Your Opinion Forum

[InPursuitOfaPassion]

Just out of curiosity, what is your opinion on the number of hours per day that a person should study? I understand the amount of time needed to improve is unique to the individual and my opinion about how long to study each day reflects this belief. But my curiosity stems from a post by a man who claims that he studied 16 hours a day and that people that he knew who studied somewhere within the 3 hour a day mark saw little to no improvement. I find this almost crazy and wonder if there's an explanation beyond time as to why the 3 hr a day people didnt do as well- quality of studying, perhaps? That maybe those who study less tend to be less invested in the test to the point that they dont really focus or review when prepping. I know, for myself, I got up to 6 hrs a day with no return. In fact, I got worse. Once I went back to half that, my scores went way up again. Now, this is unique to me and I understand that, but this lsat guru is claiming that tons of hours a day is necessary. I know I sound like ive answered my own question, but i havent because im curious to know your opinion.

[yossarian]

Totally depends on your brain and what else you got going on. When I was working ten hour days, I could only get 2-3 productive study hours in. Went down to 1 productive hour on 12-13 hour work days.

But days off, I could study for 8-10.

That's all productivity/capability. Little reason to study 10 hours in a day unless you're behind on your study schedule.

And yes, some people claim total immersion is the way to go. So you change your mind to think entirely in LSAT mode. Can't vouch for this, but I know most people can't commit that time, including a lot of people who score really well.

[SplitMyPants]

It's a 4 hour test. You need to have the mental stamina to be at 100% for those 4 hours. Studying for more than 4-5 hours per day means you didn't allow enough days to study before the test.

However, studying 1.5 hours at a time and stopping won't cut it for the same reason: it's a 4 hour test.

That's my $0.02, YMMV.

[yossarian]

It's a 4 hour test. You need to have the mental stamina to be at 100% for those 4 hours. Studying for more than 4-5 hours per day means you didn't allow enough days to study before the test.

However, studying 1.5 hours at a time and stopping won't cut it for the same reason: it's a 4 hour test.

That's my $0.02, YMMV.

Great point. That's the most important part of weekend study. Stamina. Although people who are traditionally 'good test takers' may not have stamina issues. Its really a question that is just so specific to you and your brain.

[Nonconsecutive]

Its more about the quality of studying than the time spent, in my opinion. Early on I spent a lot of time with little return, later I spent far less time (less than you would probably see recommended here on TLS) but changed my study habits and did far better. "Tons of hours a day" are most definitely not "necessary" though I imagine they might work for some people since every has a style that is best for them.

[Louis1127]

And yes, some people claim total immersion is the way to go. So you change your mind to think entirely in LSAT mode. Can't vouch for this, but I know most people can't commit that time, including a lot of people who score really well.

Would someone who did this "total immersion" share their results? Highly interested.

[yossarian]

This guy seemed to take a pretty immersive approach.
http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 6&t=120471

[Jeffort]

Quality is far more important than quantity. Quantity is important too since there is a necessary amount to reach target score that depends on how far away you are from target score and how serious your weaknesses are. However, larger volume won't help if it's not quality time focused on really improving core skills and learning everything you can from every question attempted during review instead of mainly focusing on doing lots of practice to meet quantity goals. There is no magic one size fits all formula to calculate prep hours/schedule to likely score improvement. There are a ton of variables involved in how people use their study time so it cannot be accurately generalized.

As for much time per day/session, you need to be reasonable since you are human and will hit a point of diminishing returns at the limit of your current endurance for high level thinking/processing. It takes time to build up endurance and some trial and error to figure out the best study schedule balance with volume and distribution of prep hours. Taking a 10-20 minute break after every 2 or so hours is helpful to maintain full focus and high quality productivity as the first two hours so you get the most out of the time. Spending an hour or more trying to work and review questions in detail when you're totally zapped and struggling to do the basics without extra effort is unproductive wasted time and materials. Better to take a break/break apart your study sessions into manageable chunks of time to avoid wasting time when you're energy is zapped at the moment. Doing two thee hour session same day with 2 hour or so break in between is a good way to make sure none of the time is past the point of diminishing returns due to fatigue from going straight through without re-charge time.

Avoid extremes and figure out a good plan that is at least 20-30 study hours a week if you're shooting for 170+ score that includes a good life balance with regular weekly non-LSAT activities for health, stress relief and sanity.

[TLSanders]

Absolutely no more than three hours per day--I wouldn't even recommend that every day. This is based on 10+ years of LSAT teaching, tutoring and curriculum development and several hundred students.'

I've also seen a lot of people who attempted to make the kind of time commitment you describe from the other poster watch their scores decline until they finally accepted that the harder they pushed, the worse things were getting.