LSAT Study Guide
August 25, 2011: I’m currently preparing to take my first ever LSAT in December. After reading hundreds of prep books, forum posts, and LSAT prep blogs, I’ve developed a study system to try and get as high as I can. This means that I’m aiming for a 180. I subscribe to the belief that if you aim for the sky, you’ll at least reach the clouds. Back when I prepared for the SAT, most of my high school friends said they were hoping for 2000′s and 2100′s. I made my goal to get a 2400, and hit 2190. Most of my friends hit 1990′s and 2000′s. I truly believe that with the proper mindset comes to will to achieve one’s goal, and thus I rigorously apply the concept to my LSAT Prep.
Here’s how I compiled this LSAT study guide: my goal is to get a 180, so I only listen to the advice those who have a 175 or higher. I’m sure that there are plenty of people who achieved a 165 or 170 who are much smarter and work much harder than I, but for my purposes, I’ve decided to model the top achievers, and ignore LSAT study help from those with mediocre scores. There is no reason not to, as what they are doing obviously worked. This is not intended to be offensive to anyone who worked their butts off and received below a 175. it is simply my calculation that to make the best LSAT study guide that I can, my efforts would be much better spent listening to those who have what I want.
In designing the specific LSAT study schedule, I read top scorers’ forum posts, blogs, and columns. I then read reviews on the best LSAT study books and purchased the few that seemed to make a dramatic difference. By the way, a quick tip: when buying test prep books, check on Amazon and Top-Law-Schools.com for their LSAT study guide reviews. These reviews are beneficial because they come from real, unbiased readers who are simply seeking to improve their scores. It is efficient to categorize the books by rating, and then buying the best ones. Don’t spend time reading prep books that fail to deliver score improvements.
So without further ado, here’s my personal study guide. I have a little over three months for LSAT preparation, which is the recommended optimal amount of time to avoid burnout and to maximize increases. Keep in mind that this is my personal study guide, so the results are pending. If you want a study guide that has been proven to work, check out this thread.
The Standardized Genius LSAT Study Guide
LSAT Study Materials Required:
- The Official LSAT Superprep
- Powerscore Logic Games Bible (LGB)
- Powerscore Logical Reasoning Bible (LRB)
- 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests
- 10 More Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests
- The Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests
- Manhattan LSAT Logic Games Strategy Guide (Atlas)
- Manhattan LSAT Logical Reasoning Strategy Guide (LSAT Strategy Guide)
- Manhattan LSAT Reading Comprehension Strategy Guide (Atlas)
- Introduction to Logic by Harry J. Gensler
- Voyager’s Reading Comprehension Strategy
- LSATiner’s Guide to Time Management
- Work through the Powerscore Bibles
- Read through Introduction to Logic, begin to recognize logical patterns in your head
- Read through Voyager’s Reading Comprehension Strategy
- Begin Manhattan books for dissection of problems, and learn to think like the testmaker
- Take the practice tests in the Official LSAT Superprep book
- Cut the problems you got wrong out, and save them in a folder for future use
- Begin taking two practice exams a week, preferably simulating the actual exam in terms of time and condition
- Start timing yourself, and try to aim for a goal of leaving 3 minutes to go in each section
- Finish Introduction to Logic
- Finish up Manhattan LSAT Prep books
- Track your LSAT scores every exam, use an online LSAT scorer
- Identify problem questions and go into Manhattan/Powerscore to understand
- Go over the wrong answers you got on three separate occasions, really internalizing your error and how to fix it
- Continue to identify mistakes
- Finish up all but 5 preptests
- The week before your exam, take an LSAT preptest every day
- Don’t do anything the day before your exam; relax, chill
The most common traits of extremely higher scorers are the books they used (Powerscore, Manhattan) and the amount of practice exams they took. I estimate that taking 30+ prep exams correlates to around a 175, but that is by no means scientifically accurate. I will be constantly updating this page as the months go on, so stay tuned!
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