How many PT's is too much in one week? Forum

[Malakai]

Long time lurker here. Anyway, I know this is subjective and I already know it's not the amount of PT's done, but the quality and thoroughness of reviewing each PT's right and wrong answers, so with that aside - i'd like some straightforward answers and input about time in between tests and how many PT's done in a week would be reasonable. My intent is to build up test endurance, but would you guys say 3 PT's each week is too much?

I plan on a gradual increase by doing: 1 PT a week for 3 weeks, 2 PT's a week for 5 weeks (separated by 2-3 days in between), then 3 PT's per week for 3 weeks (basically being a PT every other day at this point).

Input would be greatly appreciated

[loomstate]

its hard to give you a number - only you know when you are making good use of the material. a gradual increase sounds like a good plan if you're making progress. i sometimes refer to this poster's plan as a reference for PT intensity, 3 tests in one week is my maximum. http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=112107

you should be reviewing PTs to the point where things are redundant and you have beaten the learning points into your brain - otherwise its just a waste of time and resources. I started prepping by essentially just taking PTs and reviewing and then I switched to a plan with more emphasis on specific questions and sections and taking less PTs - my results were better using the second approach. My $.02

[Skill Game]

I would also say a max of 3 per week

[bp shinners]

I would recommend never getting past 3/week. That's a ton of time spent taking PTs, and you're really risking burnout at that point. Even there, I would alternate 3 PT weeks with 2 PT weeks if you start to feel it dragging you down.

[elterrible78]

3 a week was my max. When I tried to do more than that, my scores dropped significantly. When I pulled back to 2 or 3 a week, they shot back up.

[mindarmed]

Three a week. You need to rest your brain like any other muscle.

[The Misanthrope]

I wouldn't recommend taking practice tests two days in a row, and I wouldn't take more than 3 a week.

[Jeffort]

Three is the maximum you should do per week. If you do more than three you probably won't have enough time to or will not review them thoroughly enough to benefit from each one. The process of thoroughly reviewing a test takes a good amount of time and is the important part of the process in order to fix weaknesses and progressively improve your performance on subsequent practice tests. The act of taking each test does not by itself help you much other than improving stamina. Reviewing and identifying weaknesses and mistakes helps improve accuracy as well as speed.

Either two or three per week is good provided you also have and put in quality review time.

[Malakai]

I would recommend never getting past 3/week. That's a ton of time spent taking PTs, and you're really risking burnout at that point. Even there, I would alternate 3 PT weeks with 2 PT weeks if you start to feel it dragging you down.

A majority of you seem to suggest 3 as a limit, and provided appropriate responses and input regarding my question and for that i'm thankful!

Quoting BP Shinners in the above, this approach of alternating seems to be a great idea in that it would seem to prevent a sort of burnout that many of us may have experienced at one point or another in our prep. To provide an account of my own experience, there was one point during my prep where I was taking a PT every other day for two weeks and I firmly believe that that really contributed to my burnout at the time.

In sum, I'll definitely heed all of your advice when taking my PT schedule into account - thanks again guys!

[RhymesLikeDimes]

More than three, and you probably aren't doing an adequate review of each PT.

[Malakai]

More than three, and you probably aren't doing an adequate review of each PT.

This would definitely seem to hold true, unless you were someone crazy enough to manage a full PT + Review in the same day while actually learning/absorbing the lessons to be had.