Why do people say "study for about 3 months?" Forum

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J-e-L-L-o

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by J-e-L-L-o » Sun Jan 05, 2014 3:19 am

drevo wrote:
stef1330 wrote:SOOO how many hours are we talking here? That's a lot less relative...

300? 400? 5 millllionnnnn?
OVER 9,000!!

:lol: great dragon ball z reference

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givemea180

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by givemea180 » Mon Jan 06, 2014 9:54 pm

patfeeney wrote:It took me eight months to get my 174. However, this was after about five months of tooling around, thinking I was actually making progress. I hit my max PT in April at 170 before dropping down to a 164.
I spent the summer completely changing my study process and started getting 175s in my PTs by early September.
Get your studying right the first time and you can get it done in 3-4 months... but do it PROPERLY.
Any chance you could elaborate about how you changed your studying to get into the mid 170s after stalling in the 160s?

sighsigh

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by sighsigh » Mon Jan 06, 2014 10:20 pm

I more commonly hear 5-7 months. Which I think is about right. I personally studied for a period spanning a little over a year, but the studying was very on and off.

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by rocket87 » Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:08 am

Veni_Vidi_Vici wrote:Clearly people who get 173+ have studies for at least a year.
173 here. I studied 5 weeks for 2 or 3 hours per day. So 3 months... it can be done. Here's how:

1. Understand how to take a tough multiple choice test. Someone in another thread described people who've studied for this test their whole lives. I think that's a good description. Understanding how to take a test fast is huge. If I was 90% sure the first answer was right, I went with it and moved on. If I read a question twice and couldn't figure out the answer, I narrowed it down to 2 choices, guessed, and moved on.

2. Study efficiently. Two inefficient things that seem to be harped on- taking full PT's and reviewing correct answers. I took 1 full PT after a few weeks, made a 168, and felt exhausted. 4 sections, not 5. I couldn't simulate test-day conditions because I knew it didn't count. I felt like taking a single section (always at 35 minutes) and then immediately reviewing my wrong answers was easily the most effective method for me.

I don't advocate only studying for 5 weeks. It's just the time I had. I'm smart but not Einstein. A lot of people are capable of 173+ in 3 months.

gta

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by gta » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:52 pm

Veni_Vidi_Vici wrote:Clearly people who get 173+ have studies for at least a year.
I scored a 173 and this is how my prep went.

Test: October

July - 3 hours/week on Powerscore Logic Games Bible
August - 3 hours/week on LG Bible to completion and begin LR Bible
September (1st half) - 5 hours/week on LR Bible to completion
September (2nd half) - 10-15 hours/week on PrepTests by section

I took three PTs before taking the actual LSAT on the Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday immediately prior to the real thing. I also took a handful more by section, although I never scored out what the overall score would have been on those tests.

I felt that I peaked on test day as my PTs were 167, 168, 170. I think preparedness is important, but it's also important to peak at the right moment.

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CocoSunshine

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by CocoSunshine » Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:09 pm

Thank you for sharing the thoughts. I only have 2 months to prepare for the test and really want to take some advice. Can you elaborate the rationale behind this?
rocket87 wrote:
Veni_Vidi_Vici wrote: Two inefficient things that seem to be harped on- taking full PT's and reviewing correct answers. I took 1 full PT after a few weeks, made a 168, and felt exhausted. 4 sections, not 5. I couldn't simulate test-day conditions because I knew it didn't count. I felt like taking a single section (always at 35 minutes) and then immediately reviewing my wrong answers was easily the most effective method for me.
1. I was told that taking full PTs under real testing condition is very important. It helps you get comfortable with the real test and build up endurance.

2. I review every question I did because even if I got it right, I may get it with a wrong reason. I also read Kaplan's explanation and Manhattan online forum to maximize my learning from one single question. Is it a wrong way to go?

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mindarmed

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by mindarmed » Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:41 pm

Clearly wrote:
zhenders wrote:
Veni_Vidi_Vici wrote:Clearly people who get 173+ have studies for at least a year.
Why?

Everyone is different. I'm taking February and I've been studying for exactly 3 weeks as of today. I can assure you it does not take everyone a year to hit 173+.

I agree wholeheartedly wrt the comments about quality vs. quantity; study smart AND hard, and 2 or 3 months can, for many people, lead to 175+ with consistency.
You should prob actually score 173+ before you form judgements as to what it takes to do it...
CR - Many 175+ scorers did not just walk into the LSAT and score that high. There is a lot of effort that goes into prep for the test.

rocket87

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by rocket87 » Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:55 pm

CocoSunshine wrote:
1. I was told that taking full PTs under real testing condition is very important. It helps you get comfortable with the real test and build up endurance.

2. I review every question I did because even if I got it right, I may get it with a wrong reason. I also read Kaplan's explanation and Manhattan online forum to maximize my learning from one single question. Is it a wrong way to go?
Well first, if you think something's working for you go with that.

I'm sure for a lot of people there is value in taking a lot of full PT's. For me there was none. I've taken much longer tests before and knew adrenaline would carry me through. But even for those who do gain something endurance-wise, I think you get more quality studying done in your limited amount of time by immediately reviewing a section while your thought processes and confusion are still fresh in your mind.

As for the bit about reviewing correct answers… Mostly it boils down to time better spent diagramming games. For those I watched the 7sage videos and for the most part used his method.
Last edited by rocket87 on Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by 09042014 » Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:59 pm

What kind of mongoloid needs three months of studying for a logic test.

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CocoSunshine

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Re: Why do people say "study for about 3 months?"

Post by CocoSunshine » Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:59 pm

rocket87 wrote: Well first, if you think something's working for you go with that.

I'm sure for a lot of people there is value in taking a lot of full PT's. For me there was none. I've taken much longer tests before and knew adrenaline would carry me through. But even for those who do gain something endurance-wise, I think you get more quality studying done in your limited amount of time by immediately reviewing a section while your thought processes and confusion are still fresh in your mind.

As for the bit about reviewing correct answers… Mostly it boils down to time better spent diagramming games. For those I watched the 7sage videos and for the most part used his method.
Thanks for the reply! Really appreciate that!
I think I will blind review before checking answers to refresh my though process. So I can get both endurance and quality reviewing :)

By reviewing correct answers, I mainly refer to LR&RC. I am an Asian test taker so I am good with LG (bad reasoning?). Still, 7sage's fool proof method works good and helps me speed up.

Thanks again! Really want to touch your score in the Feb!

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