How to Structure a Study Plan and Materials? Forum

[cm4998]

Hello, everyone. I'm currently in the process of finishing up a Blueprint classroom course. It was sort of helpful but I didn't improve my score. However, I plan on taking the LSAT in June 2017 or perhaps in September 2017, whenever I feel ready. I recently started my senior last week and all my classes are at night, which gives me lots of time to study in the mornings which is perfect for me. I was planning on signing up for 7sage, but I'm currently really broke since I just spent $1600 on a Blueprint course. Now I'm saving up in order to upgrade my account to one of their comprehensive programs.

However, in the meantime, how can I structure my studying and do you guys think I need to pay for a 7sage class? I've only taken two prep tests: my first being a 141 and my second being a 133 (I went very slow and didn't finish any sections). I have the following materials: The LSAT Trainer, all the Powerscore Bibles, the LSAT Superprep book by LSAC, and all the LSAC prep test books (10 Actual, 10 more actual, etc.).

How should I structure my prep so I don't use up all the available prep tests? In what order should I work through the books? Should I get any more books? (like Manhattan Prep or Cambridge books). How should I drill questions and when should I start taking prep tests again? And finally, should I sign up for 7sage when I have enough to do so or can the materials that I have prepare well enough to get into the mid 160's or higher? Thanks for your help!

[Barack O'Drama]

Hello, everyone. I'm currently in the process of finishing up a Blueprint classroom course. It was sort of helpful but I didn't improve my score. However, I plan on taking the LSAT in June 2017 or perhaps in September 2017, whenever I feel ready. I recently started my senior last week and all my classes are at night, which gives me lots of time to study in the mornings which is perfect for me. I was planning on signing up for 7sage, but I'm currently really broke since I just spent $1600 on a Blueprint course. Now I'm saving up in order to upgrade my account to one of their comprehensive programs.

However, in the meantime, how can I structure my studying and do you guys think I need to pay for a 7sage class? I've only taken two prep tests: my first being a 141 and my second being a 133 (I went very slow and didn't finish any sections). I have the following materials: The LSAT Trainer, all the Powerscore Bibles, the LSAT Superprep book by LSAC, and all the LSAC prep test books (10 Actual, 10 more actual, etc.).

How should I structure my prep so I don't use up all the available prep tests? In what order should I work through the books? Should I get any more books? (like Manhattan Prep or Cambridge books). How should I drill questions and when should I start taking prep tests again? And finally, should I sign up for 7sage when I have enough to do so or can the materials that I have prepare well enough to get into the mid 160's or higher? Thanks for your help!

Sorry to hear blueprint didn't help much. I'm a big advocate of 7Sage and think you should get it when you can afford it. It gives you everything you need and the philosophies behind their approach to the LSAT make sense.

However, that said, I feel like you are doing what I did early in my prep; searching for a magic bullet. There is no one magic book or course that is going to boost you into the 160s without some hard work on your part. You are scoring in the 130s-140s, so you have a long way to go, but the good thing is you are wise enough to not take until you are ready. That is an awesome choice!

If you're short on money don't buy any more books right now. I would use The LSAT Trainer w/ a free study schedule provided on their website. (Probably best to go with the 12-Week or 16-Week depending on how much time per week you can allocate to prep) I would also carefully read through the Logic Games Bible and the Logical Reasoning Bible and do all the drills/questions inside. I'm not sure the order matters much, but if you find yourself struggling with the Trainer, begin with the Bibles. Do not move forward until you understand the lessons 100%. Your diagnostic score shows you need a lot of work on the fundamentals.

Hopefully,by the time you are done with these things, you can afford 7Sage and will have gotten a better understanding of the LSAT. If you find yourself being able to afford even the Starter Course ($179) get it because you can upgrade at any time.

Don't burn through any PTs though right now. Use PTs 1-35 for drilling. And 36-78 for full-timed exams.

Hope this helped a bit.
Good Luck!

[cm4998]

Hello, everyone. I'm currently in the process of finishing up a Blueprint classroom course. It was sort of helpful but I didn't improve my score. However, I plan on taking the LSAT in June 2017 or perhaps in September 2017, whenever I feel ready. I recently started my senior last week and all my classes are at night, which gives me lots of time to study in the mornings which is perfect for me. I was planning on signing up for 7sage, but I'm currently really broke since I just spent $1600 on a Blueprint course. Now I'm saving up in order to upgrade my account to one of their comprehensive programs.

However, in the meantime, how can I structure my studying and do you guys think I need to pay for a 7sage class? I've only taken two prep tests: my first being a 141 and my second being a 133 (I went very slow and didn't finish any sections). I have the following materials: The LSAT Trainer, all the Powerscore Bibles, the LSAT Superprep book by LSAC, and all the LSAC prep test books (10 Actual, 10 more actual, etc.).

How should I structure my prep so I don't use up all the available prep tests? In what order should I work through the books? Should I get any more books? (like Manhattan Prep or Cambridge books). How should I drill questions and when should I start taking prep tests again? And finally, should I sign up for 7sage when I have enough to do so or can the materials that I have prepare well enough to get into the mid 160's or higher? Thanks for your help!

Sorry to hear blueprint didn't help much. I'm a big advocate of 7Sage and think you should get it when you can afford it. It gives you everything you need and the philosophies behind their approach to the LSAT make sense.

However, that said, I feel like you are doing what I did early in my prep; searching for a magic bullet. There is no one magic book or course that is going to boost you into the 160s without some hard work on your part. You are scoring in the 130s-140s, so you have a long way to go, but the good thing is you are wise enough to not take until you are ready. That is an awesome choice!

If you're short on money don't buy any more books right now. I would use The LSAT Trainer w/ a free study schedule provided on their website. (Probably best to go with the 12-Week or 16-Week depending on how much time per week you can allocate to prep) I would also carefully read through the Logic Games Bible and the Logical Reasoning Bible and do all the drills/questions inside. I'm not sure the order matters much, but if you find yourself struggling with the Trainer, begin with the Bibles. Do not move forward until you understand the lessons 100%. Your diagnostic score shows you need a lot of work on the fundamentals.

Hopefully,by the time you are done with these things, you can afford 7Sage and will have gotten a better understanding of the LSAT. If you find yourself being able to afford even the Starter Course ($179) get it because you can upgrade at any time.

Don't burn through any PTs though right now. Use PTs 1-35 for drilling. And 36-78 for full-timed exams.

Hope this helped a bit.
Good Luck!

Thanks for the help! I know in other posts you've advocated 7sage strongly, and you're actually one of the reasons why I started looking into it so thanks for that! And you're right, I'm sort of looking for a mental approach that I can grasp. My current course worked, but my instructor's teaching style didn't fit my learning process. However, I totally understand that a lot of work is going to have to come from my part.

I'm definitely going to slow down when working out of the bibles or the trainer, making sure that I totally understand all lessons completely. Accuracy is my first goal, before jumping into prep tests. Have you found that the knowledge and techniques you've learned in the bibles or the trainer have some how clashed with the 7sage curriculum (has it confused you) or has it helped instead?

[Deardevil]

7Sage helped me tremendously in patching up games and assumption family questions (really, LR in general);
J.Y. made me realize how obvious wrong ACs are and what form of attack to use for each of the different types of Qs.
Approaches are applicable across the board and won't conflict with the Trainer or Bible, only refine. As a bonus, you will have fun watching videos.

[Barack O'Drama]

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