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Hi! I've been lurking on this site now for a few weeks and have read a lot of the material on here and it has helped me greatly! I decided to finally make an account so I could ask a few questions to some real live people about law school and such since I'm beginning the my two year plan to get into a t14 school, t10 if I work my ass off. Right now, I'm signed up for the February LSAT, so that gives me about 6 months or so to study for it. Right now, I've ordered the bundle of Manhattan LSAT prep books, LR, RC, and LG, and will hopefully begin studying those within the next few days. My first question is this a good start, particularly someone who is trying to reach about a 174 score? And if not, any advice on what I should do instead? And if this is a good start, anybody have an advice or anything for what I should do after. After reading a lot of different threads, I've know practicing a ton of preptests is ideal and I definitely plan on doing that after I've gotten an idea of the studying techniques and such that these books hopefully provide me with. If anyone can help me with any of this it would be a huge help and a major thanks in advance!

UAWheels wrote:Right now, I've ordered the bundle of Manhattan LSAT prep books, LR, RC, and LG, and will hopefully begin studying those within the next few days. My first question is this a good start, particularly someone who is trying to reach about a 174 score? And if not, any advice on what I should do instead? And if this is a good start, anybody have an advice or anything for what I should do after.

Do real LSAT questions

Yeah I've seen a ton of people say do real LSAT questions, so how do I know what questions are really LSAT? I've done a few random ones I've found free online while I wait and they have all said they are trademarked by the LSAC and all that but some of them I wasn't so sure about lol. Any advice on what books I should purchase that have real questions?

The three most common sources are: LSAC, Cambridge LSAT, and LSAT Blog. You know you are getting the real deal from these three:

https://os.lsac.org/Release/Shop/Publications.aspx

http://www.cambridgelsat.com/preptests/4-section/

http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/ls ... nload.html

Awesome thanks! I'll definitely have to look at these sometime. Would bundles that come in like ten and their called like 10 actual preptests also be a good resource? I believe they come straight from LSAC so I'd think they would be. Also do you think the Manhattan LSAT prep books are good for learning all the techniques for doing well on the test?

Yes, the book of ten tests is great. I think you save a little money by doing that, but I'm not sure, so check me on that if you're about saving some moolah.

The only thing you should be aware of with the book of ten tests is that the words go really far on the page and can thus be kind of a bitch to copy if you want to redo games, RC passages, or LR questions.

I didn't use Manhattan, but lots of TLSers love Manhattan.

Be sure to check out 7sage's free logic game explanations and LSAT Hacks free explanations for all sections. 7sage has explanations for all games ever, and LSAT Hacks has explanations for the most recent tests.

http://7sage.com/logic-game-explanations/

http://lsathacks.com/explanations/

Also, mods, since I'm not affiliated with any company, I can post those links, right? If not tell me, I just realized that I was posting links to private companies (even though the stuff I'm linking is free).

This is only a good start for someone seeking a 171. Seeking a 174, you'll also need to bump your caloric intake about 300 cals per day. HTH.

Louis1127 wrote:Yes, the book of ten tests is great. I think you save a little money by doing that, but I'm not sure, so check me on that if you're about saving some moolah.

As of two weeks ago when I calculated it, the books offer the cheapest full tests at around $2 per test when ordered on amazon.
The cheapest cambridge option (where you buy all of the exams bundled) was around $4 per test.

Thanks guys for the help! And to Dale about the caloric intake well.....yeah not sure if this is a joke or an LSAT thing I know nothing about so just gonna say lol

I'd take a timed diagnostic before coming up with a study plan. No point in wasting time with the books if there are already sections you're pretty much set for. Some people will have none of these, some people will have one or two sections that don't require any studying beyond practicing with old tests.

redsox wrote:I'd take a timed diagnostic before coming up with a study plan. No point in wasting time with the books if there are already sections you're pretty much set for. Some people will have none of these, some people will have one or two sections that don't require any studying beyond practicing with old tests.

Oh I did a diagnostic, and got a 141 lol so I got all of them since I really didn't do anything more than just guess on a lot of them, other than the RC which I still only skimmed readings which in the end was probably a poor decision. After I've read through the books a bit and read some of the techniques that are used to tackle the questions I'll try and take another diagnostic to truly assess my problem areas.

UAWheels wrote:

redsox wrote:I'd take a timed diagnostic before coming up with a study plan. No point in wasting time with the books if there are already sections you're pretty much set for. Some people will have none of these, some people will have one or two sections that don't require any studying beyond practicing with old tests.

Oh I did a diagnostic, and got a 141 lol so I got all of them since I really didn't do anything more than just guess on a lot of them, other than the RC which I still only skimmed readings which in the end was probably a poor decision. After I've read through the books a bit and read some of the techniques that are used to tackle the questions I'll try and take another diagnostic to truly assess my problem areas.

Yeah okay, all the books is probably a good call then. Good luck.

redsox wrote:

UAWheels wrote:

redsox wrote:I'd take a timed diagnostic before coming up with a study plan. No point in wasting time with the books if there are already sections you're pretty much set for. Some people will have none of these, some people will have one or two sections that don't require any studying beyond practicing with old tests.

Oh I did a diagnostic, and got a 141 lol so I got all of them since I really didn't do anything more than just guess on a lot of them, other than the RC which I still only skimmed readings which in the end was probably a poor decision. After I've read through the books a bit and read some of the techniques that are used to tackle the questions I'll try and take another diagnostic to truly assess my problem areas.

Yeah okay, all the books is probably a good call then. Good luck.

Alright thanks!

One piece of advice I have, coming from something new that I'm trying, is to find some method to analyze your weaknesses so that as your testing date draws closer you can make the most of your study time. Any sort of website that runs question type analysis is good - I'm using http://www.lsatqa.com/users/sign_in, but 7sage also has great resources for this. All you have to do is input all of your test answers with every test you take and it'll give you a very detailed breakdown of how you did in each question area.

dontdoitkid wrote:One piece of advice I have, coming from something new that I'm trying, is to find some method to analyze your weaknesses so that as your testing date draws closer you can make the most of your study time. Any sort of website that runs question type analysis is good - I'm using http://www.lsatqa.com/users/sign_in, but 7sage also has great resources for this. All you have to do is input all of your test answers with every test you take and it'll give you a very detailed breakdown of how you did in each question area.

I saw this when another user talked about 7sage and will definitely check this out, thanks! When do you suggest I look at this? I'm taking the February test. Also, another book I saw out there that is highly appraised is the LSAT Trainer. Is that worth a buy at some point? And if so, how far out from my testing date should I start using it? I ask cause I went to the site and it had study schedules only as far as I think 16 weeks out and there is waaaaay more than that at this point lol.

Don't put yourself on any timetable, my friend. You may progress more slowly or more quickly than you think.

And not to be a douche, but you probably should hear this now. If your diagnostic is a 141 and your target score is a 174, you probably aren't going to get there in under 16 weeks.

A 141 to mid-170s is going to be a long, long road. Not saying it's impossible. I'm just saying you are underestimating how much work it's going to take to improve over 30 points.

Louis1127 wrote:Don't put yourself on any timetable, my friend. You may progress more slowly or more quickly than you think.

And not to be a douche, but you probably should hear this now. If your diagnostic is a 141 and your target score is a 174, you probably aren't going to get there in under 16 weeks.

A 141 to mid-170s is going to be a long, long road. Not saying it's impossible. I'm just saying you are underestimating how much work it's going to take to improve over 30 points.

If he buys enough books he should be ok. OP, make sure you don't leave borders with less than 100 pounds in hand. Preferably 120 if you really want that 174.

Louis1127 wrote:Don't put yourself on any timetable, my friend. You may progress more slowly or more quickly than you think.

And not to be a douche, but you probably should hear this now. If your diagnostic is a 141 and your target score is a 174, you probably aren't going to get there in under 16 weeks.

A 141 to mid-170s is going to be a long, long road. Not saying it's impossible. I'm just saying you are underestimating how much work it's going to take to improve over 30 points.

I understand it's a massive increase trust me, that's why I'm starting now and taking it in February which is about 6ish months of prep. Plus taking it in February allows me to take a retake in June before I start working on applying over the summer/fall of 2015

UAWheels wrote:

dontdoitkid wrote:One piece of advice I have, coming from something new that I'm trying, is to find some method to analyze your weaknesses so that as your testing date draws closer you can make the most of your study time. Any sort of website that runs question type analysis is good - I'm using http://www.lsatqa.com/users/sign_in, but 7sage also has great resources for this. All you have to do is input all of your test answers with every test you take and it'll give you a very detailed breakdown of how you did in each question area.

I saw this when another user talked about 7sage and will definitely check this out, thanks! When do you suggest I look at this? I'm taking the February test. Also, another book I saw out there that is highly appraised is the LSAT Trainer. Is that worth a buy at some point? And if so, how far out from my testing date should I start using it? I ask cause I went to the site and it had study schedules only as far as I think 16 weeks out and there is waaaaay more than that at this point lol.

I would recommend that you start looking at LSATQA whenever you start drilling tests, I'm not sure if you can do it for individual sections yet but as long as you are doing time drilled sections it would probably be helpful.

dontdoitkid wrote:

UAWheels wrote:

dontdoitkid wrote:One piece of advice I have, coming from something new that I'm trying, is to find some method to analyze your weaknesses so that as your testing date draws closer you can make the most of your study time. Any sort of website that runs question type analysis is good - I'm using http://www.lsatqa.com/users/sign_in, but 7sage also has great resources for this. All you have to do is input all of your test answers with every test you take and it'll give you a very detailed breakdown of how you did in each question area.

I saw this when another user talked about 7sage and will definitely check this out, thanks! When do you suggest I look at this? I'm taking the February test. Also, another book I saw out there that is highly appraised is the LSAT Trainer. Is that worth a buy at some point? And if so, how far out from my testing date should I start using it? I ask cause I went to the site and it had study schedules only as far as I think 16 weeks out and there is waaaaay more than that at this point lol.

I would recommend that you start looking at LSATQA whenever you start drilling tests, I'm not sure if you can do it for individual sections yet but as long as you are doing time drilled sections it would probably be helpful.

Will definitely try this out thanks!

daleearnhardt123 wrote:
If he buys enough books he should be ok. OP, make sure you don't leave borders with less than 100 pounds in hand. Preferably 120 if you really want that 174.

120 trolling effort.

Also, Borders isn't even open anymore.