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I have heard so many good things about taking a break from studying. Specifically, people avoid/ameliorate burnout, often come back stronger, rarely come back weaker, save preptest materials, and really get good motivation to finish off their studying.

What is the ideal timing of such a break?

For the sake of this thread, let's assume that one will have anywhere from 3-6 months of studying done by test day, and is not really experiencing burnout i.e. they aren't going down or plateauing below target score and aren't being driven (too) nuts by the LSAT. Let's also assume that the amount of preptests isn't a factor in this decision, i.e. they're not worried about running out of PTs before the test date. I think that any of these things would override the "ideal" timing which is based on trying to simply maximize score. Clearly the assumption is that such a break would help, though perhaps by tossing out many of the reasons to take a break, actually taking a break is less useful than just barging through.

What is the ideal timing (i.e. how many weeks before test date) of a break from LSAT studying? Should one be hitting their target score before the break? How long should the break be?

Should I put up a poll here?


TAGS: timing of break, when to stop studying, ideal timing of study break

As the test grew nearer.... personally, I felt that stopping the momentum would be too risky.

I actually studied to the point of exhaustion the 3 weeks before the test, focused on time only in the final days, then did a timed reading the day of the test about 2 hours before I had to sit down and take it. This worked for me

However, the element of surprise is ALWAYS there come test day!