Evaluate my study plan? Forum

[presidentspivey]

Posted this over on r/LSAT, but that sub is pretty dead until right around test dates. The one person who did respond said that the following was a solid study plan, but suggested some alterations, which I'll post at the bottom.

Cold Diagnostic: 162
Goal: 175+
Test Date: October 2017

-Start studying full time the second week of May. This can't really be moved up, as I am in undergrad and have finals.

-Begin by working through the LSAT Trainer and the Powerscore Trilogy. Let me know if I should substitute one or more of the PS books with Manhattan. Hopefully get through this phase in 4 weeks.

-Spend the next eight weeks PT'ing with test day conditions and drilling (Please let me know what I should use to drill other than PTs). Planning on PT'ing in chronological order, with the idea of using the tests most similar to what I'll actually see on the real thing closer to test day. Should be 30-40 PT's so one PT about every other day.

-Once the fall semester starts in mid-August, I will be taking 18 upper division hours, and this will command a lot of my time. I'm planning on scaling back to 1 PT a week, still under test day conditions. Those would be the most recent tests. Would also continue drilling. Should be about eight weeks, and about eight tests. This is the part I'm most worried about. I'm concerned about losing my #gainz, but I really struggle to see myself balancing more than 1 full PT a week with school.

The feedback I got on reddit was to mix in a few newer tests early in the PT process to get a sense of the most recent material, and to scale back on the PT'ing to about twice a week. Both ideas seem like sound advice, although i can't quite let go of my compulsion to do as many PT's as humanly possible. I'm a sick puppy, I guess. Thank you in advance for the feedback!

EDIT: Because I can't spell.

[ystvkmc]

If you scale back to only two PTs a week, that gives you more time to fully review each test you take (so you can understand every single question, especially the ones you got wrong/were not 100% sure on even if you got them right) (and it will probably feel like plenty while you're doing it). Also, LSAT Trainer comes with suggested study schedules - I followed one of those, but supplemented it with extra PT's, and that worked out well for me. Couldn't hurt to look over them, but it sounds like you already have a clear idea of what you want to do!

[galeatus]

Posted this over on r/LSAT, but that sub is pretty dead until right around test dates. The one person who did respond said that the following was a solid study plan, but suggested some alterations, which I'll post at the bottom.

Cold Diagnostic: 162
Goal: 175+
Test Date: October 2017

-Start studying full time the second week of May. This can't really be moved up, as I am in undergrad and have finals.

-Begin by working through the LSAT Trainer and the Powerscore Trilogy. Let me know if I should substitute one or more of the PS books with Manhattan. Hopefully get through this phase in 4 weeks.

-Spend the next eight weeks PT'ing with test day conditions and drilling (Please let me know what I should use to drill other than PTs). Planning on PT'ing in chronological order, with the idea of using the tests most similar to what I'll actually see on the real thing closer to test day. Should be 30-40 PT's so one PT about every other day.

-Once the fall semester starts in mid-August, I will be taking 18 upper division hours, and this will command a lot of my time. I'm planning on scaling back to 1 PT a week, still under test day conditions. Those would be the most recent tests. Would also continue drilling. Should be about eight weeks, and about eight tests. This is the part I'm most worried about. I'm concerned about losing my #gainz, but I really struggle to see myself balancing more than 1 full PT a week with school.

The feedback I got on reddit was to mix in a few newer tests early in the PT process to get a sense of the most recent material, and to scale back on the PT'ing to about twice a week. Both ideas seem like sound advice, although i can't quite let go of my compulsion to do as many PT's as humanly possible. I'm a sick puppy, I guess. Thank you in advance for the feedback!

EDIT: Because I can't spell.

I think it looks great. Maybe swap PS RC with Manhattan RC cos Manhattan RC is the GOAT.

I agree with doing less PTs because 1)Doing PTs as drilling packets is more effective than doing PTs as PTs. I kinda think that you should only do a PT after you finish drilling one question type/fixing one weakness so that the PT can tell you what you should work on next, but that's just me. Oh and use either the Cambridge packets or Cambridge drilling guides to help you drill. 2) If you burn through all your PTs in your first take you will struggle in prep if you need to retake. Hopefully you won't need to but I mean hey, gotta prepare for the worst case scenario right?

[somebodyelse]

I'm pretty sure there's no October administration and it seems you're planning on that. http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/test-dates-deadlines/

[presidentspivey]

I'm pretty sure there's no October administration and it seems you're planning on that. http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/test-dates-deadlines/

You appear to be correct, I guess my school was wrong. Works better for me, honestly