Too late to start studying for Oct. LSAT?

[Col. Sanders]

I'd like to get the LSAT out of the way October, but I have not started studying yet. Should I plan on December instead?

[EarlCat]

Have you taken a practice test?  What did you score?  What do you need to score for the schools you want to apply to?

[Col. Sanders]

No, I have not taken a practice test yet.

I'm not really sure what schools I'm going to apply to. I guess that really depends on my LSAT score.

[Jeffort]

If you haven't started doing prep yet and want the option of taking the October test you better get started prepping like yesterday.  5-6 weeks of prep is a tight prep cycle in order to achieve your highest potential score since it doesn't give a lot of room for error if you flake out on study/prep time here and there during it.  However, depending on what your initial timed practice score is compared to what you need to score to have a good chance getting accepted to the schools you are contemplating, and mainly dependent on your available time and motivation level, it can be done.

You need to figure out your baseline score and the score range you need for admission to schools you are interested in right now so that you know how much you need to improve and have a target to shoot for.

[Brendon]

It sure as hell better not be too late; I'm in a prep course starting this weekend! Granted I've done a couple practice tests, but I'm banking on this to get my score up where it needs to be.

[Jeffort]

It's not too late.  How'd you score on the practice tests you took?

With ~6 weeks, if you hit it hard core dedicating most of your available time to prep, study, review, practice, etc. you can certainly pull it off.  It just requires sacrificing a lot of your otherwise 'disposable' recreation/free time and dedicating it to LSAT prep.

Live and breath LSAT for 6 weeks hard core and amazing things can happen if it is given serious motivation, dedication and effort.

I've seen many many students in classes I've taught over the years hit or exceed their goal scores taking a class that started ~5-6 weeks before the test date.  Of course those examples are students that really busted their arses.  They would always show up for the pre-class Q&A periods, always stay until the end of class and after to ask questions, do all the homework, ask about questions from the HW they had trouble with or questions about, etc.

I've also seen some students pull off great scores with significantly less prep time and without taking a class that just did an accelerated last few weeks mainly self-study routine.  However, actual cases of those rumored LSAT 'naturals' that pull it off like that are not the norm and are pretty rare, much more rare than stories you hear about them from the student driven LSAT rumor mills.

[lwyrsguns$]

I'm no expert, but I think a test of this magnitude requires at least a couple of months of preparation. That being said, I've been thinking about doing either an online course that starts on 9/9 (exactly 1 month before the exam) or a weekend course two weeks before the exam. I've already been studying on my own since June, but I'd bet some people in those courses won't have done much previously.

[EarlCat]

It sure as hell better not be too late; I'm in a prep course starting this weekend! Granted I've done a couple practice tests, but I'm banking on this to get my score up where it needs to be.

I hope you're banking on your own extraordinary efforts, and not some class to get your score where it needs to be.  Nobody can do that but you.

[Brendon]

It sure as hell better not be too late; I'm in a prep course starting this weekend! Granted I've done a couple practice tests, but I'm banking on this to get my score up where it needs to be.

I hope you're banking on your own extraordinary efforts, and not some class to get your score where it needs to be.  Nobody can do that but you.

I'm banking on the course to provide the guidance I need to do well--in addition to my own hard work utilizing that guidance.

[Jeffort]

It sure as hell better not be too late; I'm in a prep course starting this weekend! Granted I've done a couple practice tests, but I'm banking on this to get my score up where it needs to be.

I hope you're banking on your own extraordinary efforts, and not some class to get your score where it needs to be.  Nobody can do that but you.

I'm banking on the course to provide the guidance I need to do well--in addition to my own hard work utilizing that guidance.

Take full advantage of your instructor.  Ask lots of questions, etc.  

Soak up the wisdom and spend lots of out of class time applying and practicing it, then come back to each class with whatever questions you have about stuff from the last one and corresponding homework.  

That's a big part of how you work it and push your score up and up!  

So, Push It, push it real good!

Push It by Salt-N-Pepa Music Video on Yahoo! Music