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What facilitates a more efficient prep session: lunch break or no lunch break?

My best days with the test have been six to seven hour sprints with no breaks other than to evacuate. However, typically I do three to four hours in the morning and one to two hours in the afternoon after lunch. My prep is always slower in the afternoon, which I think is most likely due to a combination of physiological and psychological reasons.

RobertGolddust wrote:What facilitates a more efficient prep session: lunch break or no lunch break?

My best days with the test have been six to seven hour sprints with no breaks other than to evacuate. However, typically I do three to four hours in the morning and one to two hours in the afternoon after lunch. My prep is always slower in the afternoon, which I think is most likely due to a combination of physiological and psychological reasons.

Ew. Poorly phrased.

To answer your Q: I think most people like take a break, but it's whatever works best for you. If you feel yourself wanting one, take one. That's the rule. Otherwise you just spend your studying thinking about how much you want a break, which interferes with processing the material, and doesn't make for a very efficient study session.

LG, how is this for phrasing: Do you prefer a lunch break while prepping?

RobertGolddust wrote:LG, how is this for phrasing: Do you prefer a lunch break while prepping?

Lol, that wasn't the part I had a problem with. See bolded.

Anyway, I personally study from about 10 PM or later until the morning, generally.. so no, I don't take a lunch break.

I did PT in the morning, lunch, review PT and do other things if necessary.

I get irritable and can't seem to focus properly when I'm hungry. So LSAT while hungry is a big no no for me.

TheMostDangerousLG wrote:

RobertGolddust wrote:LG, how is this for phrasing: Do you prefer a lunch break while prepping?

Lol, that wasn't the part I had a problem with. See bolded.

Anyway, I personally study from about 10 PM or later until the morning, generally.. so no, I don't take a lunch break.

That does not seem sustainable. Are you going to try to normalize your schedule before school/a job?

objection_your_honor wrote:

TheMostDangerousLG wrote:

RobertGolddust wrote:LG, how is this for phrasing: Do you prefer a lunch break while prepping?

Lol, that wasn't the part I had a problem with. See bolded.

Anyway, I personally study studied from about 10 PM or later until the morning, generally.. so no, I don't didn't take a lunch break. (Fixed.)

That does not seem sustainable. Are you going to try to normalize your schedule before school/a job?

Too late now. I just finished college and my second take of the LSAT. It's sustainable, given you're willing to be the crazy person who never sleeps.

Lg, I see your point. PS, I've been told working the graveyard shift for the lsat necessarily results in a 8 point increase to one's score.

RobertGolddust wrote:PS, I've been told working the graveyard shift for the lsat necessarily results in a 8 point increase to one's score.

If only that were true..

well on weekends when I'm not working...

7am - 10:30am PT
work out for 45min to an hour
12pm - 1pm LR drills
lunch 1pm - 1:30
study again from 1:30 to 4

battlefield from 4pm to 6pm

study at night ~2 hrs

There are limits to your brain's ability to sit and concentrate without stop, just as there are limits to your body's ability to workout strenuously without rest. There is a reason why sections are 35 minutes with the small pause in between. You should not spend more than 45 minutes studying without a stop, you will actually get less return as a result, generally at least. Every 45 mins or so, stop, take a short 30-60 second break, maybe just close your eyes and breath calmly, and every few hours make sure you take a break, 15-45 mins. Have a small lunch, something simple and then continue. I've heard that studying past the 5-6 hour mark continually will bring about severe diminishing returns. The traditional work day is 8 hours long for a reason.

Do whatever you feel is right at the time. I've quite often called off a study session when I was feeling really tired or burnt out. Since I was working 60+ hours a week when I prepped, I just went for ~5 months of part time studying instead of 3 months full time as well. If you can keep going, keep going, if you're tired and hungry, go get some lunch and a coffee.

You should not spend more than 45 minutes studying without a stop, you will actually get less return as a result, generally at least. Every 45 mins or so, stop, take a short 30-60 second break, maybe just close your eyes and breath calmly, and every few hours make sure you take a break, 15-45 mins.

Every 45 minutes or so is too much down time for me. It forces you to refocus ever 45 minutes which in turn reduces productivity--It's all in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. But anyways, I don't think anyone can claim to have a right answer to this question. Personally, I prefer a long stream of focus to a regiment but I don't always have the energy to do this.

Mark twain wrote half of a Connecticut Yankee in King Aurthur's court in one twenty-five hour sitting. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote book one of Thus Spoke Zarathustra in two sixteen hour sittings. So there are certainly times when a long stream of concentration is not counterproductive, despite the fact that the former title is abhorred by many.

I have no idea how you people study for 6 hours a day. There is definitely a point of diminishing returns before 6 hours.

armedwithamind wrote:I have no idea how you people study for 6 hours a day. There is definitely a point of diminishing returns before 6 hours.

For you, maybe. Probably for most people. But each person has their own timeframe for what works and what doesn't. My point of diminishing returns definitely comes much later into prep than six hours.

TheMostDangerousLG wrote:

armedwithamind wrote:I have no idea how you people study for 6 hours a day. There is definitely a point of diminishing returns before 6 hours.

For you, maybe. Probably for most people. But each person has their own timeframe for what works and what doesn't. My point of diminishing returns definitely comes much later into prep than six hours.

How do you discern when it's time for you to call it a day?

CardozoLaw09 wrote:

TheMostDangerousLG wrote:

armedwithamind wrote:I have no idea how you people study for 6 hours a day. There is definitely a point of diminishing returns before 6 hours.

For you, maybe. Probably for most people. But each person has their own timeframe for what works and what doesn't. My point of diminishing returns definitely comes much later into prep than six hours.

How do you discern when it's time for you to call it a day?

It's not an exact science, but usually I would call it a day when I realized I wasn't really focusing or processing as well as I should, or just when I felt like I had completed a good amount and was ready to call it a day. When it was the case that I realized I wasn't focusing/processing efficiently, I'd usually catch myself making sloppy mistakes that shouldn't have been happening. When that happened, I knew it would be a waste of material and effort to keep studying.

Post removed.

RobertGolddust wrote:

You should not spend more than 45 minutes studying without a stop, you will actually get less return as a result, generally at least. Every 45 mins or so, stop, take a short 30-60 second break, maybe just close your eyes and breath calmly, and every few hours make sure you take a break, 15-45 mins.

Every 45 minutes or so is too much down time for me. It forces you to refocus ever 45 minutes which in turn reduces productivity--It's all in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. But anyways, I don't think anyone can claim to have a right answer to this question. Personally, I prefer a long stream of focus to a regiment but I don't always have the energy to do this.

Mark twain wrote half of a Connecticut Yankee in King Aurthur's court in one twenty-five hour sitting. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote book one of Thus Spoke Zarathustra in two sixteen hour sittings. So there are certainly times when a long stream of concentration is not counterproductive, despite the fact that the former title is abhorred by many.

-cocaine-

Best coked out musical production, more than a feeling by Boston.

armedwithamind wrote:I have no idea how you people study for 6 hours a day. There is definitely a point of diminishing returns before 6 hours.

This is like saying people shouldn't work for 8 hours a day because they lose productivity if they work for that long.

Newsflash - you get used to it, especially if you're trying and actively engaged.