Advice on what to do for the September LSAT. Forum

[DSD2013]

Hey everyone,

I'm taking the summer off to study for the September 2014 LSAT. I have done casual studying throughout the past year of just familiarizing myself with the test. I've read a good amount of the Manhattan LSAT and Powerscore Bible books throughout this time. What I plan to do is get started tomorrow on Logic games by once again going through the Powerscore Bible and taking notes this time so I don't have to go back through it. I believe that this will take me 2 weeks of thorough reading and understanding the techniques in this book. After doing this, I plan to go through the Manhattan LSAT logic games book and likewise take notes on it in a time span of two weeks.

After this, I will move on to the Powerscore bible for logical reasoning. Do this in two weeks and take notes. Then do the same for the Manhattan logical reasoning book for two weeks.

That covers two months of work. Of course, while I move on to the logical reasoning I will still keep everything fresh in my head regarding logic games by reviewing my notes/ redoing games I did in these books. I will also be reading a lot of novels to bring my reading speed up.

I then plan to start doing practice exams in the beginning of July until the end of September. Does this method seem appropriate for someone who is looking to score well? If so, how should I structure my practice test schedule from July to September (how many exams per week, etc) if I plan to do every exam that is available?

Thank you all.

[Jeffort]

Your study plan needs to be changed/revamped if you really want to achieve a high (mid/high 160s - 170+) score on the upcoming September test.

Your plan as outlined mainly focuses on phases 1 and 3, but doesn't seem to focus much on the most important type of prep work that actually improves skills/ability/score range. I describe the crucial skills building/score improving type of prep work as phase 2.

Your plan sounds like most of your prep time will be devoted to:
Phase 1 = gaining LSAT knowledge
Phase 3 = Taking lots of full timed practice tests to get timing and endurance down with the main focus of 'getting faster' since most people mistakenly think speed/timing is their biggest issue/most important thing to work on to improve/increase scores after gaining knowledge from reading prep books/taking a class.

Your plan seems to put very little time/focus on skills building phase 2 prep work, which is where all the magic happens for significantly improving your skills/ability level/habits/approaches/accuracy/understanding of concepts/etc. that is required to increase score range.

Here is a long detailed description of what I'm talking about that I wrote and posted here before:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&start=22

I suggest you read the entire thread in addition to my above linked post and make appropriate adjustments to your study plan so that it includes a LOT of phase 2 drilling by type with deep thorough review.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=224863

One thing I will say is this: TLS is definitely a self-selected bunch. The people here are not normal and I mean that in the best way. Everyone will tell you that you can do it yet the statistics will say you cannot. However, you absolutely must realize that the statistics include everyone and, let's face it, the average LSAT score is a less-than-stellar 151. What that means most likely is that there is a huge majority of people that simply do not try very hard (this is of course assuming that trying hard is sufficient to guarantee a score raise). I have seen what some people consider "studying:" no reviewing, doing logic games with the TV on, guessing on gut feelings - getting the question right - and thinking "hey I got this," etc. etc. etc.

Take the statistics for what they are worth...aka not a whole lot.

Yeah, this really needs to be emphasized so that new users don't get false impressions and unrealistic expectations about their chances of achieving 170+ just because they decide to 'study hard and prep a lot' for the LSAT.

I don't think new TLS users/people new to the LSAT fully appreciate or understand what "It takes a lot of hard work and dedication" really means in reality when it comes to achieving a high LSAT score. Many people just assume it means similar types/amount of work/studying and dedication they had to put in to get As in hard undergrad classes and/or for other hard tests they've taken in the past because they don't know the LSAT is significantly different than all other tests they've faced before.

Maybe we should start balancing threads like this with more detailed descriptions of what is and isn't 'a lot of hard work/prep' for the LSAT in terms of what it takes to achieve 170+ from a much lower starting point so people don't think it just means reading the prep books back to back and taking 10+ practice tests or taking a class and keeping up with going to classes and doing all the homework. I think many people get the false impression that simply putting in the time to go through all the prep books at least once and working at least 20-30 tests worth of materials satisfies the 'worked hard enough to get 170+' requirement. That common type of misconception leads many people to form unrealistic expectations and to wasting a bunch of time prepping in ineffective ways.

The most important thing people need to understand at the very beginning is that the bulk of the prep time and hard work required to significantly improve and achieve a high LSAT score is NOT the initial time and effort spent reading, learning and memorizing the information/concepts/techniques/etc. taught in LSAT prep books and prep classes or time spent taking practice tests. Many people mistakenly think doing all that stuff, like reading and learning everything in the bibles, is the majority of the hard work before just focusing on practice tests to get faster. They also fail to realize that gaining LSAT knowledge/understanding is just phase 1, the shortest one of a long three phase process.

The bulk of the real hard work required to significantly improve is large amounts of time spent doing tedious focused drilling with thorough review and detailed analysis of everything including careful self analysis. People mistake the 'gaining LSAT knowledge' phase for the hard work required to learn how to and get good at effectively APPLYING everything they learned to be able to actually solve questions effectively, aka improve skill level.

Slow motion drilling focused on getting better and better at applying proper approaches, techniques, step by step processes, etc. to each Q type is the most important LSAT prep work that directly improves actual skills/abilities and score range. It's important to spend A LOT of time doing slow motion drilling before rushing into doing full sections/tests and focusing on timing, but most people shortchange this phase because they incorrectly think working on timing with practice tests right after learning the basics is more important. Developing good LSAT skills and habits through lots of tedious repetitive slow motion drilling is the key to raising score range. Taking timed practice tests doesn't improve skills, it just measures them and gives you a corresponding number. Drilling with quality review is what improves skills and score range.

Pretty much everyone that sets out with the intention of prepping hard for the LSAT completes phase 1 and jumps into phase 3 but few of them ever improve to 170+.

The majority of the time consuming work necessary to achieve a high score needs to be spent in phase 2. People that shortchange phase 2 and focus mainly on phase 3 hit score plateaus below their goal and typically don't break through the barriers without realizing the flaws in their prep approach and changing it.

Here's a basic breakdown of the main phases of LSAT prep. There is of course overlap between them as prep progresses with intermixing of phases. The length of the phases varies considerably per individual due to many different subjective variables involved. Phase 2 should last as long as it reasonably takes to improve ones skill level to being able to hit desired score range on a timed PT, making it impossible to estimate how long it needs to be for any particular person. Hopefully some of this will be helpful to new students thinking about prepping for the LSAT this year.

Phase 1: learn LSAT fundamentals, techniques, concepts, question types, strategies, etc., get familiar with how they relate to LSAT questions, get familiar with working through question types, etc.
This = reading prep books/taking a full length class

Phase 2: learn how to apply the knowledge gained during phase 1 effectively, practice and review that a lot to get really really good at properly applying everything when you are supposed to. Basically, get good at applying everything, review thoroughly and deeply with a focused approach. Constantly evaluate strengths and weaknesses through review to guide drilling and review of fundamentals. This is the phase where the work directly translates to improving skills and abilities and is thus the most important.
This = lots of focused and organized drilling and review, almost all untimed.

Phase 3: put it all together in section/full test format with lots of practice and detailed review including implementing time management strategies and making adjustments.
This = mainly timed practice tests and review with some drilling.

In short, achieving a high score/significantly improving requires a lot of hard work and dedication spent specifically in phase 2 until skills are solid. Phase 2 is where all the magic happens! People neglect it and think phase 3 is more important due to falsely believing that timing is their main problem rather than skills due to mistaking LSAT 'knowledge' gained in phase one for LSAT skills needed to hit a high score. Plenty of low scoring students know all the facts, concepts, details, strategies in the prep books inside and out with most of it memorized but cannot achieve a high score under test conditions despite their stellar set of LSAT knowledge.

Mistaking LSAT knowledge for skills and abilities actually applying it in action to fresh questions is a common pitfall for students that is good to avoid since it makes people think their problem is just speed, which is never the real problem holding scores back.

[RobertGolddust]

Time yourself under strict test conditions...that means if you have to stop in the middle of a PT to talk to your girlfriend then you are not following said suggestion.

[TLSanders]

That sounds like a lot of inactive background preparation that isn't likely to do much to improve your score. I can't think of any scenario in which it makes sense to invest a month in "studying" techniques and test format before starting to work your test-taking muscles. Start in small pieces, but start DOING instead of reading about. When you do invest time in studying versus practicing, the most productive thing you can do with that time is study explanations in detail, analyze your own work for patterns of strengths and weaknesses and try again with that new information in hand.