A Two Year Study Guide Forum

[rmansoor]

So, I know this is WAY premature, but it's better earlier than later right?

I plan to take the June 2012 LSAT. Yes, 2012. I'm a keener freshman right now. =)

Everyone on this forum has shown me that law schools do REALLY care about your grade on this test. Thus, I want to do well!

I've seen lots and lots of study plans out there, but the majority of them are for 3 months! I have 8X that amount of time! So, I was wondering what course I should take because I would be super dissatisfied if i scored below 175. Hey, consider the time I'm willing to put into this!

My thoughts are to first work through Barron's LSAT Passkey because I bought it during one of my bookstore binges (yes, I actually have those).

After that, I was planning on doing one full LSAT test a week (timed, simulated conditions). At the same time, working through those PowerScore Bibles.

Any other ideas? Do you guys think I'm being super paranoid and forget about the LSAT until I hit 3rd year?

Thanks to all!

[hotdog123]

Honestly, I think you might be doing yourself a disservice studying for that long.

Some people can get r' done in 3 months, others up to 6 months... really slow prep can take up to a year... but two years? You'll likely flame out and get tired of it, and beyond that, you'll probably hit your "max" well in advance of 2 years... diminishing returns ftl

So, that's my two cents, but if you wanna do it... by all means knock yourself out.

[270910]

[Mrs. Jack Donaghy]

Do you guys think I'm being super paranoid and forget about the LSAT until I hit 3rd year?

Yes.

[TCScrutinizer]

So, I know this is WAY premature, but it's better earlier than later right?

I plan to take the June 2012 LSAT. Yes, 2012. I'm a keener freshman right now. =)

Everyone on this forum has shown me that law schools do REALLY care about your grade on this test. Thus, I want to do well!

I've seen lots and lots of study plans out there, but the majority of them are for 3 months! I have 8X that amount of time! So, I was wondering what course I should take because I would be super dissatisfied if i scored below 175. Hey, consider the time I'm willing to put into this!

My thoughts are to first work through Barron's LSAT Passkey because I bought it during one of my bookstore binges (yes, I actually have those).

After that, I was planning on doing one full LSAT test a week (timed, simulated conditions). At the same time, working through those PowerScore Bibles.

Any other ideas? Do you guys think I'm being super paranoid and forget about the LSAT until I hit 3rd year?

Thanks to all!

Read a lot of books, maybe take a class on informal logic or philosophy or political theory... don't actually start studying for the test itself until no more than 6 months before. This seems to be the consensus of those wiser than me.

[beach_terror]

The chance of you burning out on the material is astronomical.

[09042014]

If you have time now, take it in Oct 2010. Study now until then. Then relax.

6 months is too long, 2 years is just stupid.

[itsfine]

yeah its too soon, but what its not too soon to do is to start reading a lot and build up your ability to read quickly and accurately, that will pay major dividends

[rawils02]

2 years? If I where you I would study the usual material till you got it down- and that really only takes 3 months with an hour a day. then spend another 3 months really tackling the harder type questions (i.e. hybrid questions ect.). After that i would just do a few problems a day from each of the 3 types of questions (i.e. 4 reasoning, 2 logic, and 1 comprehension per day)... But I never did any paid LSAT classes so this is just from my perspective as a teach yourself kind of guy (also a relatively poor guy too:)

Honestly when studying for the LSAT most people I know buckled down HARD for 3 to 4 months with one to three hours per day five or six days a week. So if you are still in school you might want to just use the 2 years to study a little bit a few times a week so that your gpa doesn't suffer or that you have to take time off to study.

[KG_CalGuy]

In addition to the "burnout" factor everybody else mentions, I personally believe that you'll "learn" it a lot better if it's confined to a narrow period of 3-6 months (at the VERY most 9.) Even when I retook the LSAT, I only studied for 3-4 months prior to the test.

[rmansoor]

Thanks you guys! Legitimate, good advice.

I think I'll just read the Economist every day and do some random Sudoku puzzles until I hit my 6 month to 3 month prep time!

[270910]

[blue5385]

OP, in addition to burnout, you'll run out of original study materials way before 2012. IMO, PTs are less effective the second time you take them, and you'll probably need to recycle them even more than that if you study for two years.

edit: saw your post above, and unless your baseline is low, even 6 months might be too much study time.