Best Strategy to make the most of a 10 week Study Period

[DannyB]

Hi,

I asked this as a follow up to a different thread that I created, but I'm guessing this may be of value to others, too.

If someone has 3-4 hrs to study per day (possibly more on the weekends), what's the optimal way to strategize one's preparation over the course of 10 weeks, beyond simply listening to the lectures and doing the Homework?

Is there a strategy that successful test takers (I assume all of the instructors fall under this category) employ?
Say my study week starts on a Sunday with the Lecture...what's the best way to proceed. And at what point should one analyze weak areas and incorporate add'l time for those areas?

I understand that this is a very open ended question with many possible answers, but I'd really appreciate a basic protocol. I'm trying to maximize my time and get the best score that I can, because I'm taking the test in February, which is, I believe, the latest possible date to take it for admission in the following Fall. Just in case, I'm transitioning into Law from a different career and I only have 12 (I'm currently working on Lesson 2 HW) weeks in total to prepare, because I made this decision fairly recently. Ideally, I'd have referred to devote more time.

Thanks very much, ahead of time.

[DannyB]

Jeff Wren just gave a wonderful and informative response in my other thread "RE: Lesson Recap Videos and Add'l Reading." Check it out!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Danny,

I wasn't sure whether you saw my answer on the other thread, but I decided to elaborate on that answer here with a few additional points.

First, we always recommend that students take a practice test ideally before starting the lessons. This gives them a good sense of the different sections of the test, the timing element, the endurance element, etc.. It also gives them a rough indicator of where they currently are in terms of their score compared to their target score. This difference will help guide one's studying. The performance on each section will also help guide one's studying. For example, if a student scores a near perfect in RC and a minus 12 in LG, then that student should expect to spend much more time studying LG than RC. For our students, we recommend taking Test 1 in our Online Student Center. It will also create a score report that will be helpful in analyzing your strengths and weaknesses going forward.

The lessons are designed to be done in order, so it's important that you feel pretty solid on your understanding of the concepts before moving on to the next lesson. If a student ever feels completely lost even after reviewing the material multiple times (which is pretty rare), that student may want to consider private tutoring.

After you've completed a decent number of lessons, (anywhere from 4-6), you'll want to take another practice test and use those results to see what areas you should review. (Obviously, don't worry about material that you haven't covered yet.)

As you continue the remaining lessons, you'll start taking more practice tests, perhaps once a week. After you've finished all the lessons, then you'll want to do a combination of full tests and focused studying on your problem areas.

Also, be sure to check out the Study Plans 1 Video in the Lesson 4 Homework.

[DannyB]

Thanks again, Jeff!