General study schedule help

[jb3416]

So this may be pretty specific to my my personal situation, but I wanted to get some opinions from some other folks that may have dealt with this and any advice you all may have. I have some general questions about how to manage time and studying with a tight schedule.
I'm currently prepping to take the September LSAT and I've purchased some tutoring hours, the PowerScore full length course books, and access to the online student center. I've spoken with my tutor and we decided to wait until later in the summer to start the bulk of our tutoring sessions. So right now I'm focusing on the self-study and trying to buckle down and get through all of these books. The big issue is that I have a pretty constrained schedule. I'm a taking a few summer class, I work nights full time, and I'm a parent. Right now this is what my days look like:
Mon - Fri:
0730 Wakeup
10:20 - 12:40 Class
1500 - 2330 Work
Sat - Sun:
0930 - 1130 Wakeup/Family Time
1200 - late Family/Study/Whatever needs to get done

As you can see, I don't have much time but there are a few caveats to what I have here. The time after waking up during the week is usually filled with travel, studying for class, hanging with the kids, etc. so there's not a whole lot of time for LSAT prep in there. Another big thing is that on some days I can spend 3-5 hours at work studying if I plan properly.

So the real question is, what have you all found that works for you? What's the typical course of action for folks that use the course books? How many hours per day did you all need to be successful? I'm assuming I'll either end up doing most of my LSAT prep on the weekends or between class and work. Again, I know this is a pretty specific question but any suggestions help. Thanks.

[David Boyle]

So this may be pretty specific to my my personal situation, but I wanted to get some opinions from some other folks that may have dealt with this and any advice you all may have. I have some general questions about how to manage time and studying with a tight schedule.
I'm currently prepping to take the September LSAT and I've purchased some tutoring hours, the PowerScore full length course books, and access to the online student center. I've spoken with my tutor and we decided to wait until later in the summer to start the bulk of our tutoring sessions. So right now I'm focusing on the self-study and trying to buckle down and get through all of these books. The big issue is that I have a pretty constrained schedule. I'm a taking a few summer class, I work nights full time, and I'm a parent. Right now this is what my days look like:
Mon - Fri:
0730 Wakeup
10:20 - 12:40 Class
1500 - 2330 Work
Sat - Sun:
0930 - 1130 Wakeup/Family Time
1200 - late Family/Study/Whatever needs to get done

As you can see, I don't have much time but there are a few caveats to what I have here. The time after waking up during the week is usually filled with travel, studying for class, hanging with the kids, etc. so there's not a whole lot of time for LSAT prep in there. Another big thing is that on some days I can spend 3-5 hours at work studying if I plan properly.

So the real question is, what have you all found that works for you? What's the typical course of action for folks that use the course books? How many hours per day did you all need to be successful? I'm assuming I'll either end up doing most of my LSAT prep on the weekends or between class and work. Again, I know this is a pretty specific question but any suggestions help. Thanks.

Hello jb3416,

There is no one set formula, of course, but doing all the work and homework if possible in the course books is a good idea. (Not to mention looking at the online materials, including, e.g., the material on Formal Logic) If you don't have time to do absolutely everything, then doing some of each is advisable, perhaps. E.g., if you don't have time to do all the homework for a lesson, it would probably be helpful to do at least a few problems in each section or subsection of the homework, rather than doing all the problems in some subsections, and doing *no* problems in some other subsections. If there are some sections or subsections that you don't cover at all, then you may be blindsided on the test, because there will be concepts and angles that you may have little or no idea how to handle.
As for hours per day, that varies wildly, including the student's particular aptitudes, e.g., some students may be naturally talented with games but really slow on logical reasoning. Other students may be fast with everything; others may be slow with everything. So rather than recommend a particular number of hours--which could be an unhelpful recommendation if it doesn't fit your particular situation--, one will just recommend that you put in as many hours as you reasonably can without burning out.
And your careful attention to how many hours you spend, re your breakdown above of the time you spend each day, is impressive! The fact that you plan so carefully, shows that you are in an organized mode which may help you a lot on the test. Best of luck!

Hope this helps,
David

[rcox24]

I am really glad that you posted this. I am in the same boat. I work full-time and have two children, 5 years old and 5 months old. I am hoping to take the LSAT in September. I have been worrying that perhaps I am not cut out for the dedication it takes to study for the LSAT and, eventually (hopefully) attend law school. Your post was an encouraging reminder that I am not the only person attempting this. For now, my studying is primarily in the evening and is anywhere from 2-3 hours and I have only been able to do that intermittently. Usually 2...a 5 month old takes a toll on me in the sleep department. I am taking the online Powerscore course that begins on 19 June. I am so thankful to see the structure that comes with it. I am not sure how to improve on the different parts, so I have been kind of just "practicing" the different sections and reviewing. I need improvement across the entire test. Anyway, I appreciated the post and would love to hear of the different ways you are managing studying around your demanding life. Thank you!

[Shannon Parker]

Time crunch studying:

I took the LSATs while in undergrad, working part-time, in the army reserve national guard, with a wife and two children (although it was an easy part-time job, i made sure i took easy classes that semester, and my children are older, i think my wife missed me more than they did). I share this for two reasons, one to let you know that success can be achieved even under these tough circumstances, you are not alone. Two, to let you know that my advice comes from personal experience. Now it may not be the best strategy for everyone, but I would say this. If you are particularly even in the different sections, and looking to improve across the board, i would cut my time in half, working backwards from the date of the test. I would spend the first half focusing on the techniques (diagramming, logic games techniques, active reading, etc), and then switch to taking as many practice tests as possible. Once you know the techniques it's all about recognizing the patterns and forms present in the stimuli and the questions, and there is no substitute for exposure.

There is one caveat to that strategy that I would make, if, after you have learned the techniques, you find that you have one section that you get progressively better at, and one that you do not get better at all, I would spend as much time as possible on the one that you keep getting better and better at in an attempt to maximize the number of points that you get, even if means spending no time on the section that you are not getting any better at.

Keep up the good work

-Shannon

[jb3416]

Hi all,

Thanks everyone for the advice and also the kind words. It really is encouraging to see that others are going through or have already gone through this process with similar circumstances.

So, as far as studying has gone, I made the decision to drop a summer class I was going to have this month and focus all of my daytime attention on LSAT prep and weekly tutoring sessions. I spend about 2 - 4 hours before work everyday just hitting the Lessons and homework from the course books as hard as I can. If I get a little bit of time during work I'll go through and mess with a couple of HW questions (usually logic games because the diagrams make it look almost like I'm actually doing something business related LOL). I feel like I've really made some strides in my studies to this point and I'm much more confident in the test as a whole. Outside of some promotion tests in the military(about 1000 levels less difficult than the LSAT), I've never actually studied like this before and I can already feel other aspects about how I read and retain info changing as well.

My only issue now is finding the time to take pretests. That 3 hours sounds easy when I think about it but when comes time to actually do it during the week, something always "comes up" I just have to get it done and focus on that September test.

Thanks again for all the help, everyone.

-JB