People who work full-time - how do you fit 2 PTs a week in? Forum

[Walliums]

As the title says, I'm curious about the study schedules of my fellow full-time workers who manage to fit in studying for the LSAT as well. Right now I am only taking 1 PT a week and will fit it in on Saturday or Sunday, depending on how the week has gone. I try to take PTs around 12:00-1:00 since that's about the time I will take it in June. Normally I do a timed section during that time of day as week on weekdays.

Does (or did) anyone who works full-time fit in 2 PTs a week? How do you do it and when?

[grades??]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

[Walliums]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

[grades??]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

Honestly it just sounds like you are making excuses. Just do practice tests when you can. If you can't do them during the day all the time, do them at night. Just do them.

[dj9i27]

You can also take one super fatigued at the end of the day to try and push yourself.

[LSRAT]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

I worked full time while I studied and found that I was actually much better taking PTs at night. I used that knowledge to adjust my morning PT routine. Unlike OP, I got off work at 5 and would quick eat and then take a test around 6:30. My schedule was PT Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday with BR and drilling in-between and replicating the timing of the actual test as much as possible during Saturday PTs.

Ultimately, any variance in how you perform during different times is not more detrimental than not taking PTs because you're worried about your "brain working differently." Just put in the work and you'll be fine.

[joeytribbiani]

As the title says, I'm curious about the study schedules of my fellow full-time workers who manage to fit in studying for the LSAT as well. Right now I am only taking 1 PT a week and will fit it in on Saturday or Sunday, depending on how the week has gone. I try to take PTs around 12:00-1:00 since that's about the time I will take it in June. Normally I do a timed section during that time of day as week on weekdays.

Does (or did) anyone who works full-time fit in 2 PTs a week? How do you do it and when?

I worked full time when I was studying for a retake. I did just random batches of drilling over my lunch hour and would take 2-3 practice tests a week, usually something like Monday, Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. Gave me a day or two to review the test the next evening and do some timed drilled sections for the types of things I was missing. You do lose a lot of free time, but buckle down and do it because it pays off if you're diligent.

[Walliums]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

I worked full time while I studied and found that I was actually much better taking PTs at night. I used that knowledge to adjust my morning PT routine. Unlike OP, I got off work at 5 and would quick eat and then take a test around 6:30. My schedule was PT Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday with BR and drilling in-between and replicating the timing of the actual test as much as possible during Saturday PTs.

Ultimately, any variance in how you perform during different times is not more detrimental than not taking PTs because you're worried about your "brain working differently." Just put in the work and you'll be fine.

Thanks for actually addressing my concern and appreciate this input. What made you do three PTs a week instead of two? And did you start with one a week and then make your way to three a week?

[Walliums]

As the title says, I'm curious about the study schedules of my fellow full-time workers who manage to fit in studying for the LSAT as well. Right now I am only taking 1 PT a week and will fit it in on Saturday or Sunday, depending on how the week has gone. I try to take PTs around 12:00-1:00 since that's about the time I will take it in June. Normally I do a timed section during that time of day as week on weekdays.

Does (or did) anyone who works full-time fit in 2 PTs a week? How do you do it and when?

I worked full time when I was studying for a retake. I did just random batches of drilling over my lunch hour and would take 2-3 practice tests a week, usually something like Monday, Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. Gave me a day or two to review the test the next evening and do some timed drilled sections for the types of things I was missing. You do lose a lot of free time, but buckle down and do it because it pays off if you're diligent.

Thanks! Already it sounds like the answer for me is to fit in a weekday evening PT. Just some hesitation on my part to do so since I would prefer to take PTs at noon like how I would be on test day. But it sounds like from you and others that it didn't really matter what time you took your PT at.

[LSRAT]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

I worked full time while I studied and found that I was actually much better taking PTs at night. I used that knowledge to adjust my morning PT routine. Unlike OP, I got off work at 5 and would quick eat and then take a test around 6:30. My schedule was PT Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday with BR and drilling in-between and replicating the timing of the actual test as much as possible during Saturday PTs.

Ultimately, any variance in how you perform during different times is not more detrimental than not taking PTs because you're worried about your "brain working differently." Just put in the work and you'll be fine.

Thanks for actually addressing my concern and appreciate this input. What made you do three PTs a week instead of two? And did you start with one a week and then make your way to three a week?

I used the LSAT trainer, and according the schedule I was using I was doing the three PTs in the last month or so. There was certainly a lot leading up to that point! haha.

[YBF-W]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

Honestly it just sounds like you are making excuses. Just do practice tests when you can. If you can't do them during the day all the time, do them at night. Just do them.

This comment was pretty simplistic. Merely doing PTs just to get them done is not the point if you're​ aiming high. OP is bringing up a valid point and I can relate. After work, I'm often exhausted and the longer into the evening I wait to do a PT, the more challenging it is for me to keep my eyes open and brain sharp.

I'm also very productive in the morning and can get up at 5 am and set out the roughly 3 hours or so it'll take to do a PT and still get ready for work in time.

But I only do 1 PT during the weekday and the other one or two on the weekend. I spend the rest of my weekdays blind reviewing, drilling, adjusting my study plan to fit my study needs.

[grades??]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

Honestly it just sounds like you are making excuses. Just do practice tests when you can. If you can't do them during the day all the time, do them at night. Just do them.

This comment was pretty simplistic. Merely doing PTs just to get them done is not the point if you're​ aiming high. OP is bringing up a valid point and I can relate. After work, I'm often exhausted and the longer into the evening I wait to do a PT, the more challenging it is for me to keep my eyes open and brain sharp.

I'm also very productive in the morning and can get up at 5 am and set out the roughly 3 hours or so it'll take to do a PT and still get ready for work in time.

But I only do 1 PT during the weekday and the other one or two on the weekend. I spend the rest of my weekdays blind reviewing, drilling, adjusting my study plan to fit my study needs.

It might be simplistic to you, but I have a 175+ score on the actual test. I did it by forcing myself after being tired of a long day to take practice tests. In fact, I took over 200 practice tests. That discipline forced me to learn the test and get me to a level to ace it. But do whatever you want to do. Just giving my real experience.

[CPA-->JD]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

Honestly it just sounds like you are making excuses. Just do practice tests when you can. If you can't do them during the day all the time, do them at night. Just do them.

This comment was pretty simplistic. Merely doing PTs just to get them done is not the point if you're​ aiming high. OP is bringing up a valid point and I can relate. After work, I'm often exhausted and the longer into the evening I wait to do a PT, the more challenging it is for me to keep my eyes open and brain sharp.

I'm also very productive in the morning and can get up at 5 am and set out the roughly 3 hours or so it'll take to do a PT and still get ready for work in time.

But I only do 1 PT during the weekday and the other one or two on the weekend. I spend the rest of my weekdays blind reviewing, drilling, adjusting my study plan to fit my study needs.

It might be simplistic to you, but I have a 175+ score on the actual test. I did it by forcing myself after being tired of a long day to take practice tests. In fact, I took over 200 practice tests. That discipline forced me to learn the test and get me to a level to ace it. But do whatever you want to do. Just giving my real experience.

I actually took only a handful of full PT's and spent 95% of my prep drilling sections. I pretty much ignored RC and spent all my time on LG's and LR. I just didn't have the time to do full practice tests and I felt like I learned a lot more by doing individual sections anyways. Ended up with a 173 fwiw.

[saf18hornet]

As the title says, I'm curious about the study schedules of my fellow full-time workers who manage to fit in studying for the LSAT as well. Right now I am only taking 1 PT a week and will fit it in on Saturday or Sunday, depending on how the week has gone. I try to take PTs around 12:00-1:00 since that's about the time I will take it in June. Normally I do a timed section during that time of day as week on weekdays.

Does (or did) anyone who works full-time fit in 2 PTs a week? How do you do it and when?

I do 1 hour per night from Monday thrue Thursday. That is usually a timed section, plus blind review, plus reviewing any i got wrong. I usually take Fridays off and then I try to do a full PT on Saturdays if time allows and then review the PT on Sunday. That gives me 1.5 - 2 PTs per week. I have been doing just this 7-8 hrs studying per week since November and have made ~20 pt improvement so far.

[YBF-W]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

Honestly it just sounds like you are making excuses. Just do practice tests when you can. If you can't do them during the day all the time, do them at night. Just do them.

This comment was pretty simplistic. Merely doing PTs just to get them done is not the point if you're​ aiming high. OP is bringing up a valid point and I can relate. After work, I'm often exhausted and the longer into the evening I wait to do a PT, the more challenging it is for me to keep my eyes open and brain sharp.

I'm also very productive in the morning and can get up at 5 am and set out the roughly 3 hours or so it'll take to do a PT and still get ready for work in time.

But I only do 1 PT during the weekday and the other one or two on the weekend. I spend the rest of my weekdays blind reviewing, drilling, adjusting my study plan to fit my study needs.

It might be simplistic to you, but I have a 175+ score on the actual test. I did it by forcing myself after being tired of a long day to take practice tests. In fact, I took over 200 practice tests. That discipline forced me to learn the test and get me to a level to ace it. But do whatever you want to do. Just giving my real experience.

Please share where the rest of us can find prep tests 81-200+

[grades??]

I was in grad school full time and working on top of that. I would get off work around 8 pm, eat dinner, then take a test. End around 1130. Wakeup and do it again. It doesn't matter if you have a full time job, you just have to be willing to give up your free time to be successful in this goal.

Interesting! Do you find your brain worked differently when taking a test later at night (after a long day) compared to when you took it on test day? I think that's the biggest thing right now keeping me from taking PTs at night. I use my evenings to study right now I'm just not doing PTs during that time.

Honestly it just sounds like you are making excuses. Just do practice tests when you can. If you can't do them during the day all the time, do them at night. Just do them.

This comment was pretty simplistic. Merely doing PTs just to get them done is not the point if you're​ aiming high. OP is bringing up a valid point and I can relate. After work, I'm often exhausted and the longer into the evening I wait to do a PT, the more challenging it is for me to keep my eyes open and brain sharp.

I'm also very productive in the morning and can get up at 5 am and set out the roughly 3 hours or so it'll take to do a PT and still get ready for work in time.

But I only do 1 PT during the weekday and the other one or two on the weekend. I spend the rest of my weekdays blind reviewing, drilling, adjusting my study plan to fit my study needs.

It might be simplistic to you, but I have a 175+ score on the actual test. I did it by forcing myself after being tired of a long day to take practice tests. In fact, I took over 200 practice tests. That discipline forced me to learn the test and get me to a level to ace it. But do whatever you want to do. Just giving my real experience.

Please share where the rest of us can find prep tests 81-200+

Retake them. I took each one twice and most a third time.

[Platopus]

Retake them. I took each one twice and most a third time.

By your 3rd take, what was your goal for timing? How did you approach tests that you had already seen multiple times?

[poptart123]

I did half a PT in the morning and reviewed it in the evening (Mon-Tue)
Repeat (Tue-Thur)
Break day (Fri)
Full PT (Saturday)
Review (Sunday)

This equals three a week with whatever other studying you can fit in.

[grades??]

Retake them. I took each one twice and most a third time.

By your 3rd take, what was your goal for timing? How did you approach tests that you had already seen multiple times?

I always printed out new copies so I didn't have distracting eraser marks. I made a real effort to not think about whether I know this question or not, but rather go through the process of each question to guarantee I got the right answer each time. Also, I took them in sequential order for the most part. I would start at LSAT 1, go through like 74 or whatever it was then. Then I went back to the start and did it again. And then almost fully again.

If you do that, you don't really remember questions because its a lot of questions to do. Occasionally I would remember one like this that damn dinosaur problem but I would then mentally refocus and really go through the step by step process for whatever the question was to guarantee I got it right.

As far as schedule, I would do a full test a night, then blind review it that night. By my last few months studying, it was literally like 1-3 questions or so. Then on either saturday or sunday I would take 2 tests back to back. Did this for 6 months plus some.

[Platopus]

Retake them. I took each one twice and most a third time.

By your 3rd take, what was your goal for timing? How did you approach tests that you had already seen multiple times?

I always printed out new copies so I didn't have distracting eraser marks. I made a real effort to not think about whether I know this question or not, but rather go through the process of each question to guarantee I got the right answer each time. Also, I took them in sequential order for the most part. I would start at LSAT 1, go through like 74 or whatever it was then. Then I went back to the start and did it again. And then almost fully again.

If you do that, you don't really remember questions because its a lot of questions to do. Occasionally I would remember one like this that damn dinosaur problem but I would then mentally refocus and really go through the step by step process for whatever the question was to guarantee I got it right.

As far as schedule, I would do a full test a night, then blind review it that night. By my last few months studying, it was literally like 1-3 questions or so. Then on either saturday or sunday I would take 2 tests back to back. Did this for 6 months plus some.

Thanks for the response. I respect your dedication. At first I disagreed w/ your post about taking tests after a long day or work, but then realized you were right and I was probably making excuses for myself. Thanks for the insight and the nudge in the ass - very much appreciated.

[runinthefront]

You can also take one super fatigued at the end of the day to try and push yourself.

This is what I did.

[fazzvm56]

I took a class with Manhattan Prep (which I personally thought was fantastic, by the way) and they actually advised strongly against this. And I agree. For my first test, I self-studied with Powerscore which towards the end tells you to take 3 PTs a week, which deff burns you out so quickly. Bombed that test. I think Manhattan Prep was one every other week toward the end but they highly focused on real/strict conditions, timed tests and actually reviewing your answers until you know why each answer is wrong. But that being said, if I had to, I'd probably do one on the weekend and struggle to do one after work one day.

[potus]

I'm at work completely exhausted and I can't even imagine opening up a PT and doing four or even five straight timed sections right now. Prior to my last take, I was doing one PT each day for a month and completely burned myself out towards the end. I've settled down (at least for now) to a PT every other day and just do some light drills or review between PTs -- and I'd like to fit a workout in on these days. Weekends are really where I need to be more disciplined.

Sometimes, I wish I could just walk out of my job.

[Blueprint Brett]

I know a lot of people who have asked off from work for a day or two/week during the weeks leading up to the test. I don't know if that's an option for you, but if so, definitely something to consider.

Also, the whole "should I do a bunch of practices tests or not" debate is as old as the LSAT itself and it's kind of ironic to listen to a bunch of people who are proven to be good at logical thinking try to argue that the method that worked for them will inevitably work best for everyone. What I would suggest is to keep it to one test/week on the weekends for a while and see how it's going. During the week, you should still be studying obviously and I would advise doing a full timed section or two on days when you can't squeeze in a whole test. If you don't see improvement, you have two options: 1) look for specific weaknesses and try to address them with more focused practice, 2) do more full tests. I would try them both out. If you find, though, that squeezing in a test at the end of the day is backfiring for you, then try shifting over to the more focused practice method and keep it two tests on the weekend days. Going hard and endlessly taking and retaking practice tests is a method that has worked for some people. But you also have to recognize that you will not be taking the test at the end of the an 8 hour work day, so doing a practice test in those conditions is not at all reflective of your actual abilities. Some people say that practicing in these conditions is a good way to prep for any possible struggle on test day, but at the same time, you have to wonder if your brain is retaining any practice that you do at the end of a long day. Basically, don't let anyone tell you that there is only one path to success because that's just fully incorrect.

To sum it up, I would say that you should try to find the method that seems to be working for you. You definitely need to be putting in a lot of work and I, too, did a lot of tests going up to exam day, but if you find that you're testing yourself so much and in such poor conditions that you aren't even paying attention, then there is nothing wrong with scaling back the number of tests you take as long as you replace them with full timed sections.

[calmike]

I take a PTs on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

I get home from work around 5pm. I start my PT from 5:30pm to 8pm. I get sad that most of my night is gone but test day is only 1.5 months away