LSAT Prep/Advice Forum

[evolution]

Hey everyone, this question may be too broad but I'm going to put it out there anyways. I'm about to graduate soon and I'm looking for full time jobs but I also plan to write my LSAT October 2013.
I know many of you are working full time and studying for the LSAT, so I'm curious how that is working for you? Would you rather of had a part time job+LSAT or is full time job+LSAT is completely manageable - or maybe even strictly focus on LSAT?
Any advice/opinion would be appreciated.

[Merylian]

Hey everyone, this question may be too broad but I'm going to put it out there anyways. I'm about to graduate soon and I'm looking for full time jobs but I also plan to write my LSAT October 2013.
I know many of you are working full time and studying for the LSAT, so I'm curious how that is working for you? Would you rather of had a part time job+LSAT or is full time job+LSAT is completely manageable - or maybe even strictly focus on LSAT?
Any advice/opinion would be appreciated.

I thought full time job + LSAT was just fine. My schedule was to do 1-2 hours on weeknights and 2-3 hours on weekend days. The hardest part to me was not cutting myself any slack...pre-October, it was pretty easy to tell myself "Hey, I've got this pretty well. I can take tonight off." DON'T do that, lest you get slapped in the face on your first test and have to re-take like I did. As long as you've got the self-discipline and a decent chunk of time before your exam, it's very doable!

[evolution]

I thought full time job + LSAT was just fine. My schedule was to do 1-2 hours on weeknights and 2-3 hours on weekend days. The hardest part to me was not cutting myself any slack...pre-October, it was pretty easy to tell myself "Hey, I've got this pretty well. I can take tonight off." DON'T do that, lest you get slapped in the face on your first test and have to re-take like I did. As long as you've got the self-discipline and a decent chunk of time before your exam, it's very doable!

Thanks. Did you find 2 hours on every week night and 3 hours on weekends sufficient enough to prepare yourself for the exam? Did you ever burnout easier since you worked full time + had to put in the time for the LSAT?

[Jeffort]

I thought full time job + LSAT was just fine. My schedule was to do 1-2 hours on weeknights and 2-3 hours on weekend days. The hardest part to me was not cutting myself any slack...pre-October, it was pretty easy to tell myself "Hey, I've got this pretty well. I can take tonight off." DON'T do that, lest you get slapped in the face on your first test and have to re-take like I did. As long as you've got the self-discipline and a decent chunk of time before your exam, it's very doable!

Thanks. Did you find 2 hours on every week night and 3 hours on weekends sufficient enough to prepare yourself for the exam? Did you ever burnout easier since you worked full time + had to put in the time for the LSAT?

Remember that improving your score significantly does not strictly correlate to quantity of study time, rather it much more depends on the QUALITY of the time you spend studying. For instance, spending most of your time doing the churn and burn routine of mostly taking timed tests and timed sections rather than spending at least half or more of your available time to review and dissect questions/concepts/techniques/mistakes/etc. in slow motion with the materials is unlikely to yield great results since you don't learn much by mainly just taking a bunch of timed practice tests.

[Merylian]

I thought full time job + LSAT was just fine. My schedule was to do 1-2 hours on weeknights and 2-3 hours on weekend days. The hardest part to me was not cutting myself any slack...pre-October, it was pretty easy to tell myself "Hey, I've got this pretty well. I can take tonight off." DON'T do that, lest you get slapped in the face on your first test and have to re-take like I did. As long as you've got the self-discipline and a decent chunk of time before your exam, it's very doable!

Thanks. Did you find 2 hours on every week night and 3 hours on weekends sufficient enough to prepare yourself for the exam? Did you ever burnout easier since you worked full time + had to put in the time for the LSAT?

Not really. By keeping my study sessions on the short end, I had at least an hour or two of "me" time every night, so I never felt like the LSAT was totally consuming my life. I did feel like laying down in traffic when I had to haul the books back out in November, but I'm pretty sure all retakers felt that way.

[evolution]

Remember that improving your score significantly does not strictly correlate to quantity of study time, rather it much more depends on the QUALITY of the time you spend studying. For instance, spending most of your time doing the churn and burn routine of mostly taking timed tests and timed sections rather than spending at least half or more of your available time to review and dissect questions/concepts/techniques/mistakes/etc. in slow motion with the materials is unlikely to yield great results since you don't learn much by mainly just taking a bunch of timed practice tests.

I agree. I'm trying to gauge how many hours of that quality time is put forth by the TLS'ers a week. Because if the consensus is 4+ hours, then for me, getting a full time job would not be ideal since I would basically have to work 8-5, then study from 7-11. Doing this every day I feel I would be burned out pretty quick...I dunno just a thought.

[KFV]

I quit my job to study for my first LSAT full-time. Thankfully my new job was cool with me taking two weeks off for my second one.

[bp shinners]

I have about 50/50 students who are working full-time and students who are still in college/some type of academic setting. While those who are still in school complain a lot (A LOT) more about how much time LSAT studying is taking up, the wear and tear on the full-time workers' faces is much more telling. If you can work full-time and still get yourself to study a few hours at night, more power to you. But from my experience, those who are working full-time tend to suffer a lot of stress and sleep deprivation when they add LSAT studying onto their plate.

[efin12]

I really think it depends how demanding your full time job would be. I work 9-5:30 as a paralegal and I didn't feel any added stress when I studied at night and on the weekends. Well, no more than is to be expected for studying for such an important test. In fact, when my cases were slow, I was able to study while at work. If you really buckle down and get into a routine, it's not that hard focusing for a few hours after work and then taking a practice test every Saturday morning. I even had time to go to the gym after work before studying at night. It's definitely doable, and I preferred not having the test consume every aspect of my life.

[francesfarmer]

I second the poster above me. I worked full time and studied for the LSAT at work during the week most days--I showed up an hour early to study at my office and then I studied for an hour during lunch. I still had time to go to the gym after work and stuff. I also studied 3-4 hours each day on the weekends. The only time it got really taxing for me was when I started PT-ing, which I couldn't do at work. Taking a 5 section PT at 7 at night is not fun.

[TryHard]

As a management consultant, fitting time to study for the LSAT is extremely difficult. Many nights, I just zombie out to Netflix instead of studying. I have learned that I need to "re-motivate" myself during times where my mind drifts into the nether. Oddly, going through TLS forums motivates me. Also, going to my dream school's website helps.

Find out what motivates you and keep it top of mind.