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Sophomore undergrad now, heard its bad to start studying too early because of "buring out." But I plan on seriously starting to study this upcoming spring semester. Too early, late, just right? And im sure this question has been posted before but the forum search is down.

might be a little early. i wish i would have started earlier though. i also wish i would have taken more full length PTs to get better timing.

4 months before should do the trick.

I'd be less concerned about burnout and more concerned about going through all the materials too early. Count all of the material that you have or are planning to have and come up with a study/PT schedule. You want to take the test at your peak.

Although some folks find value in retaking the same tests more than once, I found that I could remember answers from many of the questions that I had seen before. That's good for the ego, but scores based on previously seen material might be misleading. Another thing to consider is that I believe most schools only want to see scores that are less than three years old.

I spent a year studying, but only about 4 months of that time with any rigor.

so doesn't really sound like anyone thinks I SHOULDN'T start next semester....but if you could go back and pick the best time to start studying when would you pick?

bostlaw wrote:so doesn't really sound like anyone thinks I SHOULDN'T start next semester....but if you could go back and pick the best time to start studying when would you pick?

It depends on how much you study and how well you score initially. But yeah 4-6 months should be good.

Edit: Take a proctored prep-test and then decide.

shanemahsa wrote:

bostlaw wrote:so doesn't really sound like anyone thinks I SHOULDN'T start next semester....but if you could go back and pick the best time to start studying when would you pick?

It depends on how much you study and how well you score initially. But yeah 4-6 months should be good.

Edit: Take a proctored prep-test and then decide.

so start off by taking a proctored prep test before I start studying to see my initial score? Will just taking a prep test and adhering to the time limits be sufficient?

don't study yet. after 2 yrs of Lsat prep, you might reconsider diving into law school. that's a long time to have that test hang over your head. but what you can do is to begin thinking about formal logic, start reading the NYT, or a like paper, everyday, start doing crossword puzzles/sudoku/logic games. you can integrate those things into your daily routine pretty easily and you might actually enjoy them (if you don't already). the NYT will accustom you to the style of writing the LSAT uses, and sudoku/xword puzzles/logic games will accustom you to thinking out mind games/puzzles. in retrospect, these are the things i would have done during undergrad to prepare for the lsat.

toolfan wrote:don't study yet. after 2 yrs of Lsat prep, you might reconsider diving into law school. that's a long time to have that test hang over your head. but what you can do is to begin thinking about formal logic, start reading the NYT, or a like paper, everyday, start doing crossword puzzles/sudoku/logic games. you can integrate those things into your daily routine pretty easily and you might actually enjoy them (if you don't already). the NYT will accustom you to the style of writing the LSAT uses, and sudoku/xword puzzles/logic games will accustom you to thinking out mind games/puzzles. in retrospect, these are the things i would have done during undergrad to prepare for the lsat.

Weird you mention that because Ive started to read the times daily. Its free if you pick it up on campus.

bostlaw wrote:so doesn't really sound like anyone thinks I SHOULDN'T start next semester....but if you could go back and pick the best time to start studying when would you pick?

I personally would pick 6 months before the test and adjust based on diagnostic performance. I would plan to take the test either the February or June before the year you wish to attend law school. I wouldn't want to rock the test at the beginning of my Junior year and then find because I wanted some work experience after school that three years have elapsed since my last test and no school will consider that score.

That's just my conservative advice, though. You will probably be fine studying next semester.

bostlaw wrote: so start off by taking a proctored prep test before I start studying to see my initial score? Will just taking a prep test and adhering to the time limits be sufficient?

Yes, absolutely. This will give you a baseline score. Interpreting this score (by looking at where you ran out of time and how many of the questions attempted you got correct) will allow you to create a study schedule that best fits your needs.

toolfan wrote:don't study yet. after 2 yrs of Lsat prep, you might reconsider diving into law school. that's a long time to have that test hang over your head. but what you can do is to begin thinking about formal logic, start reading the NYT, or a like paper, everyday, start doing crossword puzzles/sudoku/logic games. you can integrate those things into your daily routine pretty easily and you might actually enjoy them (if you don't already). the NYT will accustom you to the style of writing the LSAT uses, and sudoku/xword puzzles/logic games will accustom you to thinking out mind games/puzzles. in retrospect, these are the things i would have done during undergrad to prepare for the lsat.

This is quasi-correct. I agree that being able to process text efficiently is a skill that will help you on the LSAT, but unless you are are a terrible reader, you will probably develop the correct reading comp skills through while you're studying LSAT questions. Are you a poor reader? A lot of people concentrate on reading too much. The skill you need to learn is how to read through the text and see the logical positions/fallacies placed within. Everything else is wasted time. The LSAT is not a mind game or a puzzle. You are presented with pretty straight forward arguments that are written rather formulaically.

shanemahsa wrote:

bostlaw wrote: so start off by taking a proctored prep test before I start studying to see my initial score? Will just taking a prep test and adhering to the time limits be sufficient?

Yes, absolutely. This will give you a baseline score. Interpreting this score (by looking at where you ran out of time and how many of the questions attempted you got correct) will allow you to create a study schedule that best fits your needs.

toolfan wrote:don't study yet. after 2 yrs of Lsat prep, you might reconsider diving into law school. that's a long time to have that test hang over your head. but what you can do is to begin thinking about formal logic, start reading the NYT, or a like paper, everyday, start doing crossword puzzles/sudoku/logic games. you can integrate those things into your daily routine pretty easily and you might actually enjoy them (if you don't already). the NYT will accustom you to the style of writing the LSAT uses, and sudoku/xword puzzles/logic games will accustom you to thinking out mind games/puzzles. in retrospect, these are the things i would have done during undergrad to prepare for the lsat.

This is quasi-correct. I agree that being able to process text efficiently is a skill that will help you on the LSAT, but unless you are are a terrible reader, you will probably develop the correct reading comp skills through while you're studying LSAT questions. Are you a poor reader? A lot of people concentrate on reading too much. The skill you need to learn is how to read through the text and see the logical positions/fallacies placed within. Everything else is wasted time. The LSAT is not a mind game or a puzzle. You are presented with pretty straight forward arguments that are written rather formulaically.

Where can I find a decent prep test?

bostlaw wrote: Where can I find a decent prep test?

You can take a proctored prep test for free, administered by one of the prep-course companies (kaplan, princeton review, etc. ). They administer these free of charge with the hope that they might be able to coax you into signing up--which isn't a terrible idea btw. And yes, I would definitely recommend that your diagnostic score be a proctored test.

Get ahold of as many practice tests as possible. Take a cold diagnostic, preferably a proctored one. See where your weaknesses are and concentrate on them. If you're aiming to take as many PTs as possible (like a lot of people do) start with the earliest ones and work your way later and later, making sure to save at least a couple of the newest ones for the time right before the exam. LR/LG Bibles are wonderful study tools and are extremely helpful if you notice you have a weakness in a certain type of LG or LR question. LG Bible is just amazing - study it, do all the problems in it, and you will have the tools to consistently -0/-1 EVERY LG section.

RC people seem to be up in the air about. It seems to me that RC is mostly about creating whatever type of reading/notation strategy that works best for you. So what helps you the most, whatever makes sense.

Take a Logic class. I think it is necessary if you want to score 170+.

if you are in school....8 months before

dhrizek wrote:Take a Logic class. I think it is necessary if you want to score 170+.

Not necessarily
I never took one.

shanemahsa wrote:

dhrizek wrote:Take a Logic class. I think it is necessary if you want to score 170+.

Not necessarily
I never took one.

But you probably had to learn it on your own anyway while you were studying. If you're still in school, you can get credit for studying for the LSAT.

shanemahsa wrote:

bostlaw wrote: Where can I find a decent prep test?

You can take a proctored prep test for free, administered by one of the prep-course companies (kaplan, princeton review, etc. ). They administer these free of charge with the hope that they might be able to coax you into signing up--which isn't a terrible idea btw. And yes, I would definitely recommend that your diagnostic score be a proctored test.

Be cautious of the prep-course free tests. Some use shady practices, like cutting down your time or messing with the format of the questions (the rules of the LG are in PARAGRAPH FORM? WHAT?!) to decrease your chance of getting a decent score and thus convincing you that you NEED that course. And don't sign up for the online proctored tests that they offer out of convenience. The platforms that they run off of waste a ton of time by requiring you to switch back and forth between screens (*ahem RC*), zoom in and out, struggle to read the small text, etc.

I would, personally, not take this route. I don't trust them. Case in point:

Kaplan claims to have the highest score increase of all the other prep-course companies combined, and yet, if you look in the footnote, this information was gathered from a two-week study conducted in 2007 among 149 US adults, 125 of which actually took a LSAT prep course.

*snicker*

Ginj wrote: Kaplan claims to have the highest score increase of all the other prep-course companies combined, and yet, if you look in the footnote, this information was gathered from a two-week study conducted in 2007 among 149 US adults, 125 of which actually took a LSAT prep course.

Is that too small a sample size? What was the confidence interval for that study?