LSAT Study Guide for October 2012 Forum

[Yardbird]

Hello all,

I just made this LSAT STUDY GUIDE for a friend of mine that wanted to supplement a Blueprint LSAT course. This is a good overview for the October 2012 test. It emphasizes practicing by question type first and then timed practice tests (5 section and 6 section tests). I used an abbreviated version of this for my June test (I got a 174 for the record).

Materials required:
CambridgeLSAT's questions by type packets as listed in the spreadsheet (you can also
sub in Kaplan Mastery/Orange Book or the GROUPED company's questions by type - or look at the tagged post for LR questions by type in the LSAT thread here and the LG type classifications at the end of the LGB)
PT 39-66
PowerScore Logic Games Bible

Everything that is color coded is either a timed Practice Test or a day that my friend had her LSAT course. If you aren't taking an LSAT course, I would encourage you to do the days shaded in blue as strictly timed days for the questions by type. Otherwise, all question by type practice should be loosely timed in that you take note of how long a passage or game took you (or 10 LR questions) and you compare that to what it should be (less than 8:45 for a LG/RC passage, less than 13.5 minutes for 10 LR questions).

6 section tests are given so that you get used to doing more than what you will see on test day. When taking timed tests, do the following:
5 section tests: Take 3 sections, 15 minute break, take last 2 sections. REVIEW within 24 hours.
6 section tests: Take 4 sections, 15 minute break, take last 2 sections. REVIEW within 24 hours.

Hope this helps someone!

P.S. If you're applying this cycle, check out this thread for an application requirements spreadsheet and fee waiver tracker for the 2012-2013 cycle: Link

[MissJenna]

Okay, so I have to say that I really like most of this schedule.

My 1 question.....how on earth can everything be done each day? I mean....let's say......we have a job, we exercise, we tend to be pretty slow at answering questions and/or reviewing (mostly this!!).....how can that really be done?

What would be the best way to shorten this while still feeling you've done a lot?

Hello all,

I just made this LSAT STUDY GUIDE for a friend of mine that wanted to supplement a Blueprint LSAT course. This is a good overview for the October 2012 test. It emphasizes practicing by question type first and then timed practice tests (5 section and 6 section tests). I used an abbreviated version of this for my June test (I got a 174 for the record).

Materials required:
CambridgeLSAT's questions by type packets as listed in the spreadsheet
PT 39-66
PowerScore Logic Games Bible

Everything that is color coded is either a timed Practice Test or a day that my friend had her LSAT course. If you aren't taking an LSAT course, I would encourage you to do the days shaded in blue as strictly timed days for the questions by type. Otherwise, all question by type practice should be loosely timed in that you take note of how long a passage or game took you (or 10 LR questions) and you compare that to what it should be (less than 8:45 for a LG/RC passage, less than 13.5 minutes for 10 LR questions).

6 section tests are given so that you get used to doing more than what you will see on test day. When taking timed tests, do the following:
5 section tests: Take 3 sections, 15 minute break, take last 2 sections. REVIEW within 24 hours.
6 section tests: Take 4 sections, 15 minute break, take last 2 sections. REVIEW within 24 hours.

Hope this helps someone!

P.S. If you're applying this cycle, check out this thread for an application requirements spreadsheet and fee waiver tracker for the 2012-2013 cycle: Link

[Yardbird]

It's 3 hours per day minus the first day because of the LG reading. It was made for someone who works full time and specifically for 2 months. If you shorten the amount you practice you won't be able to take all the PTs or do all the material. If you want to shorten it, do every other question to cut the time in half; every 3rd question to cut the time to 1/3. My belief is that if you practice 3 hours a day and get used to it, taking a 3 hour exam becomes easy.

[MissJenna]

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

It's 3 hours per day minus the first day because of the LG reading. It was made for someone who works full time and specifically for 2 months. If you shorten the amount you practice you won't be able to take all the PTs or do all the material. If you want to shorten it, do every other question to cut the time in half; every 3rd question to cut the time to 1/3. My belief is that if you practice 3 hours a day and get used to it, taking a 3 hour exam becomes easy.

[Yardbird]

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

Ask away!

[MissJenna]

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

Ask away!

Thanks, I really need to develop a solid study schedule for August for right now.

Okay here goes...

1) For RC, you have Humanities 1-4, Law 1-4, Natural Sciences 1-4, etc., etc. I assume you're referring to Cambridge's or Traciela order of RC passages?? So that's 4 passages a day??? I have passages 1-20 that I purchased from Traciela and I'm really trying to get an idea for how to schedule this. The hardest part of this entire prep is trying to get organized with my material and develop a schedule I can follow.

[MissJenna]

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

Ask away!

For Logical Reasoning, I have Kaplan's Mastery book and my testmasters books. I really didn't want to buy Cambridge's books by LR types on top of that too.

LR is my worst section everrrrrr and a section I unfortunately have been avoiding it like the plague for a a couple months now.((((((((

I see that you've assigned about 50 questions a day. I would like to do 50 questions a day (by type) but I do not see how that is remotely possible because:

a) I am SUPER s-l-o-w. I really take my time with each question I attempt or at least try to.
b) If I do 50 questions a day, then I will not have time to do any other section.
c) If I do 50 questions a day, where will the reviewing come in??? That will take me triple the time.

So what do you think is realistically possible for me?

[MissJenna]

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

Ask away!

For Games,

I really don't have a solid attack for games but I need one because I don't feel like just doing some logic games everyday is helping me. I see you just recommend the PS LGB for that. I also have their workbook and all the games since 1991 but not arranged or anything like that.

Do you think I should arrange games by type and go from there? I was initially planning on this but after reading what other people had to say...I'm not so sure anymore but then again I don't know.

I feel like I really got to get games down because they're like 'gimme points' so I'm trying to figure out how many I should do everyday or what's enough anyway???!!!! Arghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

[Yardbird]

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

Ask away!

1) For RC, you have Humanities 1-4, Law 1-4, Natural Sciences 1-4, etc., etc. I assume you're referring to Cambridge's or Traciela order of RC passages?? So that's 4 passages a day??? I have passages 1-20 that I purchased from Traciela and I'm really trying to get an idea for how to schedule this. The hardest part of this entire prep is trying to get organized with my material and develop a schedule I can follow.

It really doesnt matter for RC since that's the only section that doesn't matter what type (topic) it is. The questions will all be about the same. Just practice 4 passages (or 1 full section) per day. I would recommend using passages from PTs 1-38 so you can use 39-66 for timed tests.

[Yardbird]

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

Ask away!

For Logical Reasoning, I have Kaplan's Mastery book and my testmasters books. I really didn't want to buy Cambridge's books by LR types on top of that too.

LR is my worst section everrrrrr and a section I unfortunately have been avoiding it like the plague for a a couple months now.((((((((

I see that you've assigned about 50 questions a day. I would like to do 50 questions a day (by type) but I do not see how that is remotely possible because:

a) I am SUPER s-l-o-w. I really take my time with each question I attempt or at least try to.
b) If I do 50 questions a day, then I will not have time to do any other section.
c) If I do 50 questions a day, where will the reviewing come in??? That will take me triple the time.

So what do you think is realistically possible for me?

Stop avoiding LR. If you can't finish 50 questions quickly and efficiently, how do you think you will do on the real deal (hint: you'll do worse than you want). You can substitute Kaplan Mastery questions by type for the CambridgeLSAT ones, they might have them organized slightly differently. Just make sure you are practicing by type and difficulty and that you are doing 50 questions a day. You can't improve a weakness if you don't work on it. No better motivation to get faster than to eat into your personal TV/movie/gaming/going out time.

[Yardbird]

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

Ask away!

For Games,

I really don't have a solid attack for games but I need one because I don't feel like just doing some logic games everyday is helping me. I see you just recommend the PS LGB for that. I also have their workbook and all the games since 1991 but not arranged or anything like that.

Do you think I should arrange games by type and go from there? I was initially planning on this but after reading what other people had to say...I'm not so sure anymore but then again I don't know.

I feel like I really got to get games down because they're like 'gimme points' so I'm trying to figure out how many I should do everyday or what's enough anyway???!!!! Arghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

The LGB has every game up to a certain PT classified into type categories. You'll be able to practice at least by type and follow along the schedule.

My overall advice is that you seem to be struggling with LG and LR. That's 3/4 of the test. If you don't have the time to study as much as you need for Oct (which I am doubting you will be able to improve to your max potential if you're avoiding weaknesses and having severe timing issues), you may want to consider postponing to December or Feb/June/next cycle so you can get in a proper amount of prep. The LSAT is very learnable and I believe that with correct practice, ANYONE can get a 165+ and MANY can get a 170+. Just taking PTs without studying question types would be the equivalent of trying to take the final in a logic class without learning the topics first - the majority of test takers will fall prey to practicing ONLY by tests and not question types. The people who drill question types are the majority of the ones scoring above 170 (barring the extremely gifted who have a 168+ diagnostic).

These are all just my opinions though. Take them with a grain of salt.

[Edit] For the record, I did my prep using the guide above, except I had it compressed into one months time (6-8 hrs a day of prep as opposed to 3-4) while working full-time. I sacrificed going to bars, movies, dates, tv, playing my saxophone (amateur jazz musician here) - pretty much all my free time to work on the test. 8 hours of work, 8 hours of prep, 6 hours of sleep with 2 hours of free time for eating, bathroom breaks, etc.

This schedule is 3-4 hours per day, so if you work 8 hours a day and sleep 8 hours a day, you still have ANOTHER 8 hours to fit in 3-4 hours of prep. It's possible to do if you have the motivation (my motivation was if I didn't get 170+ I was NOT going to apply to law school).

[PeanutsNJam]

Dude, the test is like 125-130 questions... doing 50 a day is doing less than half the whole test, which should be done in 3 hours, in like the 14 hours you're awake... 50 questions should take you 1 hr give or take 10-20 mins. If you're slow, it'll take you 2. Review takes you another hour. If you're slow, 3 hours of studying? Doesn't sound too bad.

If you can't study for 3 hours, law school might not be your thing.

Here's the thing. This guy has a super specialized training regimen. It's useful if you're a movie actor training to become ripped and cut like a superhero should be (which is likely the case with the LSAT).

Or, you can just do PT's each day and review.

All that matters is that you do real questions.

You will improve if you do real questions, either by some structured study guide or just blazing through practice tests section by section.

If you want to get more fit, you can follow a strict running schedule. Or, you can just go outside and run. Depending on the type of person you are, one will work better than the other. That's for your to figure out.

[Yardbird]

If you can't study for 3 hours, law school might not be your thing.

(S)he's working full-time. That changes things. Most people don't work full-time while in law school.

You are right, though, that he has to find what works for him. It doesn't sound like he has yet with the test looming ahead of him in 2 months.

[PeanutsNJam]

If you can't study for 3 hours, law school might not be your thing.

(S)he's working full-time. That changes things. Most people don't work full-time while in law school.

You are right, though, that he has to find what works for him. It doesn't sound like he has yet with the test looming ahead of him in 2 months.

It's hard to study for LSAT if you have a family and work full time (don't know about her/him). However, I'm working full time this summer and will be a full time senior undergrad university known for rigorous academics, and I'm taking the LSAT in Oct. I think being able to study in these conditions is necessary.

I mean, I really hope you won't have to study all the time in law school like you have to for the LSAT, but around exam time it's probably gonna be like this.

[VUSisterRayVU]

Does anyone have an idea how to group Manhattan LSAT Classification of games? Like, is there a list anywhere?

[Yardbird]

Does anyone have an idea how to group Manhattan LSAT Classification of games? Like, is there a list anywhere?

CambridgeLSAT is by the Manhattan LSAT classification (and pretty much also to the PowerScore classification). Just use the PowerScore breakdown at the back of the LGB and the LRB. Practicing by type is most efficient if you use old tests to practice by type and new tests to do timed PTs. PowerScore's breakdown covers PTs 1-38 so it'll go along with this guide.

[Yardbird]

It's hard to study for LSAT if you have a family and work full time (don't know about her/him). However, I'm working full time this summer and will be a full time senior undergrad university known for rigorous academics, and I'm taking the LSAT in Oct. I think being able to study in these conditions is necessary.

Full time academics at a university (no matter how rigorous it is) is not equivalent to working full time. Full time academics + part time work might be. I go to a school with notoriously hard grading and probably put in more work per semester to get good grades than someone at an ivy, but its still not 40 hours a week of class time/studying. Add 20-30 hours of work a week on top of academics and you might be in the ballpark. That being said...

I mean, I really hope you won't have to study all the time in law school like you have to for the LSAT, but around exam time it's probably gonna be like this.

From what I have heard from friends in law school and read on this forum, you will be studying 3-5 hours a day in addition to classes each day (if you haven't seen these: Example 1, Example 2). Being able to study 3-5 hours a day for the LSAT may very well translate into good study habits for law school in general.

[MissJenna]

If you can't study for 3 hours, law school might not be your thing.

(S)he's working full-time. That changes things. Most people don't work full-time while in law school.

You are right, though, that he has to find what works for him. It doesn't sound like he has yet with the test looming ahead of him in 2 months.

Oh yes I do.....trust me. Believe me...I can't believe this month is practically over and I haven't done &*$*!!! I really do feel just horrible.

I'm not working full time anymore.....only 3 days a week so I have more time.

[MissJenna]

Dude, the test is like 125-130 questions... doing 50 a day is doing less than half the whole test, which should be done in 3 hours, in like the 14 hours you're awake... 50 questions should take you 1 hr give or take 10-20 mins. If you're slow, it'll take you 2. Review takes you another hour. If you're slow, 3 hours of studying? Doesn't sound too bad.

If you can't study for 3 hours, law school might not be your thing.

Here's the thing. This guy has a super specialized training regimen. It's useful if you're a movie actor training to become ripped and cut like a superhero should be (which is likely the case with the LSAT).

Or, you can just do PT's each day and review.

All that matters is that you do real questions.

You will improve if you do real questions, either by some structured study guide or just blazing through practice tests section by section.

If you want to get more fit, you can follow a strict running schedule. Or, you can just go outside and run. Depending on the type of person you are, one will work better than the other. That's for your to figure out.

Can I ask what your method(s) are when it comes to reviewing? Reviewing all 3 sections along with prep tests?

[MissJenna]

I am taking this exam in Oct and Dec.

I haven't started timing myself. When do you think I should start?

And as far as taking timed prep tests, I was planning on taking 2 a week starting in Sep.

Thanks again.

Would you mind if I asked you a few more questions regarding this or PM'ed you instead?

Ask away!

For Logical Reasoning, I have Kaplan's Mastery book and my testmasters books. I really didn't want to buy Cambridge's books by LR types on top of that too.

LR is my worst section everrrrrr and a section I unfortunately have been avoiding it like the plague for a a couple months now.((((((((

I see that you've assigned about 50 questions a day. I would like to do 50 questions a day (by type) but I do not see how that is remotely possible because:

a) I am SUPER s-l-o-w. I really take my time with each question I attempt or at least try to.
b) If I do 50 questions a day, then I will not have time to do any other section.
c) If I do 50 questions a day, where will the reviewing come in??? That will take me triple the time.

So what do you think is realistically possible for me?

Stop avoiding LR. If you can't finish 50 questions quickly and efficiently, how do you think you will do on the real deal (hint: you'll do worse than you want). You can substitute Kaplan Mastery questions by type for the CambridgeLSAT ones, they might have them organized slightly differently. Just make sure you are practicing by type and difficulty and that you are doing 50 questions a day. You can't improve a weakness if you don't work on it. No better motivation to get faster than to eat into your personal TV/movie/gaming/going out time.

[MissJenna]

I've been working on trying to create a freaking schedule for the month of august. Do you think I could get your opinion on it? I won't post the entire month. I'll just show you 1 week of it (or a couple days) which will pretty much not change from week to week. I just want your expertise if you think it's feasible, etc. I'm really serious about not wasting anymore time here with only 2 months left. Even though I am doing Dec too, I still want to give a lot in preparing for the oct exam.

[gandalf]

Thanks OP for making this study guide. It looks very comprehensive. I can see a lot of thought went into preparing the order and amount of work for each day. Very reasonable. I've adapted it a bit to my needs, but I was wondering...

Do you recommend doing both Blueprint homework and the Cambridge LSAT questions by type concurrently? Or just the Cambridge LSAT questions by type? I ask because there is bound to be a lot of redundancy built into using both question sets. Or are you of the opinion that the more practice, the better?

[Yardbird]

Thanks OP for making this study guide. It looks very comprehensive. I can see a lot of thought went into preparing the order and amount of work for each day. Very reasonable. I've adapted it a bit to my needs, but I was wondering...

Do you recommend doing both Blueprint homework and the Cambridge LSAT questions by type concurrently? Or just the Cambridge LSAT questions by type? I ask because there is bound to be a lot of redundancy built into using both question sets. Or are you of the opinion that the more practice, the better?

More practice = better.

[Yardbird]

I've been working on trying to create a freaking schedule for the month of august. Do you think I could get your opinion on it? I won't post the entire month. I'll just show you 1 week of it (or a couple days) which will pretty much not change from week to week. I just want your expertise if you think it's feasible, etc. I'm really serious about not wasting anymore time here with only 2 months left. Even though I am doing Dec too, I still want to give a lot in preparing for the oct exam.

PM your schedule to me but you should start it anyways. It's not too hard to make a long term study schedule. Sticking to it 100% is the hard part.

[PeanutsNJam]

Dude, the test is like 125-130 questions... doing 50 a day is doing less than half the whole test, which should be done in 3 hours, in like the 14 hours you're awake... 50 questions should take you 1 hr give or take 10-20 mins. If you're slow, it'll take you 2. Review takes you another hour. If you're slow, 3 hours of studying? Doesn't sound too bad.

If you can't study for 3 hours, law school might not be your thing.

Here's the thing. This guy has a super specialized training regimen. It's useful if you're a movie actor training to become ripped and cut like a superhero should be (which is likely the case with the LSAT).

Or, you can just do PT's each day and review.

All that matters is that you do real questions.

You will improve if you do real questions, either by some structured study guide or just blazing through practice tests section by section.

If you want to get more fit, you can follow a strict running schedule. Or, you can just go outside and run. Depending on the type of person you are, one will work better than the other. That's for your to figure out.

Can I ask what your method(s) are when it comes to reviewing? Reviewing all 3 sections along with prep tests?

I can share with you my study plan; It's infinitely simpler. You should know that I already have the basics of the test down (can ace LG sections, can understand 99% of the reason why I'm wrong in CR/LR).

I'm "driling" by blowing through PTs. I have a few books with 10 PT's in them, and I do as many sections as I feel comfortable each day (no less than 2). As I'm doing them, if I feel iffy on a question (not certain), I mark it. I want to eventually be able to never feel iffy on a question.

I do it timed, and if I don't finish (sometimes I'm short 1 or 2 questions), I note that and finish the section.

When I check questions, I note the ones I got wrong as well as the ones I got right that I felt "iffy" on. Why did I pick the right one? On all the questions that I either marked or got wrong, I go through and try to prove or explain why each incorrect answer choice is incorrect.

"schedule" wise, I just do as many sections as I want. Some days, I study alot (3-4 hrs is alot for me, I can't study efficiently after that), some days, I study a little (1-2 hours). I kinda go by feel. Currently PTing 170-173. Shooting for 180.

For me, I "stuck to my schedule" if I finished all the PTs that I have by test time (19-66).