How to prep for October 2013 LSAT

[vdoshi1016]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning on taking the October LSAT. I've never taken the LSAT before and am trying to get some advice before heading into it. Planning on taking the 2 month Full length Powerscore course starting in August, but in the meantime, is there anything else I can be doing? I've bought all three of the Bibles and have started to go through the Logic Games bible myself. I've read that reading these bibles before a class is both a good and a bad idea. Any thoughts? Any other pieces of advice is greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi vdoshi1016,

Congrats on making some tough decisions about how to go about your LSAT prep! Indeed, prepping with the Bibles before your Full-length course starts is probably the absolute best way you can go about this process, at least at this stage. The Bible trilogy will provide an excellent conceptual insight into how each of the three sections works - something you will doubtless find extremely useful later on.

The full-length courses beginning in August are somewhat "condensed," in a sense that you'll have a little less time between the lessons to both complete your homework and take practice tests. It's still doable, of course, but you won't have as much free time as you'd like. Having said that, reading the bibles in advance will obviously help you get through the material a bit faster. A few words of advice:

• 1. Don't study the Bibles one at a time. Instead, do a few chapters from each bible concurrently. For a more detailed schedule on how to use the Bible trilogy, check this blog post: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/153 ... Study-Plan. Obviously, use the plan as a rough guide only: you won't be spending 3 months with the Bible Trilogy, and shouldn't buy any of the supplemental books listed in the article. The course materials will provide you with everything you need, including thousands of practice questions, over 22 practice tests, etc.

• 2. Don't wait to start taking practice tests until late-August. Just because your classmates won't be taking any practice tests for the first few weeks of your class doesn't mean you shouldn't either. As someone who has covered all the material in the bibles, you will be ready to do at least one practice test/week as early as August 1. Check out this blog article about how to go about doing that: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/153 ... tice-Tests

For now, focus on getting through the books, and don't worry about taking any more practice tests. Needless to say, we're here to help if you get stuck somewhere along the way

[vdoshi1016]

Thanks for the reply and the advice Nikki. Quick question - if I want to take practice tests, I know the June 2007 is available on the LSAC website. Is there another test (from a specific month/year) that you recommend I take or would be all be more or less the same?

[Adam Tyson]

I'll chime in here and say that at this stage of the game I don't think it matters all that much which tests you take - it's mainly about getting familiar with the structure of the test and what it feels like to work with a ticking clock. Your course will use some recent tests, so for your pre-course work I would suggest starting with older ones (mid- to late-90's), and work from older to newer as you go. By the time you get to just before the real deal you should be working on the most recent tests available.

The tests do evolve over time as the authors find new ways to ask questions and word LG rules (and new ways to frustrate and confuse you), so there is absolutely value in doing recent tests, but you have time to build up to them.

Sounds like you have a good plan, and Nikki has given some excellent advice that you should follow. Good luck! Let us know how else we can help, and how it all works out.