Beginning of LSAT Prep w/ full-time job Forum

[jumpman0703]

Hello Everyone,

I have stressful full-time position at top ranked hospital in the United States. After spending my entire day solving problems my brain is mentality drained. I try to study, but can't seem to accomplish my goals of truly understanding the LSAT...

Questions:
-Tips for studying after a full day of work?
-I'm not understanding the fundamentals of logic games (i have Powerscore). The explanations aren't making sence & i don't feel like my understanding is there to continue. cont..
-Is there a website with informative LG introductions on how to diagram and solve problems? (I'm looking for something like Khan Academy for chemistry and bio)

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all in advance!

Best,
Dan

[Blue664]

I never found it worthwhile to study if I was exhausted from work - you're just wasting practice problems and demoralizing yourself. Setting aside half or full days in weekends, with only light, non-timed type review on weekday nights, or one timed section in the evenings at the most, worked for me.

I also found Powerscore logic games really confusing (so much jargon!!) - 7Sage logic game explanations online are an amazing alternative!

[maybeman]

Early mornings a couple times a week & your lunch hour are also possible options

[Barack O'Drama]

it sucks, but it's doable.

I study 2 hours in the am. 2 hours in the pm. 8 hours on Saturdays and 4 on Sundays.

[Rupert Pupkin]

It's extremely tough and I had to do it this past summer, but it can be done.

I would start and just make it a goal to do a little bit everyday and then maximize your weekends by going all out. Depending on your job/hours, You should be able to go workout to clear your mind after work and spend 2 hours before bed. I think the key with working full time or being in school is to utilize every bit of down-time you have.

First, if you really cant focus after work, get up early in the AM and do it then. If you commute via public transit, use flash cards (or whatever) to get some done then...lunch breaks, after work etc. anything and everything is LSAT. And then I know it sucks, but you will have to give up your weekends (for the most part) and just commit to it. If you are doing a schedule like this, i would definitely give yourself an "off-day" to relax and to protect from brain overload. For me, I was working long hours in finance and between work/study, come friday i was DEAD. I couldnt even think. So after work on fridays, I would do whatever i wanted, hh w/ friends, movies, SLEEP, and some fridays I studied. In the beginning, you cant give up a day of the weekend though because thats the most valuable time for you to make quality progress in your studies. You will figure it out. Just stay disciplined, persistent and focused and it shall work out for you!

It will get easier as you stay disciplined and stick to a plan.

Best of luck mate!

[KtLaw747]

I'm living this grind for the second time, and definitely do not study if you are tired (it's a colossal waste of practice tests). Like the other posters have stated, lunch time is great time to practice. I usually do a LG section, or at least a game or two, during lunch. When I get home I drill LR and RC. Friday evening I take a time practice test from an older LSAT and then on the weekends I take 1-2 timed newer LSATs. I made the mistake last time of studying when I wasn't in the mind set, doing it this way I'm finally starting to hit high 160's and breaking into the lower 170s because I'm actually retaining the mistakes I usually fall into and avoiding them now.

[addie1412]

Is there any way you can cut back at work? I moved down to half-time while I was studying. Work is important, but you can't half ass the LSAT. Most people can't use their brain all day for 8+ hours and then have enough mental stamina left over for the kind of thinking the LSAT requires.

[BuddyHoller]

The main reason I took a class is b/c I was working full time. I was paying for it so I felt responsible for the time and it helped to make sure that I was doing the work. That said it was definitely not easy and some of the skills took longer to absorb than I would have liked.

[unsweetened]

The main reason I took a class is b/c I was working full time. I was paying for it so I felt responsible for the time and it helped to make sure that I was doing the work. That said it was definitely not easy and some of the skills took longer to absorb than I would have liked.

This is what I did. Class 3x per week, then all weekend. Did that for nearly 12 weeks.

[Blueprint Mithun]

Hello Everyone,

I have stressful full-time position at top ranked hospital in the United States. After spending my entire day solving problems my brain is mentality drained. I try to study, but can't seem to accomplish my goals of truly understanding the LSAT...

Questions:
-Tips for studying after a full day of work?
-I'm not understanding the fundamentals of logic games (i have Powerscore). The explanations aren't making sence & i don't feel like my understanding is there to continue. cont..
-Is there a website with informative LG introductions on how to diagram and solve problems? (I'm looking for something like Khan Academy for chemistry and bio)

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all in advance!

Best,
Dan

Have you considered taking a prep course? Classes tend to appeal to people with busy schedules, who don't have the time to plan out how to prep or find it tough to consistently motivate themselves to study. You still have to put in plenty of work yourself, of course, but a prep course can do a lot of the logistical side of it for you.

If you can cut back on work for at least a couple days out of the week, I would try and do so while you're studying for the test. It's going to be really hard to absorb information if you're mentally drained. This is especially important when you're trying to learn the fundamentals - there are a lot of concepts that you have to understand to create a strong foundation.

[jumpman0703]

Hello All,

Thank you all for the advice!

To answer some of your questions..
-Iv'e considered a prep course; however, i haven't found one that makes sense financially. I may have to just shell out $1500.
-I can't cut back on work or study during lunch. Lunch is merely devoted to locking my office and answer emails uninterrupted.


Question:
-Can someone recommend study materials that are like Khan Academy (ie. video setup with great explanations)? (I don't believe this was answered)

I don't have a problem devoting my weekends to studying. It's just that i wasn't understanding the Powerscore logic games problem. Though i don't like to admit it...not understanding it was discouraging and very frustrating. Work stress + not understanding it was a good combo! haha!

Thank you,
Dan

[CMac86]

Hello All,

Thank you all for the advice!

To answer some of your questions..
-Iv'e considered a prep course; however, i haven't found one that makes sense financially. I may have to just shell out $1500.
-I can't cut back on work or study during lunch. Lunch is merely devoted to locking my office and answer emails uninterrupted.


Question:
-Can someone recommend study materials that are like Khan Academy (ie. video setup with great explanations)? (I don't believe this was answered)

I don't have a problem devoting my weekends to studying. It's just that i wasn't understanding the Powerscore logic games problem. Though i don't like to admit it...not understanding it was discouraging and very frustrating. Work stress + not understanding it was a good combo! haha!

Thank you,
Dan

The closest thing to Khan Academy that I have found is 7sage. Give their free trial a shot, and if you like it-upgrade to a different package. It won't set you back $1500, but you will need to purchase copies of the practice tests (I bought mine from Amazon). I did the trial, purchased premium, and ended up upgrading to Ultimate +. I'm using Khan Academy to supplement some of my undergrad courses (namely math).

The 7sage logic games method makes sense to me. I still have a lot of work to do on that section (average of last 4 PT's is -6.75), but it is an improvement from when I was missing 8-10 questions per section. The LR sections also seem great. I went from getting 18 correct per section to now my average (last 4 PT's) is 21 correct.

As far as studying while working full time, I'm in that boat now with the addition of taking 6 credit hours at a time to finish my undergrad. As long as I didn't have a late night (late = home after 11PM, latest one was 2AM), I'm up by 545ish (sometimes 0530, sometimes 0600) to get 90-120mins of studying in before work. Lately, I have been drilling game and question types. I feel like that helps me keep too much rust from forming when the rest of my life gets busy. E.g. I'm in the final two weeks of my semester and work is in the second busiest time of year, so the options were either stop studying entirely (not a good move for me) or to focus on one to two areas that I can still hit and make progress.

[Lahtso Nuggin]

Just took after prepping around my and my so's careers which are both around 50 hr wk gigs and managing our kids.

Most important thing is to not have a hard end date to your prep. The softer your transition date to law school is the better. Give it time. Even just doing an LR each morning timed at 30 min and four or five logic games each day during lunch you can get through a lot of material. Then PT on sat. I saw a lot of gains doing this. It just took a while. Like 7 months.

[Pozzo]

Just took after prepping around my and my so's careers which are both around 50 hr wk gigs and managing our kids.

Most important thing is to not have a hard end date to your prep. The softer your transition date to law school is the better. Give it time. Even just doing an LR each morning timed at 30 min and four or five logic games each day during lunch you can get through a lot of material. Then PT on sat. I saw a lot of gains doing this. It just took a while. Like 7 months.

+180

Almost the exact same situation (FT jobs, kids), and I can't emphasize this enough. I did 4-5 LGs each morning, ~1 HR of LR or RC each night, and a PT on Sundays.

Be flexible on your timeframe, but disciplined with your study schedule. Don't be discouraged by people posting about studying 8+ hrs per day. Recognize it's going to take a little longer, and keep grinding away at it. You got this.

[HonestAdvice]

Once you get the basics down, you can improve from doing things that require deductive reasoning, but aren't necessarily the LSAT. Consistency is much better than overall hours, because the improvements happen between studying as much as during studying. You may already have the raw skills to master logic games, but not realize it because you don't know how logic games are written and what they're testing. To some extent, it's better to have a job that gets you out of bed each day than to have no job at all.

[AvatarMeelo]

It's extremely tough and I had to do it this past summer, but it can be done.

I would start and just make it a goal to do a little bit everyday and then maximize your weekends by going all out. Depending on your job/hours, You should be able to go workout to clear your mind after work and spend 2 hours before bed. I think the key with working full time or being in school is to utilize every bit of down-time you have.

First, if you really cant focus after work, get up early in the AM and do it then. If you commute via public transit, use flash cards (or whatever) to get some done then...lunch breaks, after work etc. anything and everything is LSAT. And then I know it sucks, but you will have to give up your weekends (for the most part) and just commit to it. If you are doing a schedule like this, i would definitely give yourself an "off-day" to relax and to protect from brain overload. For me, I was working long hours in finance and between work/study, come friday i was DEAD. I couldnt even think. So after work on fridays, I would do whatever i wanted, hh w/ friends, movies, SLEEP, and some fridays I studied. In the beginning, you cant give up a day of the weekend though because thats the most valuable time for you to make quality progress in your studies. You will figure it out. Just stay disciplined, persistent and focused and it shall work out for you!

It will get easier as you stay disciplined and stick to a plan.

Best of luck mate!

Obvs not OP, but studying after work is tough. Made the effort to get up hours early today to get some studying done before. Was pleasantly surprised to find how much more alert and attentive I was to questions. Any recommendations you have for flash cards or studying done via public transit? I'm spending 30mins -1 hour on a train in the morning and the same on the way back but I'm standing so never can really pop out some questions then.

[Lahtso Nuggin]

If your studying while on mass trans or really anywhere, you could type out your missed questions, print and read/go over while doing whatever. I personally found this really helpful. I found studying difficult questions' structure over and over again helpful to begin and see that many question types follow patterns with how the prompt/stem and trap/real answers relate. Really helped me with PF in particular.

[Rupert Pupkin]

If your studying while on mass trans or really anywhere, you could type out your missed questions, print and read/go over while doing whatever. I personally found this really helpful. I found studying difficult questions' structure over and over again helpful to begin and see that many question types follow patterns with how the prompt/stem and trap/real answers relate. Really helped me with PF in particular.

yeah this is a great option. Most people make their own or I carried printouts of games and would bring them and on the subway I would just try to do one on my lap. Honestly subway is really tough. I just bring it up as a possibility, but truthfully, i didn't do this everyday, but if you bring stuff with you and feel like it-- its a good use of time. The key is to use all the lost time you can. I did this some days, but utilized mornings and evenings way more. At the same time transit is a good time to cool off from the day and listen to music and then work when you are home and comfy.

I went through the PS LR Bible Flashcards though. Pretty much based off the book, but good to use when traveling etc.

[Voyager]

I worked 40-50 hours/week when I prepped.

I still found 20 hours more I could invest in studying:

6 Hours Saturday
6 Hours Sunday
2 hours 4 other weekday nights

Weekends I would do two 3 hour sessions

Yeah, your fun time is destroyed, but this is only for 3 months and it determines your career trajectory.

So gut it out.

[galeatus]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/lsat-pre ... chool.html