Annotating in Circles??

[Over_analytical]

I am currently following the plan that was created by the folk at PowerScore to take the June LSAT.

I have always had someone to scaffold or teach me the process to obtaining results in things that i desired. However, this is a bit different as i am doing self study this time around.

I am having difficulty determining what should and should not be heavily emphasized while reading the bibles. I know i am doing a ton of rote learning based on the concepts, but i know that this is an applications based test and i must be able to display practical understanding of the concepts.

The study plan does not tell me to take a ton of practice tests until maybe ten weeks from now, but i'm thinking that might be the wrong idea.

What i'm in the process of doing is....
1. Read the bibles and understand the concepts they're introducing.
2. Remember those concepts, build a strong foundation through repetition.
3. Read and practice specific sections to get a feel for the concepts.
4. Breakdown sections with the concepts
5. Start taking practice tests and analyzing why i did and did not get certain things correct.


Any advice on wether im over reading or annotating would be awesome. Or is the initial reading just a schema building activity so i have some familiarity with the concepts and can also reference the book when i have troubles? Thank You!

[Ladan Soleimani]

Hey Over_analytical,

Your process sounds pretty good. The bibles will teach you the concepts and skills needed to succeed on the LSAT. They also have practice built into them so you will not just be reading about the concepts, but additional practice is always helpful. Practice is really the only way of determining whether you have actually learned the necessary skills. You may be doing a little bit of over-reading or annotating with steps 2-4. I would think that you would be doing a lot of your steps 2-4 simultaneously while working through the bibles. Then practice tests can be used to review your progress and pinpoint things you need to go back and look at again. A lot of practice will come from doing practice questions, not full tests. When you have longer study plans we do recommend that you wait several weeks into prep before taking additional practice tests. You won't have covered enough materiel or had enough practice before then to see a significant improvement and your time is best spent learning the concepts and practicing without being under time constraints.

I hope this helps!
Ladan