Biggest Regrets You Had While Studying Forum

[Iroh]

Biggest Regret: Refusing to break down and purchase Velocity for LG, until I already took the test once. That was dumb.

2nd Biggest Regret: Taking the LSAT before I had completely mastered games. By the June LSAT (my first take), I was pretty good at games but I knew there was plenty of room for improvement. Sometimes I would absolutely crush games on PTs, other times were not so pretty. I convinced myself, "Well, there's a chance that I'll have no trouble with games, and if that's so I'm looking at mid 170s. Plus I have two retakes, so no loss." This made sense at the time, but after going -5 on LG and receiving a 169, I was so demoralized.

I cite this as my second biggest regret only because knowing what to expect for my retake definitely took some pressure off. I actually felt more relaxed and happy during my retake than any of my PTs, believe it or not.

[lawismine]

My biggest regret is not seeking out private tutoring sooner when I clearly needed it. I kept thinking that studying on my own and bulldozing through the prep books would be enough, but there are just some things that need the help of an expert. Instead, I just wasted more time.

SPAM

[Arrow4Christ]

Kaplan.

That was definitely one of mine. I did much better following my own preparation method. I went up 10 points from my diagnostic on my first LSAT, then 8 points up from there on my second LSAT studying on my own.

The main problem was that my instructor stressed taking only a few full length LSATs and focusing on timed sections. When the first LSAT came around, I wasn't used to forcing myself to focus on the section I was on; I had a hard time moving past the concerns of previous sections and my score suffered for it.

Before the second test, I took 2-3 PrepTests a week; I can't over-stress the importance of practicing under STRICT, realistic conditions. I downloaded the 7Sage proctor app and the randomized distractions it generates helped me to keep my mind in the game on test day. Whenever I noticed a weakness, I would review my mistakes thoroughly and take timed sections in that area until my next full length PT.

[Trig]

Definitely wish I had done drilling by question type with the Cambridge packets. I definitely think I could have scored higher. (I scored in the 171-173 range).

[chimera]

-Not being more organized in my approach to LR drilling.
I'll be following one of the many guides more strictly this time around, and will probably experiment with excel for this too.

-Not practicing LG with the split page setup.

-Not making time for things I enjoy.
Will definitely set aside some books/short stories to read and time for some vidya.

-Exercise

[lsatyolo]

Taking PS's full length prep course after reading LR and LG bibles. What a complete waste of money. This forum + Manhattan books + LSAT trainer + 7 sage LG videos + Cambridge packets + most PT's are all you really need, IMO.

[Clyde Frog]

No Ragrets

[McBrunson]

BUMP

[Lightworks]

1. Slacking off in the weeks leading up to test day. I was where I wanted to be score-wise by the end of April and I screwed around for the last 4-6 weeks instead of working on my weak points.

2. Not drilling RC.

3. Waiting until the morning of to get my photo/ticket ready. My laptop had a meltdown, and it took me two hours to get one decent frickin' picture printed off.

4. Not checking out the test center beforehand. I was given a building name, not an actual room number, and I wound up getting lost in a maze of a basement for 20 minutes and almost being late to the test room.

5. Using a digital timer during prep instead of an analog one. You'd be surprised what a difference this can make.

[Nonconsecutive]

Trying to force myself into some else's study routine. Sure, there are a few plans and methods and books and guides out there that are definitely good. But once I stopped trying "beat" someone else and followed my own flow, I massively improved my score. There really wasn't any one person I was trying to mimic, but rather a large cluster of information that I was lead to believe was a sure thing for everyone.

[NotHermione]

Not always using a scantron when taking prep tests AND sections.

It sounds dumb, but having a strategy for how to use the scantron (do you transfer every page, every question, etc.) is super important. I didn't practice that enough, ended up switching strategies on my Dec test when I got nervous, and misbubbled a good 60% of the last LR section because of one answer I forgot to transfer over from my test booklet. I'm definitely looking forward to getting the score I should have gotten last time in June.

[mulhollanddrive]

I mentioned this in another thread before, but I made a mistake by plowing through PTs in chronological order, saving the PTs from 60 on until the last few weeks before the test. I found the newer RC to be a lot harder, the LR to be somewhat harder, and LG more tedious/time-consuming - these factors combined with nerves made my PT score averages drop from mid-to-high 170s to 170 and sometimes below, right as test day was approaching. I withdrew from the test and had to take it months later, even though all I really needed was just an extra few weeks to adjust to the newer tests. I should have mixed in taking newer PTs throughout the beginning and middle phases of my study instead of hoarding them until the few weeks before the test.

[Captain Rodeo]

-Not spending enough effort on taking timed tests because I was too scared to get my score back. Doesn't matter how well you can do the problems if you don't have the pacing to get them answered.

-Stopped working (part time) in order to study full time. This is bad for the brain. IMO it's better to take more time for prep and have plenty of non-LSAT outlets. Also, don't stop working out, hanging out, and doing the things you enjoy. This will help you be at your top (and that doesn't mean I'm saying to not change your schedule at all or prioritize your time meaningfully).

-Wished I would have stressed a lot less. Worrying does not help performance. Instead of "I'll only go to law school if it's YHS," or "180 or bust!" I'd incrementally work up to my goals: scoring mid 160s continuously? Plan is to go to 170+ continuously. Chop the forests down tree by tree. If you get too crazy up front with such an audacious goal (I'm not saying to NOT have it- I'm just saying to work there bit by bit) this can induce stress when looking at that from one's current position/performance.

-Meet real life person who can be mentor-type, who is working in the legal field and has gone what you've gone through. I did, towards the end and after the LSAT and it helped tremendously to reduce future fears.


ETA:

-Also, not doing the same LSAT 2x. Didn't start that until later on. It's great to take an LSAT, mark which problems you're not certain you got correct, and the ones that are difficult- and then BEFORE you grade the test, RETAKE it untimed, going through each problem, marking why each answer is correct, and why each one is incorrect. Then seeing what you got right and wrong on the timed version. Fine combing through an LSAT like this really helped. Usually did it with the MLSAT forum windows open on my browser. Takes a lot of time, but worth it.