Can anyone help me out? I need some advice please... Forum

[chaz34]

Hello everyone...I am new to the forum and need to ask some questions.

I am 31 and was just laid off at my finance job and I am planning on taking my LSAT on 10/9/10--and that will give me 8 weeks for preparation. I am not trying to land a spot a HYS by the way. I want to go to either a state school or a local private school for my degree. Here are my questions...

1) I have a MBA and know about hard work and test prep...is 8 weeks of hard core studying long enough to land in the 160's for the LSAT. I want to study 7-8 hrs/day.

2) I have the Powerscore Games and Logical Reasoning books...how long will it take me to get through those bibles? I am planning on reading them 7 or 8 hours a day. I have a photographic memory and can recite things very well and remember large amts of information.

3) Is it true that you really don't have to do 10 million prep tests in order to do well? I have also read that people have done well by just examining what they did well and didn't do well and just didn't repeat those mistakes.

Thanks in advance! If you want to add anything else, please do.

P.S. December LSAT IS NOT an option--I have a new job lined up that will begin after the October 9th LSAT.

[Anaconda]

Take a diagnostic to see how much work have to do.

[kswiss]

Its hard to say.

Do a pretest under test conditions. have a friend or family member administer it. Then you'll have a better idea of where you stand.

I started studying in October for the Dec test last year and scored a 170, but I am very good at these kinds of tests.

It all depends on your studying style. A lot of people have trouble with time, which is why you need to make sure you time your diagnostic. No gimmies, no filling in a couple bubbles at the end after time is up. Make sure you have a really good sense of your strengths and weaknesses.

Just get your hands on as many old tests as you can and study accordingly. Do like 2 tests a week on Wed and Sun, and go over your errors and work on fixing them between. I had a system where I would take a practice test every thursday afternoon, and on the back page of the booklet I would write down every answer I got wrong and why, then target those areas.

Also, get yourself a cheap Timex watch with a 30 lap stopwatch. Click the lap button after you finish each question, then when you're done with the test, you can write down exactly how long each question took. When you do this enough, you learn to sense which questions are taking you too long, and you can read through a question stem and decide if you want to attempt the problem if you have like 5 mins left and 5 questions left to answer.

I wrote out my study strategy in nearly its entirety. Here: --LinkRemoved--

[cartercl]

How did you do on the verbal section on the GMAT? I'm studying for the GMAT right now and I can tell you that the LSAT is much harder. That being said, there are striking similarities between the two and it (the LSAT) is pretty much just like the verbal section of the GMAT (minus the sentence correction) with an added section (analytical reasoning) and increased difficulty.

I think if you did very well on that then you probably have the skills to do well on the LSAT within a short period of time since it's likely you will recognize the question types. (This is assuming you actually remember some of the material on the GMAT.)

Note: I'm not saying the two tests are the same, just that there are similarities. These similarities should be helpful when studying for the LSAT.

[chaz34]

I will read your study strategy posting...thank you

Its hard to say.

Do a pretest under test conditions. have a friend or family member administer it. Then you'll have a better idea of where you stand.

I started studying in October for the Dec test last year and scored a 170, but I am very good at these kinds of tests.

It all depends on your studying style. A lot of people have trouble with time, which is why you need to make sure you time your diagnostic. No gimmies, no filling in a couple bubbles at the end after time is up. Make sure you have a really good sense of your strengths and weaknesses.

Just get your hands on as many old tests as you can and study accordingly. Do like 2 tests a week on Wed and Sun, and go over your errors and work on fixing them between. I had a system where I would take a practice test every thursday afternoon, and on the back page of the booklet I would write down every answer I got wrong and why, then target those areas.

Also, get yourself a cheap Timex watch with a 30 lap stopwatch. Click the lap button after you finish each question, then when you're done with the test, you can write down exactly how long each question took. When you do this enough, you learn to sense which questions are taking you too long, and you can read through a question stem and decide if you want to attempt the problem if you have like 5 mins left and 5 questions left to answer.

I wrote out my study strategy in nearly its entirety. Here: --LinkRemoved--

[chaz34]

I can't remember honestly...I took my GMAT over five years ago...

How did you do on the verbal section on the GMAT? I'm studying for the GMAT right now and I can tell you that the LSAT is much harder. That being said, there are striking similarities between the two and it (the LSAT) is pretty much just like the verbal section of the GMAT (minus the sentence correction) with an added section (analytical reasoning) and increased difficulty.

I think if you did very well on that then you probably have the skills to do well on the LSAT within a short period of time since it's likely you will recognize the question types. (This is assuming you actually remember some of the material on the GMAT.)

Note: I'm not saying the two tests are the same, just that there are similarities. These similarities should be helpful when studying for the LSAT.

[fosterp]

7-8 hours should get you through the book in one sitting probably.

[rbhesser]

Take a diagnostic first. I used a little less than two months to study last year. Bumped my diagnostic up from 154 to 164 on the actual test. And I was testing by the end of my studying around 170- 172. I just freaked out on the actual test. My recommendations would be to buy as many preptests as possible and just start going through them- always timing yourself. I was lucky because logic games came completely naturally to me. Most of the time I got a 100 % although I did miss one on the actual test. If you have one weak section (you'll know after your diagnostic), then maybe buy that Powerscore book. But taking tests and familiarizing yourself is probably going to be your best bet. Good luck.

[Pip]

Without knowing how smart you are or what aptitude you have for doing standardized tests or logic problems... no one can answer you in a meaningful way.

I know that when I took the LSAT it was based on a bet that I could out score another guy in my econ class without studying.... I won, but it was simply because I was heavy into logic and was very good taking standardized tests... The other guy had done every type of pre-test prep you could have dreamed up. Grade wise he had a higher GPA... it all came down to how well we tested.

So before you waste 8 weeks of your life studying for the LSAT take a pre-test to see where you score.... you might move that score up some, but it wont really be because you studied as much as it will because became familiar with the process.

At your age, your brain has likely already gotten set in how you look at things so trying to retrain how you think isn't going to happen in 8 weeks.... your best bet is to just understand the basics of format, then look at the time management and last but not least remember to make educated guesses if you start falling behind on time.

[lparker]

At your age, your brain has likely already gotten set in how you look at things so trying to retrain how you think isn't going to happen in 8 weeks....

He's 31... Not 87...

OP, Search this forum, develop a study method, and go for it. Best of luck!