The Official June 2015 Study Group Forum

[santoki]

Post removed.

[nlee10]

Why specifically Testmasters, nv93?

Price is a factor. $950 is the cheapest I can find for Testmasters as a physical course.

I've taken an expensive physical course...your money would be better spent on a cheaper alternative like 7Sage supplemented with the Cambridge drilling packets.

There's a lot of ex-BP students around here who are now self-studying.

[nlee10]

soo I bought the cambridge packets in mid-January. I made a pretty spreadsheet to track my progress. Look at how much I got done the past 6 weeks.
maybe publicly shaming myself will motivate me to stop slacking?

[img]chart[/img]

on the + side you did well on what you did

Why didn't I think of this before...Thanks Jackel! I'm reprinting everything this weekend so let's get this done!

[Smallville]

& bunny:

[img]old[/img]

http://i.imgur.com/zkvSUXH.gifv

you never fail to remind us why we like you Mr. Fuzzy Feet...

[Smallville]

soo I bought the cambridge packets in mid-January. I made a pretty spreadsheet to track my progress. Look at how much I got done the past 6 weeks.
maybe publicly shaming myself will motivate me to stop slacking?

[img]chart[/img]

on the + side you did well on what you did

Why didn't I think of this before...Thanks Jackel! I'm reprinting everything this weekend so let's get this done!

would the same effect happen if I post a blank spreadsheet showing I never made one to do this?

[nv93]

LSAT Plan A:

Testmasters at $950, Powerscore Materials from before, online materials I can find for free on Youtube or Google to fill in gaps.

LSAT Plan B:

7Sage, Cambridge, Manhattan, Powerscore Materials from before, online materials I can find for free on Youtube or Google to fill in gaps.

I am bad with self studying. I need a linear course to learn materials since I get easily distracted. Looking to go from ~ 150 to a 160. I wanted to find out if the actual $950 is worth it since it's a lot of money. That's a cheaper course than other companies nevertheless. I really want to be able to probably study 25 hrs a week at most since I get burnt out easily.

IIRC, many who have taken a course still end up self studying, either alongside the course or right after. Courses are good with establishing the fundamentals. However, if you can't find the discipline to self study, how do you expect lawl school to work?

If you're settled on taking a course, you can always look into 7sage or Velocity. It is online, so if you're one of those people that has to be physically surrounded by other bodies in a classroom, that might not work for you. Is this your first time?

Not my first time. Got a 150 the first time. I need to study mainly the following: conditional reasoning, grouping (I can give you a few examples of problems that stressed me out from my first month studying), several logical reasoning questions like assumptions, reading comp again (last LSAT was just the worst), or pretty much redo my fundamentals. I cannot see LG questions and see the answer immediately like others. I can get about 3/5 of the linear questions right under time pressure right now probably. I want to up it to -0 if possible, but I am not a good standardized test taker. It's tough taking an exam like this because I think abstractly, memorize stuff a lot, etc.

7Sage says they have about 620 hrs worth of material. Is feasible to work with 25 hrs of studying per week from here on out?

[kang]

Okay. Going to start this again after the depressing night. I'm over it. Let's do this!

I'm a retaker though. I ended up using most of the PTs the first time around and now I'm a little confused as to where I should start. Should I review fundamentals? Go straight to drilling? or what? Lol Any advice??

[nlee10]

Why didn't I think of this before...Thanks Jackel! I'm reprinting everything this weekend so let's get this done!

would the same effect happen if I post a blank spreadsheet showing I never made one to do this?

Maybe.

[Rigo]

Why specifically Testmasters, nv93?

Price is a factor. $950 is the cheapest I can find for Testmasters as a physical course.

I've taken an expensive physical course...your money would be better spent on a cheaper alternative like 7Sage supplemented with the Cambridge drilling packets.
There's a lot of ex-BP students around here who are now self-studying.

This. I wouldn't do a physical course. Online is the way to go so you can rewatch.
Look into 7Sage or Velocity.

[Shakawkaw]

However, I noticed you mentioning you are going through 14 lessons of the trainer this wknd -- I know that students often know how to use my products better than I do, but please know that that is not how the trainer is intended to be used, and not how any reputable teacher would recommend you go through it. It is literally meant to be a training tool -- rushing through it will not do you nearly as much good as working through it carefully would.

Mike posted this ITT a while back. I agree with him, mostly because the Trainer is designed in a way to establish fundamentals. It's unique in that it includes all three sections, and jumps from one to another in the course of the lessons. I think going through the Trainer and drilling alongside should be good vs. rushing through it just to read it.

10 days can potentially mean 50+ hours. Is that rushing?

You're probably going to want to reread it later in your prep. By rushing, I meant not giving your brain enough time to actually absorb the concepts. You should go at a pace you're comfortable with. With fundamentals, I air more on the side of more time being better - in terms of spacing it out. For drilling, I am an advocate of going hard to solidify concepts and for the endurance training.

Toki -
1. I opened that on a work computer.
2. I JUST started HoC. THX 4 DA SPOILERZ.

Jackel - I love the choice of lavender in your spreadsheet. *obligatory shaming here*

nv93 - regarding hours per week - you definitely want to ramp it up as much as you can earlier on, and then adjust accordingly, especially once you figure out what your threshold is, and where you want to focus re: weaknesses. I think 25 hours per week is totally feasible. Do you have a FT job? During the week, I try to get in 1 hour in the morning and 2-3 after work. That's 3-4 hours per day, for 5 days, ranging 15-20 hours. On the weekends, I study ~ 5 hours a day, unless it's a PT day. If you don't have a job, you can definitely be studying more!

[brusselsprouts]

soo I bought the cambridge packets in mid-January. I made a pretty spreadsheet to track my progress. Look at how much I got done the past 6 weeks.
maybe publicly shaming myself will motivate me to stop slacking?

[img]beautiful%20lil%20spreadsheet[/img]

WOWOW this makes me excited to start working through cambridge

[Rigo]

7Sage says they have about 620 hrs worth of material. Is feasible to work with 25 hrs of studying per week from here on out?

You're so obsessed with hours needed to put in and that's the wrong way of planning things. It really all depends on your progress. Different things take longer for different people. It's very hard to predict from the onset until you start drilling and taking PT's.

Do the math if you insist. 620 divided by 25 is 24.8 weeks. 7Sage overestimates the amount of time a lot of things take. Maybe blind review will take less time for you. Maybe it will take more.
None of us here are psychic, so you'll have to figure out the time commitment stuff for yourself.

[nv93]

However, I noticed you mentioning you are going through 14 lessons of the trainer this wknd -- I know that students often know how to use my products better than I do, but please know that that is not how the trainer is intended to be used, and not how any reputable teacher would recommend you go through it. It is literally meant to be a training tool -- rushing through it will not do you nearly as much good as working through it carefully would.

Mike posted this ITT a while back. I agree with him, mostly because the Trainer is designed in a way to establish fundamentals. It's unique in that it includes all three sections, and jumps from one to another in the course of the lessons. I think going through the Trainer and drilling alongside should be good vs. rushing through it just to read it.

10 days can potentially mean 50+ hours. Is that rushing?

You're probably going to want to reread it later in your prep. By rushing, I meant not giving your brain enough time to actually absorb the concepts. You should go at a pace you're comfortable with. With fundamentals, I air more on the side of more time being better - in terms of spacing it out. For drilling, I am an advocate of going hard to solidify concepts and for the endurance training.

Toki -
1. I opened that on a work computer.
2. I JUST started HoC. THX 4 DA SPOILERZ.

Jackel - I love the choice of lavender in your spreadsheet. *obligatory shaming here*

nv93 - regarding hours per week - you definitely want to ramp it up as much as you can earlier on, and then adjust accordingly, especially once you figure out what your threshold is, and where you want to focus re: weaknesses. I think 25 hours per week is totally feasible. Do you have a FT job? During the week, I try to get in 1 hour in the morning and 2-3 after work. That's 3-4 hours per day, for 5 days, ranging 15-20 hours. On the weekends, I study ~ 5 hours a day, unless it's a PT day. If you don't have a job, you can definitely be studying more!

I have a part time job working with my parents right now. In addition to that, my mom tore her meniscus and is rehabbing, so I have to run the shop, buy merchandise, etc. I have 6 classes this semester as well. Factoring in apps for the next month, and we're looking at a busy 3 months till June 8th.

[nv93]

Why specifically Testmasters, nv93?

Price is a factor. $950 is the cheapest I can find for Testmasters as a physical course.

I've taken an expensive physical course...your money would be better spent on a cheaper alternative like 7Sage supplemented with the Cambridge drilling packets.

There's a lot of ex-BP students around here who are now self-studying.

Ex-BP Students?

[Rigo]

Ex-BP Students?

Blueprint.

[Smallville]

So I think I decided a lot of my drilling (for now atleast) is going to come from PT's... by that I mean starting at the first full PT I have access to on 7sage (38?) and do each section (not really timed, maybe timed up) and review and going through like that till maybe 50(start doing some as timed sections as I get a bit higher)? before I stop and drill regularly from Cambridge packets and start taking 50+ as fullish PTs

terrible idea and should just stick to Cambridge or nah?

Ex-BP Students?

people who took a BP course already

[nv93]

7Sage says they have about 620 hrs worth of material. Is feasible to work with 25 hrs of studying per week from here on out?

You're so obsessed with hours needed to put in and that's the wrong way of planning things. It really all depends on your progress. Different things take longer for different people. It's very hard to predict from the onset until you start drilling and taking PT's.

Do the math if you insist. 620 divided by 25 is 24.8 weeks. 7Sage overestimates the amount of time a lot of things take. Maybe blind review will take less time for you. Maybe it will take more.
None of us here are psychic, so you'll have to figure out the time commitment stuff for yourself.

We will see how many hours I end up doing, but you're right. I am just getting a feel for what others may have done. I am only doing a couple of hrs starting today. Technically, 3/7/15 is where the 12 week plan can begin, but I'll look into Cambridge and 7Sage.

[nv93]

Ex-BP Students?

Blueprint.

Ah okay. Forgive me since I am still relatively new to the different abbreviations people use.

[RZ5646]

Here's a sample from my homemade games spreadsheet:



And the full thing (~150 rows):



Still got -5 on my last PT :'(

[nlee10]

Ex-BP Students?

Blueprint.

Ah okay. Forgive me since I am still relatively new to the different abbreviations people use.

Unfortunately, it does not stand for beer pong in this instance.

[brusselsprouts]

7Sage says they have about 620 hrs worth of material. Is feasible to work with 25 hrs of studying per week from here on out?

You're so obsessed with hours needed to put in and that's the wrong way of planning things. It really all depends on your progress. Different things take longer for different people. It's very hard to predict from the onset until you start drilling and taking PT's.

Do the math if you insist. 620 divided by 25 is 24.8 weeks. 7Sage overestimates the amount of time a lot of things take. Maybe blind review will take less time for you. Maybe it will take more.
None of us here are psychic, so you'll have to figure out the time commitment stuff for yourself.

Rigo is spot on, especially about hours-in being the wrong way of planning. Focus on the material and mastering it, not hitting a quota of hours studied. Of course it's fine to make short term goals (like, I have 3 hours to study today and 4 tomorrow) but you'll be better off saying I want to accomplish x today, no matter how long that takes, and breaking when needed. You'll get better at estimating how long things will take as you go through.

As for a prep course--I did BP's online course. It's pretty cheap comparatively and I needed to start with the basics. Without it I really think I would still be having trouble getting through the test. I'd recommend it for basics, but like others have said here and in other threads, you need some additional self-study time. If you really need an in-person course, I'd say testmasters is fine, but with the online resources available if you can motivate yourself through an online course or self-study I think you'll be better off.

[JackelJ]

I get a little crazy with spreadsheets and have one for almost everything
But RZ...

[brusselsprouts]

which cambridge bundle do y'all use?

[nlee10]

I get a little crazy with spreadsheets and have one for almost everything
But RZ...

which cambridge bundle do y'all use?

I have the 1-38 bundles for LR/RC/LG. I'm probably going to get the Most Difficult Bundle this time around as well.

[betterLawyerUP]

RZ you make that off excel? I requested cambridge to send me one of theirs to track my progress so I might use theirs or just create my own, need a way to track my progress