June LSAT prep advice/sched? Working full-time Forum

[amols]

Hi, everyone!

I have looked around the forums for advice for people who are working full-time and studying for the LSAT. I've seen a few threads about it but none that recommended schedules for people who have jobs.

So here's my situation: I took the LSAT during my busy senior year of college (Dec 2009) and got a 157. I retook it in October (working full-time) and got a 157--again. Definitely a frustrating time (especially because I was scoring 167s on PTs), but I realized it would have been even worse if I'd scored lower than I had before. I think it was mostly because I couldn't sleep at all the night before.

Anyways I am planning on retaking for the last time in June so that hopefully if I have another sleepless night I can recover before the actual exam. I am still working full-time (8:00-6:00) and will be even busier than I was before. I am trying to start in the next few days. I have the PS Bibles and some practice LSATs (the most recent book).

Do any of you have any advice on how to approach this test one last time? What schedule would you recommend for me since I'm working full-time? I'll take any other advice you can offer, too

Thanks!

[birdlaw117]

For the first part of my prep over the summer I was doing an internship. While this isn't nearly as busy as working full-time, I did develop a few ways to handle the studying.

When I got home from work I knew I needed to do some studying, but I also wanted to relax. Therefore, I came up with a great solution. Kaplan makes some LG flashcards (they are very very basic, but just get you thinking in the right mindset). I took these flashcards, and went and sat by the pool for an hour, maybe an hour and a half. It was a great way to get a little studying done but still very relaxing. While this is probably not very practical for most people during January, etc., try and come up with a way to relax, but maybe perhaps be productive at the same time. If not, just relax.

Then, dinner time, then either a PT or some LR/LG drills (depending on the night). Also, I recommend getting a workout in sometime in this time frame as well (or in the morning if that works better).

However, the MOST important part of the prep while I was working was that I take a PT either Saturday or Sunday morning. Do it every weekend, budget it into your schedule. You will notice that taking PTs at night, after a long day at work, is very difficult. The weekend tests are where you get your best indicators of your improvement and where you need to focus your studying. Also, if you know you are especially tired some evening, don't push it. Taking a PT on a drained brain is not productive. You have to be honest with yourself about this, which isn't very easy.

The best thing you have going for you is that you have plenty of time. Do some drills in the evenings right now, and maybe in February start taking a bunch of PTs (and take the newest ones you can!).

HTH, Good Luck!

[a_evans89]

I am in the same boat that you are in, but I am aiming for the Oct LSAT. I am an engineer (civil construction), I work from 8 until 6 (if I'm lucky) and I have a family. I have found that combining the weekly schedule(s) from lsatblog.blogspot with the advice posted on this site have suited me nicely. Granted, I have only been studying for about 2 weeks---so my "system" may end up sucking. I study about 2 hours/weeknight, about 4 hours on Saturday, and Sunday completely off. I should be done with the LGB this weekend, and I'll have about 3 full weeks of pure LG drills, PT, and review. Also, I have a daily planner and I log everything I read, the drills and questions (games) that I do, and how many I miss. I also dont move on until I have a -1 or -0 on any of the games and drills I do (advice I picked up here somewhere). I dont think there are going to be any shortcuts or easier ways to do well on this thing---trust me, I've been looking. We are going to have to grind it out for a few months and hope we do well.

I dont know if this helped or not, but that's what I am doing. Good Luck.

[amols]

Wow. You both have good advice. Thanks for the replies .

Birdlaw, I'm glad I'm not the only one that needs some time to veg after work before grinding again. But I will follow your suggestions and try to veg effectively--instead of watching Battlestar Galactica on Netflix! I think you're right about doing lots of PTs (as many people suggest), and I will do that as well. Do you suggest I take the newest PTs in the beginning or the weekends before the June examination? Also, given that I have 20 weeks give or take a few before the test, do you think I should start with the earliest PTs available or no?

A_evans, thanks for the tips as well. Sounds like you have a great plan and are already making progress. I really like that you log what you've been doing and getting wrong/right. I will try that, too! I need to just commit and do it. I took a look at lsatblog's schedules which seem fine. I just need to find a why to incorporate that schedule into my busy day.

Thanks! See you on the June 2011 thread .

[birdlaw117]

I would recommend taking the newest PTs at the end, but make sure to take all of the new ones. They are definitely more important to take than the others, but the closer to test day (within reason of course) you can do them, the better.

I would recommend just sitting down and coming up with a rough estimate of how many PTs you are able to take. Then, subtract out the number of new, individual PTs you can buy. Then, whether you have 10 or 20 or 30, buy the books of 10 PTs. However, I would recommend buying the newer tests rather than the older tests. Therefore, if you need to, buy the most recent. 20, but the 2 most recent. That would be my strategy.

FWIW, I took the first 10, the last book of 10, and then all the new, individual PTs I could get my hands on (totaling something like 33 PTs I think). Also, I didn't do very much drilling, I mostly did PTs (took those 33 PTs over ~65 days). However, I don't think I would recommend that for most people.

Let me know if you have any other questions, etc.