Best plan for Feb 2016 LSAT

[justpeachy]

I was planning on taking the Dec LSAT but ended up having to put my prep on the back burner because, well, life happened. I'm now ready to pick up my LSAT prep again and plan to take the Feb LSAT but am not sure what the best study schedule would be. I haven't picked up any LSAT study material since September of this year, but back when I was actively studying I read the LR and LG bibles in their entirety and completed prep tests 19-28. My highest score was a 178 (on preptest 24, but not under timed conditions). My RC score is consistently solid. My LR score fluctuates depending on how nervous I am at the time-the LR section consistently causes me to become quite anxious. My timing with both LR and LG is just way too slow (I can comfortably complete each in about 55 mins...snail pace!).

Now that I'm picking my LSAT prep back up, I want to maximize my study time over the next 11 weeks. I'm wondering...

A) Should I take a prep course and if so which one- the LR and LG advanced online courses or the full online course? I'm leaning towards LR and LG advanced courses since my RC is very solid (both score and timing) but I have timing issues and score issues with both LR and LG. I struggled with some of the harder LR question types back when I was studying (assumption, #s and %s, etc).

B) How many preptests should I try to complete between now and the Feb LSAT? I was hoping to complete 30 but am not sure if that's realistic. How many tests should I try to complete per week? Maybe 2 per week?

[Jon Denning]

Hey peachy! Thanks for the questions!

Sounds like so far you've been on a self-study path, which is totally fine and even advisable for a lot of people. So much so, in fact, that we have put together an entire collection of study plans geared specifically to people working on their own and with the materials you currently possess: http://students.powerscore.com/self-study/index.cfm

With about 11 weeks to go, the 3-month Study Plan sounds perfect for you, as you can likely trim some of the first few weeks' content and then really tailor it to your unique needs: http://students.powerscore.com/self-stu ... y-Plan.pdf

So that's an excellent place to start!

That said, I think we have to acknowledge the fact that self-study has its limitations. Not only are books static (they can't respond to your unique needs the way that instructors/tutors can), but they're also geared towards the majority, where someone scoring at the higher levels as you seem to be might need more targeted material.

With that in mind, the Advanced courses you mention are legitimately fantastic. They take the conceptual information you'll find in our Bibles and expand upon it, allowing high-scoring students to explore the full scope of this test, and understand/attack questions representing the very highest levels of difficulty. So I really can't recommend those courses highly enough...but before I recommend them in an exclusionary fashion, let me give you another bit of information.

We run discounts and promotions on occasion where the two Advanced courses are bundled together with our Full-length and Live Online courses, meaning signing up for a Live Online could potentially grant you access to both Advanced courses as well! I'm not 100% certain we're running that promotion for the February LSAT, but I've inquired about it and will certainly update you here as soon as I hear back (should be tomorrow). If so, then that's unquestionably the way to go: you get the entire course PLUS an additional $700 worth of Advanced courses for the cost of the course alone. That also includes every licensed LSAT question, 80+ hours of instruction, access to our instructor hotline for live assistance out of class...it's pretty sweet and with luck will be back on the table here shortly. I'll update you in this thread asap.

To your second question, (B), I think two tests/week is a reasonable goal, but keep in mind two things: (1) you need to master the concepts first, and develop an ability to apply them under timed conditions, before you worry about full tests. So focus on drills, shorter problem sets, and focused practice until you're moving at a desired pace, before you turn to complete tests (meaning two/week won't be a target for a little while); (2) only take as many tests as you're able to thoroughly—and I mean REALLY THOROUGHLY—review! So if that means doing only one test during a busy week and then working back through it question-by-question, so that you truly understand everything you did right and wrong, that's infinitely preferable to taking three tests but giving them only a cursory review.

My colleague Dave Killoran has actually written an incredibly useful breakdown of how to review your practice tests for our LSAT blog (http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat) that you'll see go live tomorrow morning, 11/16, so please do yourself a favor and check that out! It will give you a step-by-step methodology to help your post-test routine.

I hope this helps to clarify a few things, and trust that I'll be updating it as soon as I hear back about upcoming offers. In the meantime, please feel encouraged to ask any additional questions you might have. Thanks!

Jon

[justpeachy]

Hi Jon,

Thank you SO MUCH for your very thorough response. It gave me some things to think about. I can see how taking the full course would be beneficial for me. I don't think it would hurt to review the basic concepts again and I know there are some gaps in my knowledge especially since I haven't studied in about 2 months. At the same time I think there are some more introductory areas that the full course covers that wouldn't be to my benefit to review again (as far as best usage of my remaining study time goes). I could always skip those more introductory classes though and use that time to do practice tests instead, or, plug in lessons from the advanced courses. In terms of the amount of study time I have left, do you think I could realistically complete the lessons from the full course, the advanced course and an adequate # of prep tests all before the Feb LSAT? I would be able to study for about 25-30 hrs per week, starting tomorrow or Thursday. I also would like to stick to doing at minimum 2 prep tests per week. I'm not sure how realistic my plan is.

I would love if there was a special deal on the full review course and the advanced courses! That would be great! Please do keep me posted.

Thank you again for all of your help and I would love your feedback on how I would integrate the full course, advanced course and 20 prep-tests over the next 11 weeks.

[Ricky_Hutchens]

Hey Peachy,

That would be a lot of studying to squeeze in between now and February, however, 25-30 hours per week is a lot of time to devote as well. That's roughly four hours every day. If you can stick to that type of schedule, you're going to be able to cover a lot of material.

Your determination to complete prep tests is great. When I was preparing for the test, I found prep tests to be the most beneficial use of my time. But I already had a strong understanding of the concepts that the LSAT tests, so be sure you have such an understanding before jumping right into the tests.

As Jon mentioned, it is vitally important that you commit enough time to thoroughly reviewing each test you take.

In short, I think you have enough time to accomplish what you want, but I'm not sure you necessarily need to do 2 tests every week to reach that goal.

Hope that helps,

Ricky Hutchens