Don't just study, practice.

There's a difference between studying and practicing. Most of us taking the test are coming right out of undergrad. In undergrad, we're stuck in a bunch of classes and asked to remember a bunch of facts about a bunch of topics, and regurgitate those facts on examinations. This task requires study--essentially staring a bunch of written words until you've more or less memorized them.

The LSAT is a very different beast. There is nothing that absolutely must be memorized. Certainly, a lot of LSAT prep methods have lists of various question types, flaw types, or game types that you should be familiar with, but rote memorization of these things is of limited value. Some people sit up all night, red-eyed, reading whatever prep book they bought over and over as if they're trying to cram for Western Civ. That's studying. But the LSAT is a test of skill--it's a performance-based test. It's much more akin to a piano recital than a chemistry final. While you can study sheet music all day, without practice your sight-reading performance isn't likely to be terribly impressive.

The best musicians are those who get the most out of their practice, and there are two secrets to quality practice: Pace and Repitition.

Pace refers to the control you exercise over the speed at which you practice. The most competent musicians, especially in their early years, spend a significant amount of time practicing extremely slowly. Yeah, that guy on youtube who absolutely nailed Flight of the Bumblebee, I guarantee you he's practiced that tune one note at a time. The musician with his metronome set to 30 bpm has time to consider not only what notes come next, but the most efficient ways of hitting those notes. This creates an economy of motion that allows the musician to play extremely fast and with precision. The LSAT is quite similar. Practicing off the clock allows you to consider more than simply what is the right answer. You can consider things like, "Why is it the right answer?" "What is wrong with the other answers?" and "What about it will allow me to recognize a similar problem on another test?" Working slow will allow you to develop your most efficient games diagrams, and your most effective reading comp markups. If you will be diligent in your practice, forcing yourself to work painfully slow, not just answering the questions, but getting to KNOW them, you will eventually be able to attack the test with a speed and accuracy you never thought possible. Flight of the Bumblebee, my friends.

Repetition refers to just that. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. You can't sit down and work on ordering games for one day and expect to have mastered them. You've got to take every little piece of the test that you're learning about and work with it again and again and again and again. Get familiar with it. Work with it. Play with it. Manipulate it. Make it yours. As I said earlier, this test, much like sight reading with an instrument, is not about memorization. It's about developing the skill. Skills----are----only----developed----through----repetition.

A question that comes up time and time again on the various LSAT discussion forums is about running out of materials. Should I save PT#XX so that I don't run out? Should I buy more tests so I always have new material? These are silly questions. If you run out, shut up and do them again. ("But if I take it again, won't that artificially inflate my score???" Yes. If that bothers you, don't look up your score.) In my humble opinion, it would be much more useful to have a set of 10 tests and repeat them each 5 times than to have 50 tests and blow through them all without looking back. Repetition creates familiarity. Not that you need to be terribly familiar with PT47 itself, but the concepts tests on PT47 are the same concepts tested on 48, 49, 50, and on the next LSAT to be administered. And if you've seen PT47 before, you can get past worrying about the answers. The answers don't matter. Let me repeat that. THE ANSWERS DON'T MATTER. It's the steps you take and the things you consider to get to the answers that matter. On that second or third or fourth repetition, it's much easier to focus on (or even notice) those more important elements--the things that, over time, are going to make you improve your skills.

So as you begin prepping for this test, I urge you, be patient. Slow down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. It's not just study. It's practice.