm
by nlee10
Are you doing 9 sections a day?

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 12:35 pm
by RunnerRunner
h3jk5h wrote:I literately have nothing to do at home since school is now over.

Here's my routine for the past week:
10:00-12:00pm: 3 sets of LG
12:00-1:00pm: lunch
1:00-4:00pm: 3 sets of LR
4:00-7pm: dinner and do nothing
7:00-9:00pm: 3 sets of RC

I've already used much the vast majority of the LSAT material, and I'm pretty much redoing the LG/LR/RC that I've done before. This morning I felt really fatigued and didn't go to the library, I don't know what to make of it. I still enjoy doing LG, but the LR and RC questions are starting to "disgust" me after doing so many of them in a row.

I'm scheduled to write in June, so I have a month left to prepare.

Is my routine too much? I get the feeling that doing nothing except prepping for the LSAT may be counterproductive. How do I study smart?
I think there are two possibilities here: 1) You are feeling "disgust" with the LR and RC sections because you already know it so well it seems boring to you (are you consistently PTing very high? If so I think this is the case). 2) You are just feeling mental fatigue due to the increased workload. If number 1 sounds about right, sure, lighten the load a little but keep doing enough to stay sharp. If number 2 sounds closer to the truth, i.e. if you aren't already testing in your target range, just stick with it: you need mental endurance for the LSAT anyway, your body and brain will adjust.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 12:58 pm
by TheodoreKGB
.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 3:33 pm
by h3jk5h
nlee10 wrote:Are you doing 9 sections a day?
Yep. It's essentially the work of 3 prep tests.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 6:04 pm
by nlee10
h3jk5h wrote:
nlee10 wrote:Are you doing 9 sections a day?
Yep. It's essentially the work of 3 prep tests.
That seems like an awful amount of material. Be weary of burnout even if they're not timed.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 6:06 pm
by Poldy
Is there even enough material out there to do this for more than a couple days? I don't see what you could study for seven hours every day.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 6:12 pm
by h3jk5h
RancidSumo wrote:Is there even enough material out there to do this for more than a couple days? I don't see what you could study for seven hours every day.
Well, there's 77 prep tests in total.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 6:15 pm
by Poldy
h3jk5h wrote:
RancidSumo wrote:Is there even enough material out there to do this for more than a couple days? I don't see what you could study for seven hours every day.
Well, there's 77 prep tests in total.
I'd kill myself before doing the LSAT 77 times.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 6:26 pm
by mysojuli
I only know of 74 LSATs?? What years/test date are the other 3 from?

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 6:55 pm
by Broncos15
mysojuli wrote:I only know of 74 LSATs?? What years/test date are the other 3 from?
PrepTests A, B,C, along with the June 2007 exam

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 7:18 pm
by Clyde Frog
There are actually 80 PTs currently available. There's 1-74, superprep a, b and c, june 07, the February 1997 lsat, and the newly released superprep 2.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 7:52 pm
by Petrichor
I personally don't think it is too much if you've already mastered the fundamentals and are only drilling/adjusting at this point, especially fatigue is a factor on the exam and this will help your mental endurance. Otherwise it seems like a waste of test material.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 9:18 pm
by h3jk5h
Petrichor wrote:I personally don't think it is too much if you've already mastered the fundamentals and are only drilling/adjusting at this point, especially fatigue is a factor on the exam and this will help your mental endurance. Otherwise it seems like a waste of test material.
I notice that after 2 hours or so I begin losing mental focus. This is when I take shortcuts in approaching the questions, instead of sticking with the process.

I'm a little afraid that I would begin going back to bad habits that used to plague me when I first started practicing.

I'm thinking of only practicing 1 hour at a time (with breaks in between), with peak focus so I don't pick up bad habits again. But then again, I may be missing out in terms of endurance-building.

My endurance has always been a weak point of mine. I would get hungry and tired after a couple of hours (many times I get a small headache). I've always been a physically fragile person so I think stamina is largely outside my control. And I don't notice substantial improvements in my endurance throughout my LSAT prep.

If LSAT improvement is a function of hours spent, then I wouldn't mind studying even 10 hours a day, but I've been told that one hits diminishing returns after each hour of study or even negative returns - this is the part I'm afraid of.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 9:34 pm
by CardozoLaw09
That's not too bad. 7 hours is pretty normal if you're prepping intensely. Burn out is real though so as soon as you feel like you're beginning to burn out I would sit out a day or two

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 9:40 pm
by RZ5646
It's too much because in reality you're probably prepping for 3 hours per day and then getting bored and mindlessly burning through material for another 4 hours

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 9:46 pm
by CardozoLaw09
RZ5646 wrote:It's too much because in reality you're probably prepping for 3 hours per day and then getting bored and mindlessly burning through material for another 4 hours
OP takes breaks so that probably isn't a concern. If they cut it down to 5 hours a day it's not as if they would be studying properly for 4 hours and 1 hour of boredom/mindlessly burning through material. The less time you spend studying doesn't necessarily mean you will be absorbing more information.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 2:59 am
by appind
Clyde Frog wrote:There are actually 80 PTs currently available. There's 1-74, superprep a, b and c, june 07, the February 1997 lsat, and the newly released superprep 2.
what administration is the never before released test form in superprep-2? it seems release of a set of multiple not just one post 2000 february tests is long overdue, there are so many forms that have never been released before.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 5:10 am
by Clyde Frog
appind wrote:
Clyde Frog wrote:There are actually 80 PTs currently available. There's 1-74, superprep a, b and c, june 07, the February 1997 lsat, and the newly released superprep 2.
what administration is the never before released test form in superprep-2? it seems release of a set of multiple not just one post 2000 february tests is long overdue, there are so many forms that have never been released before.
The set contains PTs 62 and 63 also, so I would assume undisclosed test is from February 2010-2012.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 10:29 am
by Blueprint Ben
More power to you. I don't think 7 hours in a day is per se too much. *However* I do think sticking to that exact schedule every single day will get old and cause burnout fast. Cumulative fatigue is the main cause of burnout, not individual marathon study sessions (which, properly placed, can be very good for you).

Instead, I'd recommend shifting the total work around so you can both build endurance and avoid burnout: Try alternating hard days (~10 hours) with easy days (3-4 hours)/recovery days (0-2 hours). Treat it like you're conditioning for an athletic event. When experienced runners train for a marathon, they rarely--if ever--do two hard workouts/long runs in a row. That's how you get injured. It's much better to break up your high intensity training with low intensity workouts/recovery days, rather than going hard, or even moderately hard, every single day.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 12:11 pm
by appind
Clyde Frog wrote: The set contains PTs 62 and 63 also, so I would assume undisclosed test is from February 2010-2012.
they should have released more Febs instead of 62/63. lsac has at least ~10 PTs that are undisclosed every year. that makes for around 150 unreleased PTs since 2000 alone.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Fri May 08, 2015 1:00 pm
by nlee10
appind wrote:
Clyde Frog wrote: The set contains PTs 62 and 63 also, so I would assume undisclosed test is from February 2010-2012.
they should have released more Febs instead of 62/63. lsac has at least ~10 PTs that are undisclosed every year. that makes for around 150 unreleased PTs since 2000 alone.
They want us to pay a lot of money for a brand new PT.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 1:41 pm
by appind
the never-before-seen test doesn't really have to be a Feb test, it could be any unreleased test e.g. international or sabbath day

does the Superprep-2 suggest newer/different techniques to handling RC/LR than the original Superprep official guide? since the test has changed quite a lot in RC, it'd be interesting to see if test-writers advocate a slightly different approach to working these.

where can one get this? $25 may not be too bad for a never-seen-before test with explanations but it's on backorder on lsac.

Re: 7 hours a day too much?

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:21 am
by JazzyMac
Wow, I wish I had summer breaks. Oh the possibilities!