Week Before LSAT Study Routine Forum

[RamTitan]

What does the ideal week of studying look like for the last week? I've already been studying for a year, and have been doing 3 practice tests a week for the past two months, so I figured doing two practice test retakes of some of the most recent tests along with some light drilling would be a good idea.

[StopLawying]

Sounds like a good plan. I plan on reviewing a bunch of the 70s tests and then retaking a test I did well on for an extra confidence boost. I wouldn't take a fresh practice test 3-4 days before.

[somethingElse]

7 days before: PT
6 days before: BR that PT
5 days before: Drilling (one section of each I'd say)
4 days before: fresh PT
3 days before: BR that fresh PT
2 days before: nothing
1 day before: nothing (MAYBE like half a section of each if you want)

But do make sure you do a legit warmup the day of the test

[usaorbust]

But do make sure you do a legit warmup the day of the test

What do you consider a legit warmup?

[somethingElse]

But do make sure you do a legit warmup the day of the test

What do you consider a legit warmup?

That's going to be different for everybody, but mine was this:

Wake up, make coffee and eat a good breakfast.
Do a couple sudoku/similar-type puzzles.
Read my relatively-dense (to LSAT RC) dense book for like 15 minutes.
Meditate for 15 minutes.
Ride to the test center.
Outside of the test center, like ~10-15 LR problems, a game or two and a passage or two. Also drank half of a smoothie. If there's one thing I would have changed it would be to go on the higher end of each of those (i.e. 15 LR problems and two passages/two games).
Toss the warmup problems into the trash and walk in, take the test, etc.

That was for a LSAT at 830 AM. For the June test, basically that same shit but I would just sleep in way more and possibly shoot hoops for like 20 minutes (some very light exercise). I would also eat another snack/small meal (like a protein bar or something like that that has a decent amount of calories) probably like 30 minutes - an hour or so before walking in the door.

But like I said this will vary a lot for each person.

[RamTitan]

For me it's going to be:

Day 7 - PT 76 retake
Day 6 - BR
Day 5 - PT 75 retake
Day 4 - BR
Day 3 - take an off day
Day 2 - lightly drill PT 74
Day 1 - lightly drill remainder of PT 74
Take LSAT 78

My warmup is 7-10 logical reasoning problems and one logic game, and then I'll read some Scientific American articles, though I'm considering doing some more rigorous RC warmups (though I feel like an RC passage gone wrong could screw with my psyche).

I also like to lift weights and get pumped before taking a test.

[somethingElse]

For me it's going to be:

Day 7 - PT 76 retake
Day 6 - BR
Day 5 - PT 75 retake
Day 4 - BR
Day 3 - take an off day
Day 2 - lightly drill PT 74
Day 1 - lightly drill remainder of PT 74
Take LSAT 78

Sounds good except I would not recommend taking a PT the day of the real test.

[RamTitan]

For me it's going to be:

Day 7 - PT 76 retake
Day 6 - BR
Day 5 - PT 75 retake
Day 4 - BR
Day 3 - take an off day
Day 2 - lightly drill PT 74
Day 1 - lightly drill remainder of PT 74
Take LSAT 78

Sounds good except I would not recommend taking a PT the day of the real test.

Ah, I mean to say that I'm taking LSAT 78 (June 2016, the real test)

[somethingElse]

For me it's going to be:

Day 7 - PT 76 retake
Day 6 - BR
Day 5 - PT 75 retake
Day 4 - BR
Day 3 - take an off day
Day 2 - lightly drill PT 74
Day 1 - lightly drill remainder of PT 74
Take LSAT 78

Sounds good except I would not recommend taking a PT the day of the real test.

Ah, I mean to say that I'm taking LSAT 78 (June 2016, the real test)

My bad. Realized Dec's was 77 and they don't count/release February, etc.

[Blueprint Mithun]

For me it's going to be:

Day 7 - PT 76 retake
Day 6 - BR
Day 5 - PT 75 retake
Day 4 - BR
Day 3 - take an off day
Day 2 - lightly drill PT 74
Day 1 - lightly drill remainder of PT 74
Take LSAT 78

My warmup is 7-10 logical reasoning problems and one logic game, and then I'll read some Scientific American articles, though I'm considering doing some more rigorous RC warmups (though I feel like an RC passage gone wrong could screw with my psyche).

I also like to lift weights and get pumped before taking a test.

That looks pretty solid to me. I'd probably move the off day to the day before the test, but you know yourself better. I wouldn't recommend doing more rigorous RC warmups. I think I read a passage, but didn't answer the questions, just thought about the main point, perspectives, etc. You want to save your stamina for the real test.

[RamTitan]

For me it's going to be:

Day 7 - PT 76 retake
Day 6 - BR
Day 5 - PT 75 retake
Day 4 - BR
Day 3 - take an off day
Day 2 - lightly drill PT 74
Day 1 - lightly drill remainder of PT 74
Take LSAT 78

My warmup is 7-10 logical reasoning problems and one logic game, and then I'll read some Scientific American articles, though I'm considering doing some more rigorous RC warmups (though I feel like an RC passage gone wrong could screw with my psyche).

I also like to lift weights and get pumped before taking a test.

That looks pretty solid to me. I'd probably move the off day to the day before the test, but you know yourself better. I wouldn't recommend doing more rigorous RC warmups. I think I read a passage, but didn't answer the questions, just thought about the main point, perspectives, etc. You want to save your stamina for the real test.

Yeah, I don't want to go into a test cold after a day or two of not studying.

[RamTitan]

I'm contemplating cutting back on this week's study schedule as well. Part of me feels like I should continue to plow through (PT 72, never taken, and a retake of PT 67, along with BRs and RC drilling), but I've been fighting so much with my parents lately and have had a hard time relaxing and focusing on studying and taking the test. My brain feels like goop

I guess I'm really frustrated because I never broke through my plateau of getting above a 171 on a fresh test, which I've been stuck with for the past 8 months. I've gotten as high as 177 on a retake, but I don't know if that's a fair indicator of actual success on the LSAT.

I don't know if it'd be better for me to keep grinding in the hopes that a breakthrough comes through, or to conserve my energy so I can at least get into the 170s for the big day.

[Blueprint Mithun]

I'm contemplating cutting back on this week's study schedule as well. Part of me feels like I should continue to plow through (PT 72, never taken, and a retake of PT 67, along with BRs and RC drilling), but I've been fighting so much with my parents lately and have had a hard time relaxing and focusing on studying and taking the test. My brain feels like goop

I guess I'm really frustrated because I never broke through my plateau of getting above a 171 on a fresh test, which I've been stuck with for the past 8 months. I've gotten as high as 177 on a retake, but I don't know if that's a fair indicator of actual success on the LSAT.

I don't know if it'd be better for me to keep grinding in the hopes that a breakthrough comes through, or to conserve my energy so I can at least get into the 170s for the big day.

I'm sorry to hear that. I think you should cut back. Maintaining your energy and stress levels is super important to doing well on test day. Whereas the chances of a breakthrough happening in such a short time is pretty low, and even lower if you're stressed and unfocused. You've been working really hard, and you should give yourself some credit. Your score isn't going to drop if you take it a bit easier over the next week and a half, but it certainly might if you go into the test in a bad mental state.