Will I be wasting sections by studying this lightly? Forum

[zephyr36]

I'm planning on taking the test next October. I'll be applying next Fall. I would take the June LSAT, but I'm really busy this semester and the test falls on Monday of my finals week. I'm thinking of ordering the bibles and some of the earlier tests to do some studying here or there, but it will be light. A couple hours a week maybe. Am I not going to be retaining anything by doing this? Meaning, by the time that I have to hit the books hard this summer will I really have retained anything with such a lax study schedule?

[isaiah6v8]

Why not just wait for the Sept/Oct administration? It still gives you plenty of time to apply early. That way you could use your summer to study, i know the studying helped to boost my confidence. It was important for me.

[zephyr36]

I'm planning on taking the test next October. I'll be applying next Fall. I would take the June LSAT, but I'm really busy this semester and the test falls on Monday of my finals week. I'm thinking of ordering the bibles and some of the earlier tests to do some studying here or there, but it will be light. A couple hours a week maybe. Am I not going to be retaining anything by doing this? Meaning, by the time that I have to hit the books hard this summer will I really have retained anything with such a lax study schedule?

[CG614]

I'm planning on taking the test next October. I'll be applying next Fall. I would take the June LSAT, but I'm really busy this semester and the test falls on Monday of my finals week. I'm thinking of ordering the bibles and some of the earlier tests to do some studying here or there, but it will be light. A couple hours a week maybe. Am I not going to be retaining anything by doing this? Meaning, by the time that I have to hit the books hard this summer will I really have retained anything with such a lax study schedule?

You'll retain more than isaiah6v8, as he couldn't retain your question long enough to formulate a coherent answer.

[isaiah6v8]

actually I think it was the run-on question that was incoherent, I thought he was trying to justify taking it in June, despite his intention to take it in Oct. I merely suggested that he maintain the idea of Oct.

[logicman86]

I'm planning on taking the test next October. I'll be applying next Fall. I would take the June LSAT, but I'm really busy this semester and the test falls on Monday of my finals week. I'm thinking of ordering the bibles and some of the earlier tests to do some studying here or there, but it will be light. A couple hours a week maybe. Am I not going to be retaining anything by doing this? Meaning, by the time that I have to hit the books hard this summer will I really have retained anything with such a lax study schedule?

I can say as somebody who tutors and teaches the LSAT for a big company that, that is not going to be enough. To improve my score 10 points from where I started, I had to study 30 hours a week for 3 months. If you start at a 140, that may well be enough work to break a 150. However, to expect tremendous improvement this way is just naive.

If you are set on saving $ and tutoring yourself, I would recommend buying the Kaplan Course books through someone on craigslist and ebay. They break it up in a very useful way. You have a mastery book to learn each question type individually, then a pacing book to time the sections correctly and finally an endurance book for full exams.

I would recommend learning how to do each individual question type before doing full tests.

[ihurtmyselftoday]

How much time you spend studying really depends on your diagnostic and target score as well as your knack for applied reasoning. If you already have a good grasp of the fundamentals of logic, you really only need to practice the test as much as possible to improve your timing. 10-20 practice tests should do it, but I would save that mental energy for the 1-2 months leading up to the test. You also might want to practice the logic games. But, as someone who studied the logic games bible for more than 3 months prior to the test...don't expect too much. LG was by far my worst section with -10 (-2 total in the remaining 3 sections). For those other three sections I improved my score from averaging -4 per section to less than -1 per section on test day, simply by doing practice test. I did 10. Always using 5 sections instead of 4.

But, if you don't have a good grasp of fundamental logic, pick up an introductory text book on the subject. That can be your light reading until you have the time to start taking timed, 5 section practice test.

/thread

[logicman86]

How much time you spend studying really depends on your diagnostic and target score as well as your knack for applied reasoning. If you already have a good grasp of the fundamentals of logic, you really only need to practice the test as much as possible to improve your timing. 10-20 practice tests should do it, but I would save that mental energy for the 1-2 months leading up to the test. You also might want to practice the logic games. But, as someone who studied the logic games bible for more than 3 months prior to the test...don't expect too much. LG was by far my worst section with -10 (-2 total in the remaining 3 sections). For those other three sections I improved my score from averaging -4 per section to less than -1 per section on test day, simply by doing practice test. I did 10. Always using 5 sections instead of 4.

But, if you don't have a good grasp of fundamental logic, pick up an introductory text book on the subject. That can be your light reading until you have the time to start taking timed, 5 section practice test.

/thread

good point. a current client of mine scored a 148 on her diagnostic, but she learned how to recognize assumptions in literally 5 minutes of a session, and now scores high 150s consistently from only 1-2 hours of tutoring. it's hard to predict improvement, because some people have all the skills but just don't know how to apply them, while others with identical starting scores have somewhat innate difficulty thinking the correct way.

[zephyr36]

Alright. Apparently I was very unclear in my initial post because no one has answered my question. I apologize. My goal is not to study 1-2 hours a week and take the June LSAT. I already know that this is not enough. My question is: is it advisable to start doing some very light studying now until summer where I will be studying 20+ hours a week in preparation for the Oct. test? Will I just not retain things at such a light pace and waste sections?

Edit: I took a timed diagnostic and scored a 155 if that matters. My goal is to hit 170.

[logicman86]

Alright. Apparently I was very unclear in my initial post because no one has answered my question. I apologize. My goal is not to study 1-2 hours a week and take the June LSAT. I already know that this is not enough. My question is: is it advisable to start doing some very light studying now until summer where I will be studying 20+ hours a week in preparation for the Oct. test? Will I just not retain things at such a light pace and waste sections?

Edit: I took a timed diagnostic and scored a 155 if that matters. My goal is to hit 170.

Yes. That certainly can't hurt. A 155 is a long way's away from a 170, and I don't think you're yet at the point where you can train yourself... i.e. if you get something wrong, look at the answer choices and immediately know what your mistake was. Buy a book that has explanations to the questions, and start there... you'll probably notice patterns. In the summer, address those patterns.

[tomwatts]

Light studying does good for some, not for others. Hard to know until you try it. You'll know if it's working: if you feel as though you're forgetting everything from one sitting to the next, it's not working.

[Miznitic]

I scored a 141 in Feb of '09, and a 179 in feb of '10.

How'd I do it? Studied/Practiced Obsessively. From about June to Feb I ran through as many PTs as I could. I read through all three PS Bibles, applied their concepts to the questions and Analyzed why questions were wrong/correct. You don't necessarily need a tutor, just discipline and time.

[rocksolid325]

I scored a 141 in Feb of '09, and a 179 in feb of '10.

How'd I do it? Studied/Practiced Obsessively. From about June to Feb I ran through as many PTs as I could. I read through all three PS Bibles, applied their concepts to the questions and Analyzed why questions were wrong/correct. You don't necessarily need a tutor, just discipline and time.

wow, that is very, very impressive. congratulations!

[waxecstatic]

That is incredible. How are you going to explain the low score when you apply? Congrats on the amazing improvement!

[typ3]

Worst part is the schools that average scores will average you to 160 :-/