My LSAT study schedule & general questions
Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 9:19 pm
Hey all. I took a diagnostic exam, and got a 157. My goal is to score somewhere between 171-174.
I'm planning on taking the December LSAT, and drew up a 'study plan.'
Phase 1: Learn the Material
Powerscore LGB - Initial run through
Powerscore LRB - Initial run through
TLS RC Strategy guides (rkitten & voyager's guides)
--> Take first preptest since the initial diagnostic & review test
Powerscore LGB - revisited (redoing the games in the book, re-reading info and finding any tidbits that I missed)
Powerscore LRB - revisited
Powerscore RCB - initial & only run through
--> Take second preptest & review wrong answers
Manhattan LSAT Logic Games - intial
Manhattan LSAT LR - initial
--> Take third preptest & review wrong answers
Powerscore RC Passage type training
Powerscore Logic Games Bible workbook - first and only run through
Manhattan Logic Games - revisited
Manhattan LR - revisited
--> Take fourth preptest & review wrong answers
If LR performance is not up to par at this point, Powerscore LRB Workbook for additional practice
Blueprint LG
Blueprint LR
Master the LSAT
Phase 2: Applying what I learned (?)
goals - get a good feel for timing/pacing, fatigue, application of strategies/diagrams
--> fifth preptest
--> sixth preptest
--> seventh preptest
--> eighth preptest
--> ninth preptest
Phase 3: Examining my trends
Review the 9 preptests with more emphasis on the last 5, and try and determine where my relative strengths and weaknesses are.
Refer back to PS/BP/MLSAT books for help with subpar sections
Drill the problematic question types
Phase 4: Testmasters course
From what I've been told, if I go through all of the books that I've listed, the Testmasters course would be redundant/not worth it. But what I'm trying to get out of it, as well as all of the other books, is more practice. Also, the course starts during my fall semester. While I have a lot of free time during the summer, I might not be as inclined to budget time studying for the LSAT in school. The course meets four hours twice a week, and should force me to think "LSAT" for roughly 10-12 hours a week homework inclusive. I just don't want to regress after hopefully making gains during the summer.
*After Phase 4, if PTing around ~173, will not take test (accounting for the near-mythical 3 point drop)
*After Phase 4, if PTing sub-170 or between 169-170, wait and take Feb 2014.
Phase 5: Fourth Quarter hail mary
order some Chinese (Ma-Po Tofu with egg & crab rangoon)
PT at least twice a weekend, preferrably in the mornings so I can still live my life
refine technique/approach, eliminate/curtail problem areas
review practice tests
Two weeks prior to the Feb test, take a PT a day, then chill out for the week leading up to test
Phase 6: Go back to living my life
Whew. I'm spending anywhere between two to four hours in the library (8/10AM - 12PM), and am planning to increase my tempo if that seems to be necessary. What do you guys think about my approach? Would you re-arrange the order of some of the books? Most people have been saying Powerscore first, then Manhattan, so that's the approach I decided to take. Also, someone noted that by the time I get to the Blueprint book, I'll already have an established method of doing things, and the book won't do much for me. At the very least, it'll give me more practice/familiarity with the problems. At the best, it'll trim wrong answers off of my LG.
General Questions:
If I'm not PTing in the desired range in Dec, I'll take the Feb test instead of Dec. But is the Feb test any different? Why are they not typically released?
A guy from amazon posted the following about the "10 Actual, Official LSAT preptests"/PT 7-18:
"1. The Logical Reasoning sections in these tests SHOULD NOT BE DONE. At all. They are similar in type, scope, and topic to the modern questions, but they are looser. Less logical. It took some time for the makers of the LSAT to learn how to write very high quality questions. The reason this matters is because LR questions are a fusion of logic and english and if the english is a bit off, one can misinterpret how to look at the questions." - L**n
How much weight should I put into this? Specifically, "The Logical Reasoning sections in these tests SHOULD NOT BE DONE?"
Amazon review of MLSAT LG book (if you can't tell, I bought all of my books via amazon): "I wish I could un-read this book. I was scoring pretty well in the games section but decided to grab a self-study book to see if I could improve. Since I felt like I already had a decent grasp on games, I opted for Manhattan's book over Powerscore's to save some money. The more of this stupid book I read, the more my LG score drops! These strategies don't work, or they're horribly explained and impossible to apply quickly." - L**s.
Trolololol. Hopefully this is an anomaly?
Most important question: how the heck do you guys review preptests? If the only things provided are the questions & answer key, a lot of times, especially earlier in my prep, just knowing the right answer won't really help a ton, will it? So how did you veterans review a preptest?
On a side note, I already started this. Finished initial LGB run-through, read Voyager's RC posts, and am almost done with initial run-through of LRB. Will post preptest results afterwards.
I'm planning on taking the December LSAT, and drew up a 'study plan.'
Phase 1: Learn the Material
Powerscore LGB - Initial run through
Powerscore LRB - Initial run through
TLS RC Strategy guides (rkitten & voyager's guides)
--> Take first preptest since the initial diagnostic & review test
Powerscore LGB - revisited (redoing the games in the book, re-reading info and finding any tidbits that I missed)
Powerscore LRB - revisited
Powerscore RCB - initial & only run through
--> Take second preptest & review wrong answers
Manhattan LSAT Logic Games - intial
Manhattan LSAT LR - initial
--> Take third preptest & review wrong answers
Powerscore RC Passage type training
Powerscore Logic Games Bible workbook - first and only run through
Manhattan Logic Games - revisited
Manhattan LR - revisited
--> Take fourth preptest & review wrong answers
If LR performance is not up to par at this point, Powerscore LRB Workbook for additional practice
Blueprint LG
Blueprint LR
Master the LSAT
Phase 2: Applying what I learned (?)
goals - get a good feel for timing/pacing, fatigue, application of strategies/diagrams
--> fifth preptest
--> sixth preptest
--> seventh preptest
--> eighth preptest
--> ninth preptest
Phase 3: Examining my trends
Review the 9 preptests with more emphasis on the last 5, and try and determine where my relative strengths and weaknesses are.
Refer back to PS/BP/MLSAT books for help with subpar sections
Drill the problematic question types
Phase 4: Testmasters course
From what I've been told, if I go through all of the books that I've listed, the Testmasters course would be redundant/not worth it. But what I'm trying to get out of it, as well as all of the other books, is more practice. Also, the course starts during my fall semester. While I have a lot of free time during the summer, I might not be as inclined to budget time studying for the LSAT in school. The course meets four hours twice a week, and should force me to think "LSAT" for roughly 10-12 hours a week homework inclusive. I just don't want to regress after hopefully making gains during the summer.
*After Phase 4, if PTing around ~173, will not take test (accounting for the near-mythical 3 point drop)
*After Phase 4, if PTing sub-170 or between 169-170, wait and take Feb 2014.
Phase 5: Fourth Quarter hail mary
order some Chinese (Ma-Po Tofu with egg & crab rangoon)
PT at least twice a weekend, preferrably in the mornings so I can still live my life
refine technique/approach, eliminate/curtail problem areas
review practice tests
Two weeks prior to the Feb test, take a PT a day, then chill out for the week leading up to test
Phase 6: Go back to living my life
Whew. I'm spending anywhere between two to four hours in the library (8/10AM - 12PM), and am planning to increase my tempo if that seems to be necessary. What do you guys think about my approach? Would you re-arrange the order of some of the books? Most people have been saying Powerscore first, then Manhattan, so that's the approach I decided to take. Also, someone noted that by the time I get to the Blueprint book, I'll already have an established method of doing things, and the book won't do much for me. At the very least, it'll give me more practice/familiarity with the problems. At the best, it'll trim wrong answers off of my LG.
General Questions:
If I'm not PTing in the desired range in Dec, I'll take the Feb test instead of Dec. But is the Feb test any different? Why are they not typically released?
A guy from amazon posted the following about the "10 Actual, Official LSAT preptests"/PT 7-18:
"1. The Logical Reasoning sections in these tests SHOULD NOT BE DONE. At all. They are similar in type, scope, and topic to the modern questions, but they are looser. Less logical. It took some time for the makers of the LSAT to learn how to write very high quality questions. The reason this matters is because LR questions are a fusion of logic and english and if the english is a bit off, one can misinterpret how to look at the questions." - L**n
How much weight should I put into this? Specifically, "The Logical Reasoning sections in these tests SHOULD NOT BE DONE?"
Amazon review of MLSAT LG book (if you can't tell, I bought all of my books via amazon): "I wish I could un-read this book. I was scoring pretty well in the games section but decided to grab a self-study book to see if I could improve. Since I felt like I already had a decent grasp on games, I opted for Manhattan's book over Powerscore's to save some money. The more of this stupid book I read, the more my LG score drops! These strategies don't work, or they're horribly explained and impossible to apply quickly." - L**s.
Trolololol. Hopefully this is an anomaly?
Most important question: how the heck do you guys review preptests? If the only things provided are the questions & answer key, a lot of times, especially earlier in my prep, just knowing the right answer won't really help a ton, will it? So how did you veterans review a preptest?
On a side note, I already started this. Finished initial LGB run-through, read Voyager's RC posts, and am almost done with initial run-through of LRB. Will post preptest results afterwards.
