suggestions for study with this much time? Forum

[secondshot]

Hey guys,

I have taken Dec. 21st - Feb. 7th off from work and school to study for the LSAT full-time. The test according to LSAC would be on Feb. 7th, 2015.

First question, that's all the time I could get off. Is it enough to be successful? I could study around the clock if need be. With that said, with this specific time frame (7 weeks off), what is the best of all the programs suggested here at TLS? I've looked them all over, but not sure which one would be best considering my specific time frame. Does it even matter?

Thanks!

[WaltGrace83]

Awesome! However, I think you'd be better off trying to do as much as you can in little chunks until February (I think you can do it) and then use that month for PT'ing and review. Studying around the clock, from personal experience, is very counter-productive sometimes.

[secondshot]

Awesome! However, I think you'd be better off trying to do as much as you can in little chunks until February (I think you can do it) and then use that month for PT'ing and review. Studying around the clock, from personal experience, is very counter-productive sometimes.

Ah, I see. Well between work, school, wife and kids, I'll barely have the time between now and December to study for the LSAT, but maybe I can squeeze a couple hours a week in there. Well if I do go that route I don't think I could follow any of these plans laid out in TLS, so maybe I should just dive into a a few books until December? If you had to read 1 or 2 books a couple hours a week until December, which books would you recommend?

[WaltGrace83]

Awesome! However, I think you'd be better off trying to do as much as you can in little chunks until February (I think you can do it) and then use that month for PT'ing and review. Studying around the clock, from personal experience, is very counter-productive sometimes.

Ah, I see. Well between work, school, wife and kids, I'll barely have the time between now and December to study for the LSAT, but maybe I can squeeze a couple hours a week in there. Well if I do go that route I don't think I could follow any of these plans laid out in TLS, so maybe I should just dive into a a few books until December? If you had to read 1 or 2 books a couple hours a week until December, which books would you recommend?

Every lesson in the Trainer takes about an hour (and are designed to do so). I would try the Trainer and Manhattan LR/LG.

[secondshot]

Awesome! However, I think you'd be better off trying to do as much as you can in little chunks until February (I think you can do it) and then use that month for PT'ing and review. Studying around the clock, from personal experience, is very counter-productive sometimes.

Ah, I see. Well between work, school, wife and kids, I'll barely have the time between now and December to study for the LSAT, but maybe I can squeeze a couple hours a week in there. Well if I do go that route I don't think I could follow any of these plans laid out in TLS, so maybe I should just dive into a a few books until December? If you had to read 1 or 2 books a couple hours a week until December, which books would you recommend?

Every lesson in the Trainer takes about an hour (and are designed to do so). I would try the Trainer and Manhattan LR/LG.

Will do. Thanks.

I also happen to own the Superprep LSAC book. Should I also crack that one open? I read the first few pages but wanted to check in here first if it's appropriate considering my circumstances.

[WaltGrace83]

Awesome! However, I think you'd be better off trying to do as much as you can in little chunks until February (I think you can do it) and then use that month for PT'ing and review. Studying around the clock, from personal experience, is very counter-productive sometimes.

Ah, I see. Well between work, school, wife and kids, I'll barely have the time between now and December to study for the LSAT, but maybe I can squeeze a couple hours a week in there. Well if I do go that route I don't think I could follow any of these plans laid out in TLS, so maybe I should just dive into a a few books until December? If you had to read 1 or 2 books a couple hours a week until December, which books would you recommend?

Every lesson in the Trainer takes about an hour (and are designed to do so). I would try the Trainer and Manhattan LR/LG.

Will do. Thanks.

I also happen to own the Superprep LSAC book. Should I also crack that one open? I read the first few pages but wanted to check in here first if it's appropriate considering my circumstances.

Someone else will have to chime in on that. Everyone is different and I have learned this through personal experience. Some people can get their diagnostics up from 15x to 17x in 3 months of studying a few hours a day (I hate those people ). Some people, like me, study the LSAT as basically a full-time job and are having slow, arduous improvements. Maybe you are the former but don't be surprised if you are the latter - most people probably are. What I am saying is that it is probably not in your best interest to do concentrated prep for 1 month when the LSAT is a beast that is learned best gradually.

Nothing worth working for is easy to achieve and I applaud you for being super smart about this. You will be in great shape! Good luck!

[Jeffort]

Like WaltGrace suggested, you should study piecemeal over a longer period of time with however much time you can work in each week even if it isn't a lot rather than trying to cram LSAT prep into a short period of time.

Cramming doesn't work for the LSAT because it isn't a knowledge based test where the challenge is learning and memorizing a bunch of stuff to spit out on test day like most tests you've experienced before. Instead, the LSAT is a skills based test that measures your critical reading and logical analysis skills. The specific skills/abilities being tested by the questions are not things you can simply learn/memorize, they are habits of critical thinking/logical evaluation you use to properly understand, evaluate and make accurate decisions/judgements about logical relationships contained mostly in logical based arguments.

LSAT prep should be focused on understanding the underlying logic and reasoning concepts the questions revolve around and improving your abilities to understand and critically analyze the materials accurately with precision.

Many people with otherwise already full time life schedules successfully prep for the LSAT with a munch longer prep timeline to compensate for limited study hours available per week. Even if it's only 5-10 hours a week at first that you can fit in, doing that for 4-6 or more months will improve your ultimate score substantially more than cramming full time for ~6 weeks. Skills and mental habits take a long time to develop and improve and cannot be forced into your system to become second nature by cramming since pushing information into your brain doesn't do much to alter the way your thinking/decision making processes will operate under timed conditions on test day.

The SuperPrep book is an excellent guide to start with in your situation. The brief study guide overviews for the section types are really good for learning the specific types of skills/concepts the questions revolve around and the important thought processes involved in solving questions properly. It's not a fully comprehensive prep system but is an awesome big picture overview of the specific types of reasoning, reading and analytical skills the LSAT is specifically designed to test since it was written by the test writers themselves! The guides and the explanations are the test writers telling you straight out the important logic and thought processes that underlie each question in a way to demystify what is vs. isn't important/really going on in each question that you need to focus on for improvement purposes.

If you just use that book for a while you can learn a ton about the test and improve your skills. Start by reading the study guides, then attempt a few questions from the included tests, then read the detailed explanations for the questions since they are written by the test writers and emphasize exactly what the key issues in each question are. If you analyze each question first your way, then read the explanation from the test writers, you can easily use that to learn from the explanations which aspects of the arguments are important for solving the questions and get better at focusing on analyzing things the correct ways.

[Clearly]

Also, you are planning to apply the Sept AFTER your Feb test right?

[secondshot]

Some great tips, thanks guys.

Clearly, to answer your question, no, I'm not applhying for another year after I take. This is a one shot deal to get this 7 weeks off, so I have to exploit it when I can.

So I plan to study on a limited basis for now and then when this 7 week window comes up I will do a lot of PT and study part time and not overdo it.