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I hate studying for the LSAT. I've put in 15-20 hours a week, and my scores aren't improving. Are these pretty good indicators that law school isn't meant for me, or am I just getting frustrated too easily?

Note - I should clarify that it's not the content I hate, but rather that I'm not seeing any improvement. I feel like I'm just wasting my time.

I spend most of my time studying analytical reasoning (powerscore book). I've gotten significantly better with linear games, and marginally better in grouping games. But I regularly miss out on key inferences, and that will lead me to missing 1-2 questions per section.

As for logical reasoning, it just depends on what day of the week is as to what problems I'm having trouble with. I usually get assumption and flaw questions wrongs, but lately principle questions have also given me trouble.

And I consistently get 7-9 questions wrong in RC.

I've also noticed that I barely have the endurance to get through a 4 section LSAT prep test (let alone a full 5 section test).

Will this stuff change with due time, or was my brain not made for the legal world? I didn't put much time in studying during May, but that was when I got my highest score (157). Now I'm always stuck at 154. I have a relatively high GPA (3.7) from a selective liberal arts college (but not prestigious), so my choices for law school would be pretty slim if I don't see any improvement. I really want to crack 160, but if I hate the entire process, then what's the point? After I'm done for the day, I'm in a foul mood that I can't get out of it. I feel depressed and hopeless.

A lot of this stress stems from me studying for the October test. I've been looking at the top scorers, and a lot of them studied for a year. Do you think it would be more realistic for me to take the test a year from now (June) verus trying to bust my brain open for the October test?

Does anyone enjoy studying for the LSAT?

Endurance and inferences improve with time. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Nobody likes studying. It can be boring, it hurts your brain, and it's frustrating not to see improvement. My scores did not go up very quickly for the first couple months of studying but then shot up substantial around the last month and a half.

I'm talking I got a 160 diagnostic and then got between 160 and 165 until April. I got my first 170 in April and then my scores shot up, only scored below 170 on two of about 10 PTs between Mid April and the June Exam and got as high as 178.

Don't be discouraged by slow progress. I would advise to mostly study logical reasoning, as concepts from that section can be applied to the other sections. It's a long time until october, I definitely think if you set your mind to it you can improve from a 154 to above a 160.

You gotta change your mindset, friend. You gotta find a way to make this fun if you want to see huge improvements.

I suggest taking a few days off to recharge the batteries and develop a mindset that you are going to have fun with this.

KMart wrote:Does anyone enjoy studying for the LSAT?

Endurance and inferences improve with time. Practice. Practice. Practice.

I liked it. I like reading, I like analyzing arguments, and I even came to like the challenge of the logic games. But I had a dumb as hell job so it was a nice change from my everyday work, and I've been out of school for a while. If you've been in school, OP, consider taking a break from studying for a month or two and do something mind-numbing. Not video games, something like walking around your neighborhood collecting recycling or retail or something.

I'd also change up how you're studying. You should at least be seeing a little bit of progress, I think.

Powerscore put me to sleep. As for inferences, you can improve 100% on that if you make sure you understand your initial diagramming of the problem. I'm right there with you man, progress can be slow and it gets discouraging but we gotta keep the end goal in mind!

KMart wrote:Endurance and inferences improve with time. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Felt the same way about endurance, always found my mind wandering towards the end...however when June came around and the test came I did better than I ever did on PT's. I think you'll be fine.

landshoes wrote:

KMart wrote:Does anyone enjoy studying for the LSAT?

Endurance and inferences improve with time. Practice. Practice. Practice.

I liked it. I like reading, I like analyzing arguments, and I even came to like the challenge of the logic games. But I had a dumb as hell job so it was a nice change from my everyday work, and I've been out of school for a while. If you've been in school, OP, consider taking a break from studying for a month or two and do something mind-numbing. Not video games, something like walking around your neighborhood collecting recycling or retail or something.

I'd also change up how you're studying. You should at least be seeing a little bit of progress, I think.

me too. i liked LSAT studying.

to OP: you aren't studying enough. 20 hours is nothing. I easily put in 56+ a week (8 hours a day minimum). F school (if you're still in school). LSAT is worth soooo much more than 1 semester of school grades its not even funny.

In my experience with this, which is now about 16 years so I have seen people go from LSAT prep up to Partner now, it has almost no bearing on whether you will enjoy a career in the legal profession. Indeed, research from William Henderson at Indiana Law says that LSAT score correlates negatively with networking skills (his research not mine who knows?). So my point is dig in and suck it up and once it is done I doubt you'll need to worry or think back about it much as far as an kind of predictor about anything but maybe 1L success (mild to moderately) and admissions success.

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Thanks for the responses everyone. I had a panic attack/mental breakdown yesterday, and it's definitely an indicator that I need a breather (traveling to Chicago this weekend, should be fun).

I graduated from college a little less than two months ago. I was planning on enrolling in law school in the fall of 2016, but I think I'm going to wait till fall of 2017, which means I am going to focus on studying for the June 2016 LSAT versus the October 2015 test. Depending on how quickly my scores improve I may still register for the October test, but I think waiting and drawing out my studies may be a wiser move in my case. I just need to be patient and diligent.

There are still 98 days left for the test and I don't think you're in a bad shape. Be confident!