LSAT Diary: Prep and Studying During College

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Katherine, a college student in Colorado.

In this diary, she balances her LSAT prep with college and a variety of distractions, and she begins to get used to taking sections under timed conditions.

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Katherine's LSAT Diary:

Day 1

Well, Day 1 was technically several months ago when I started my LSAT prep course, but this is Day 1, take two. Which really should’ve been last Thursday. A little background, I go to a “unique” school – we operate on the block plan, meaning that we take a semester worth of class in 3.5 weeks (they’d transfer out at 4 hrs and we take 4 a semester) and then get a glorious 4.5 day weekend before starting our next block.

I was supposed to kick back my LSAT studying that day, but I decided going to New Mexico would be more fun – and it definitely was. I took the equivalent of a practice test over the weekend and scored a 156. Oops (although, I’m reassured that even taking a test with blaring pop music on the radio and in a moving car I don’t score in the 140s). I’ve focused my studying more on sections – why?

Time isn’t an issue for me. I scored a 160 on my first practice and by my third was scoring a 165. I know where I need to improve and I know what sections I’m capable of acing (scored nearly perfectly on my first RC section, haven’t replicated that since). I also know I need to rise at least 5 more points – which seems like such a doable amount that I’m worried I’m going to have trouble motivating myself.

So day one, which was also day one of my second block - I woke up at 5:30 am to make a 6 am yoga class. Showered, went to breakfast at 7:30 and did a logic games section until the cafeteria got too noisy. Haven’t checked out how I did, but feel pretty confident. The section only took me 25 minutes too, which is good because when I assess my mistakes I know I have a lot of extra time. Then I went to class from 9-12, had a meeting for a departmental student committee that I run, worked out some logistics for that, and went to the grocery store (which was an ordeal because I was only purchasing cupcake mix for an event I’m hosting this week).

More background on me – I’m in a sorority and my first months back at school were overwhelmed by Formal Recruitment. That was the reason I didn’t get a solid start to my studying back when I returned to school, I was constantly running errands/essentially living at our chapter lodge – I was also taking a 300 level class for my major with a difficult professor. But that’s over and I’m reasonably confident in my class performance. Now I just have one more informal recruitment event to contend with this week and after that I’m off the hook, meaning allllll LSAT alllll the time (not really).


Day 2

Woke up. Went to class. Went to yoga. Went to my sorority house to bake cupcakes for an event on Wednesday. I intended to knock out both my class reading and my practice sections, but ran into a friend at the house – talked all afternoon while baking the cupcakes instead. Then had a dinner date with a few friends that lasted over an hour. When I arrived back at my apartment I had a few hundred pages of reading and a section of the LSAT to contend with. I did a Logical Reasoning section before doing my reading and going to bed. Not the best day of studying, but a good day nonetheless.


Day 3

Class, then yoga, the usual - After yoga I sat down and finished the test – didn’t do as well as I hoped, 158 – lowest score in a while, but higher than the one from break. Interesting was that I missed questions in clumps – like 5 in a row at once, but would ace the rest of the section. This is clearly an attention problem. Time isn’t an issue – I’m finishing sections too quickly (25 minutes on average). The plan for Thursday is to go over the questions I’ve missed on the past two tests and see where I went wrong – about 4 of them was a case of second guessing my first answer and changing it, clearly won’t be doing that anymore.

Was happy with my logic games section – it wasn’t near perfect, but I aced two of the four games and then did well enough on the others. I was worried I’d be out of practice. I still need to work on RC, its frustrating because I know I’m capable of acing that section (on my first practice ever I only missed one question) but I haven’t been able to tap into the necessary focus when studying. I think Friday I’m going to attempt to take a timed practice test – actually force myself to use 35 minutes per section to go back. For now I need to do some homework before my event tonight.


Day 4

So today was the first day in a few weeks where I haven’t had a meeting or an event to prepare for/attend. So obviously I was productive… except not. I got out of class around 11:30 (half an hour early), which threw off my plan to go to yoga at 2 – so I went at 12:30 instead. When I got back to my apartment, I had a plan in mind – facebook some photos, review my answers on a few PrepTests, but instead I decided to paint my nails and watch a documentary on crosswords (Wordplay, check it out!). I also did some research on the LSAC website and LSAT Blog so the time wasn’t completely wasted.

From 5-9PM I went over my tests and reworked logic games (took an hour break to watch The Office and 30 Rock). As I suspected, my problems were from points where I was either distracted [in a car, not focused because I wanted to do something else] or out of laziness. Six of the questions I missed on one test were due to not sticking with my first answer. While I’m still annoyed with the 158, I see some easy ways to improve. One is to make myself use the full 35 minutes for each section – even if I’m just sitting at my desk until the time is up. I’m finishing sections in 25-27 minutes (I track it while I take the test), which is great, but I’m clearly rushing/not as focused.

Tomorrow I’m planning on taking a timed test – I’ll be doing 5 sections, I’m not going to do the essay, but I am going to throw in an experimental section (probably a second logic games section just to screw with me/get more practice). I think this week has been a good way to test the waters and tomorrow’s practice test will hopefully boost my confidence and help me refocus.

Then, it's homecoming weekend, so while I know I should be going out in moderation to maximize my studying, the LSAT is still 9 weeks away so I’m going to take advantage of the festivities. Planning on taking my test and partying my way through the rugby game and the evening. Now I just have a ton of reading to contend with, but hopefully I’ll finish at a reasonable hour so I can get a goodnight sleep and have an effective practice test!


Day 5

General day, class then yoga – no variation, clearly I like a routine! Headed to the library around 2:45 to take my first timed practice test since July – scored a 162, respectable, comforting, but nowhere near what I feel I’m capable of. I did five sections – threw in the logic games section another test during my 4th section, meaning I did LR, RC, LG, LG, LR. Took the test with the LSAT proctor MP3 - in the background, between that and the noise of the ventilation system of the library, it was a good amount of distraction to contend with. Will definitely use it again.

Did reasonably well on my LG within the test – only missed two, which is unheard of for me, especially as I struggled with the games while taking the test. On my LG section, I had an easier time with 3 of the 4 games, missing only 4 questions from all of those – but one of the games was unlike any I had encountered and I bombed it (which I was expecting when I was trying to work it). Will be reviewing that game a few times! Otherwise my weakest point was during the final section of LR – I missed 6 in a row! So while I missed 15 of those questions overall, 9 were in the 4th section.

I attribute this to test fatigue and falling prey to the LR tricks! On about half of my incorrect answers, I got it down to the correct answer and the one I ultimately decided on – meaning that if I study those and improve on my mistakes I can maybe take my LR down to only missing 7 or 8 questions total, which would bump up my score. RC was decent, not what I’m capable of I missed at least 1 question a passage, two on two of them. That can be improved – I just need to practice more.

This practice is exactly what I needed to restore my confidence, but force me to get my butt back in gear on studying. This week was a good start – 9 weeks out from the LSAT, plenty of time to improve to the score I know I can achieve. Well it's now 6 on a Friday afternoon and I’ve just missed one of the most beautiful days I’ve seen in a while, but that’s alright because now I can enjoy Homecoming weekend and take Saturday (and potentially Sunday) off from studying!


Day 6

Woke up at 5:30, went to yoga sculpt at 6. Mondays are busy - I have a sorority meeting and I lead a meeting of a departmental student committee, so if I don’t hit up the morning class, I generally can’t fit in a yoga class. I decided to take my practice book to the dining hall and do a section because I need to practice working with the distractions. This decision turned out to be a mistake as the first section was Reading Comprehension. I didn’t do well - I know Steve cautions against sleep inertia, but I thought after a cardio yoga class, the walk from campus to the studio, and a cold shower, I’d be awake enough to focus.

Right now I’m feeling a little defeated by RC. I don’t want to fear or hate this section, but its frustrating me to know end right now – I know I’m capable of acing it, but I haven’t been able to replicate that in awhile and my RC score is getting steadily weaker. It’s such an easy section to pick up points, so every time I miss questions I just picture my score dropping.

My weakest points are the science passages – I think one of my goals starting this week will be to read at least 4 dense science articles a week and attempt to understand them. I also think I’m going to make copies of RC sections from different tests before I mark up my book and force myself to practice ont hose sections repeatedly – I know its not always beneficial to rework passages I’ve already read, but I need more sections to practice. I'll be home for a weekend in around 3 weeks, so I’m going to bring my other two books back then.

I think using earlier LSATs as supplemental practice will give me a confidence boost that I can hopefully translate into a mental edge, but I’m still going to use the later PrepTests as my primary study sources. When I make mistakes on the other sections, it’s generally due to a lapse in focus. Since I did that section this morning – my goal for the afternoon/evening will be to review Friday’s practice test – especially that circular logic game.


Day 7

Another mediocre practice section – this time Logical Reasoning. Maybe we're just not meshing? Am going to try and do the last two sections tomorrow, study on Thursday, practice test Friday. Not going to let this discourage me too much.


Day 8

Made another attempt at morning practice – got up at 5:30 for 6am yoga. Did a Logic Games section after breakfast. Not a great showing. Spent another half hour going over yesterday's LR section and the LG game section I just did. Realized I made some fairly careless mistakes. I’ve been feeling pretty tired this week so that’s probably not helping. My normally 3-hour class lasted for 5 hours and then I went to meet with a professor to discuss political science events and programming for the school year. Had another meeting tonight so I couldn’t work then. Am aiming to finish the final section, start a paper, and review my mistakes on past exams.


Day 9

Soundly defeated by another PrepTest, lowest score ever. Its been a weird week and I’ve been distracted by personal issues. Not going to dwell on it. Going to get a good night's sleep tonight and have a great practice test tomorrow.