In this week's LSAT Diary, Rosemary describes how she balanced her final semester of college with LSAT studying and gives some tips on making copies of Logic Games.If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)
Rosemary's LSAT Diary:
I am officially down to my last two weeks of classes before I’m finished with my bachelors! While I’m excited to finally be in the home stretch, the end of classes also means an increased workload. Within the next 14 days I have three papers and a take home exam. This workload in itself can be stressful but add to that prepping for the LSAT and a 40-hour workweek and suddenly there are simply not enough hours in the day to get done what I need to. For the next 2 weeks I need to cut back on my LSAT prep to focus on the last of my coursework. Notice how I said “cut back” instead of “cut out,” that’s because I have a refined study strategy and will be focusing on Reading Comprehension and Logic Games for the next 2 weeks.
One of the requirements for my history class is to write up chapter summaries for 16 chapters. Personally I hate busywork and this is classic busywork, in fact if they weren’t worth so many points I would have skipped the assignment entirely. Once I started prepping for the LSAT I realized that writing up all those summaries was really helping me practice my reading comprehension skills. I’ve never been one to write notes in my texts of even highlight, but since I am prepping for the LSAT I’ve been spending more time on the summaries and treating them like reading comprehension passages. The readings themselves aren’t as dense as those on the LSAT but I’ve noticed that I can pick out evidence, thesis, and conclusions much quicker than in the past. Best part, I’m getting the LSAT practice that I need and my homework done at the same time.
When I gathered all my study materials the first thing I did was make copies of all of my practice logic games. I’m using Steve’s 4-month study plan, which means that the last 20 PrepTests I will use for full-length practice exams and all the others are free game for practicing. I made 2 additional copies of all the logic games and separated them by type and difficulty, one copy stays in my desk at work and the other I keep in the notebook I take to class. I can usually get at least 4 games done at work and 1-2 between breaks in class. I give myself at least a week before redoing a game and even though I’ve done it once, after a week I don’t remember enough of the specifics from doing the game the first time around to impact the second attempt.
To everyone who is trying to balance their LSAT prep with the rest of their lives the one piece of advice I can give is try to do something every day. Even if it’s as small as one logic game, the intention is what is important. I can tell you from experience it is much easier to pick back up a study routine when you’ve remained committed than if you pack away the books for several weeks.
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If you dislike "busy work" and extensive, albeit obnoxious research and/or reading, then you've clearly picked the wrong career path, my friend.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! The last part about working every day is very true. It's always better to keep going rather than pick up from the start and muster all that motivation over again.
ReplyDeleteDo something every day and develop a study routine. Every minute of the day counts. So in between classes too. Got it! Thank you for your post!
ReplyDeleteI have to laugh when people make assumptions about someone else's career path based on ONE statement. She obviously is not putting all of this time and effort into LSAT if she thought it was the wrong career path.
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