Study Prep Sources and Plans! Forum

[Vishkvishnuai]

I got a 146 on the LSAT twice and will be taking a gap year to study up to October to get at least a 160-165. I am weak when it comes to standardized testing, so I wanted to show the research I have brought together and get advice in order to help myself and others to most effectively study. I am going to keep this short because I know the real source of success is the hours you dump in, but I want to know your more recent advice concerning how to best utilize these hours. Some of what I have does help with my question, but I want to know this community's perspective! I really would like to help myself and others who are also hitting a brick wall with the LSAT, so any thoughtful advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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TL;DR: Please answer two questions on LSAT Sources and Planning Advice!
LSAT Sources
What are the most effective sources for LSAT studying from your experience and why? How has 7Sage and LSATPrep Plus help? Do I need to buy preptests if I already have those(asking for confirmation)?
LSAT Planning June-October 4.5 Months
My Plan is to work on Fundamentals with Khan, PowerScore, and 7Sage from June- Mid-July(Maybe) and do PrepTests from July up to the October test.
I may periodically go back to basic review if I find a critical weakness. Is this a good plan, or can it be improved? (I know this is very general- I will likely be doing 4 hours in the AM, break, and 2-4 Hours in the PM with a break of light reading)
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Free and Paid Source Listings For Use
Free Sources I plan to be using:
Khan Academy (Foundational and Later Study)

Top Law Schools Forums (Foundational Advice)
I know there is far more, but I just want to get this out and avoid spending too much time overthinking the planning phase.

The Common “Unless” Worksheet (Help with Specific Part of Test)

Very Helpful QandA with High Test Scorers Advice/ Full List of People Who did well with what they did (Advice)
Pithypike's Advice for LSAT Study Breakdown (2012, Study Advice)
Soj's LSAT Advice and Tools Breakdown

Reddit
Reddit Source Guide: (Foundational Help)
Logical Reasoning Guide (Free)
Reading Comprehension (Free)
Logic Games Guide (Free)
Also from Reddit:
7Sage Helpful Guide to Logic Games
General Advice:
Useful LSAT Websites
Brief Law School Predict on GPA and LSAT Score
PowerScore Free Advice
LSAT Blog Advice

Paid Sources
I have been really split on this since I have now grown more flexible to learning online, but I am worried I would be missing out on the course(despite being extremely expensive like Kaplan. From what I have heard though is that it is more for general averages, which I could learn on my own possibly.
$99 LSAT Official Prep Plus, 1 Year (Foundational and Later Study)
$69($345 for me) of 7Sage Per Month
$23, 21, 39~ PowerScore Logic Games, Logical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension, 2020 via Amazon
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My weakest area by far is logic games. I can go through logical reasoning pretty quickly, but from my studying on Khan I realized I need to recognize each category more than reading it how I regularly would. As I do research, I enjoy reading the reading comprehension section and understanding the terms, but again it goes down to answering their question with LSAT's methodology than my own.

Right now I am aiming for a 165, but my dream goal is a 170. Of course, I am going to be preparing like it's 180, and will be trying to dedicate as many hours as I can into this. In order to avoid getting burnt out I also will be reading The Economist, American Scientist, and trying out Sudoku from TLS recommendations to keep me flexible. If you have any additional advice for sources to study and planning I will gladly appreciate it! Thank you all in advance for the help!

[IntellectualMode]

What are the most effective sources for LSAT studying from your experience and why? How has 7Sage and LSATPrep Plus help? Do I need to buy preptests if I already have those(asking for confirmation)?
LSAT Planning June-October 4.5 Months
My Plan is to work on Fundamentals with Khan, PowerScore, and 7Sage from June- Mid-July(Maybe) and do PrepTests from July up to the October test.
I may periodically go back to basic review if I find a critical weakness. Is this a good plan, or can it be improved? (I know this is very general- I will likely be doing 4 hours in the AM, break, and 2-4 Hours in the PM with a break of light reading)

Paid Sources
I have been really split on this since I have now grown more flexible to learning online, but I am worried I would be missing out on the course(despite being extremely expensive like Kaplan. From what I have heard though is that it is more for general averages, which I could learn on my own possibly.
$99 LSAT Official Prep Plus, 1 Year (Foundational and Later Study)
$69($345 for me) of 7Sage Per Month
$23, 21, 39~ PowerScore Logic Games, Logical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension, 2020 via Amazon

Hi fella, hope you're doing well.

The resources I've used are the three Powerscore books and I plan on taking Blueprint's LSAT course within the next 2 weeks.

Of the Powerscore books, I only found the LG and LR books helpful. To me, they cover the very fundamentals of those sections respectively and are my go to when reviewing (which you should definitely do if you have weak areas) - the LG one has helped me get to -1 / -0 consistently. The RC book wasn't really all that helpful to me, I found Powerscore's approach to RC more time consuming than other approaches that you can find on this forum or at other places online.

The reason why I've opted for the Blueprint LSAT course is because I'm still a bit shaky on bits and pieces related to LR, and whilst I could buy Powerscore's question type training book - I honestly just think having someone explain it, and then having the ability to drill that skill regularly alongside practicing it in PTs, is going to help me personally. Whilst a bit steeper in price than 7Sage, I personally appreciate that I don't need to spend money on the LSAT Official Prep Plus (I'm from outside NA, where we still do tests on pencil and paper), I was also swayed to them after taking the free trial they offer.

Oh and if you have the Official LSAT Prep Plus, don't buy the actual PTs - no need for spending more money when you already have access to nearly all the PTs online.

Now I'm going to give you this purely as an opinion so take it how you like - ditch Khan Academy.
If you came onto this forum brand new and you wanted to take a free LSAT, then you might end up on Khan just for that free test and to establish what your starting score is (I know I did), but then just ditch it.
K.A. and it's resources are really not up to scratch imo, and the way it "trains" you to get better at the LSAT isn't really proper training because you'll find that the same questions get repeated over and over and thus you already know the answers without going through the thought process.
This model that K.A. uses is extremely similar to the model that Duolingo and other language-learning sites use to help people learn a new language - but as you've probably guessed by now, there is a huge difference between learning a language and learning the LSAT.

I'd personally stay away from K.A. and focus your energy into worthwhile resources and PTs.

Hopefully this has been helpful, I wish you the best of luck in preparing.

[Vishkvishnuai]

Hi fella, hope you're doing well.

The resources I've used are the three Powerscore books and I plan on taking Blueprint's LSAT course within the next 2 weeks.

Of the Powerscore books, I only found the LG and LR books helpful. To me, they cover the very fundamentals of those sections respectively and are my go to when reviewing (which you should definitely do if you have weak areas) - the LG one has helped me get to -1 / -0 consistently. The RC book wasn't really all that helpful to me, I found Powerscore's approach to RC more time consuming than other approaches that you can find on this forum or at other places online.

The reason why I've opted for the Blueprint LSAT course is because I'm still a bit shaky on bits and pieces related to LR, and whilst I could buy Powerscore's question type training book - I honestly just think having someone explain it, and then having the ability to drill that skill regularly alongside practicing it in PTs, is going to help me personally. Whilst a bit steeper in price than 7Sage, I personally appreciate that I don't need to spend money on the LSAT Official Prep Plus (I'm from outside NA, where we still do tests on pencil and paper), I was also swayed to them after taking the free trial they offer.

Oh and if you have the Official LSAT Prep Plus, don't buy the actual PTs - no need for spending more money when you already have access to nearly all the PTs online.

Now I'm going to give you this purely as an opinion so take it how you like - ditch Khan Academy.
If you came onto this forum brand new and you wanted to take a free LSAT, then you might end up on Khan just for that free test and to establish what your starting score is (I know I did), but then just ditch it.
K.A. and it's resources are really not up to scratch imo, and the way it "trains" you to get better at the LSAT isn't really proper training because you'll find that the same questions get repeated over and over and thus you already know the answers without going through the thought process.
This model that K.A. uses is extremely similar to the model that Duolingo and other language-learning sites use to help people learn a new language - but as you've probably guessed by now, there is a huge difference between learning a language and learning the LSAT.

I'd personally stay away from K.A. and focus your energy into worthwhile resources and PTs.

Hopefully this has been helpful, I wish you the best of luck in preparing.

Thank you so much for all the information! That's the first time I heard that about Khan Academy and something I definitely did not realize until you brought it up! Also thank you for the clarification about LSAT PrepPlus- I will buy that than singular prep tests alongside the Powerscore books. Best of luck to you and I hope the Blueprint courses go well!