Study Doldrums

[Trainwreck]

What do you do to get motivated to study? It's March, it's cold, and I don't much care about thinking about the LSAT right now.

[LSHopeful]

What do you do to get motivated to study? It's March, it's cold, and I don't much care about thinking about the LSAT right now.

It may sound silly (and like I was wasting time instead of getting motivated), but what helped get me back on track was doing research on the schools I really wanted to go to. I would look at their students and their classes and would get really excited about going there, and then I would study harder so that I could rock the LSAT and have the best chance of getting in.

Watching the first Karate Kid movie sometimes helped, too.  I wish I could do something to make the time go by faster tho, so that I could get my admissions letters. I can't stop checking my email and snail mailbox. 

[Mitch Cumstein]

Haha definitely not time wasted if it ends with you hitting the books! I actually did something similar to get motivated when my enthusiasm would start to wane: I researched starting salaries of different schools to remind myself how much difference even small LSAT improvements could make. I know, probably not the most selfless/noble motivation, but quantifying LSAT scores in nickels and dimes did help me see studying as a great investment of time.

To draw perhaps a broader principle out of that, consider what it is about being a lawyer or having your JD that most excites and intrigues you, and try to find ways to remind yourself of that motivation. If it's the idea of arguing in front of a jury then go watch/read some classic law fiction (John Grisham comes to mind). If it's something related to a specific field, say the entertainment industry or environmental protection, go do a bit of reading about interesting legal scenarios in that field (just read a pretty interesting article the other day about some of the lawsuits between Apple and other companies over touch screen phone technology). And of course if it's money you don't have to look too far to see that there's plenty to be made if you so desire

One last thing that also helped me was to treat the LSAT like a game instead of a chore. I looked at the test as a puzzle to solve or a code to crack and not only did it make steadily deciphering this thing that much more rewarding, but it also made the day-to-day grind of studying much more enjoyable.

Keep your head up and you'll be done before you know it! 

[Trainwreck]

Law school and being a lawyer definitely excite me, but LSAT studying doesn't at all. They just seem too different.

I appreciate the tips, but I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and study.

[Tailgator2010]

I'm feeling the same way, but my LSAT is a ways off so I'm taking is easy at the moment. If you can, I'd recommend taking a complete break for a week or two. Getting away from it for a bit might recharge your brain and make it seem less tiresome.

[widespreadLSATpanic]

Law school and being a lawyer definitely excite me, but LSAT studying doesn't at all. They just seem too different.

  I honestly haven't really started study much at all yet. My prep class starts in a couple weeks and I'm taking the June test. Should I start working on my own before my class?

...quantifying LSAT scores in nickels and dimes did help me see studying as a great investment of time.

  Money is a major motivator for me, and that is exactly what I did in high school. I'm a smart guy and always got by without studying much at all. But during my senior year I realized I needed to do more than just "get by" but had to do REALLY well to have a chance at getting scholarships for college. I busted my azz > straight A's > got the scholarship I needed ... 

[widespreadLSATpanic]

I guess I should have answered the question in the original post. I haven't really started studying much yet for the LSAT, but in general going for a run gets me motivated to be a more productive person. There is definitely a connection between feeling good physically and feeling good mentally. Running with some good tunes on the ipod is by far the best stress reliever/motivator for me. Those endorphins kick in and you've got a nice "healthy high" for several hours > ready to dominate the day/job/studies/whatever!

[Jeffort]

Law school and being a lawyer definitely excite me, but LSAT studying doesn't at all. They just seem too different.

  I honestly haven't really started study much at all yet. My prep class starts in a couple weeks and I'm taking the June test. Should I start working on my own before my class?

Generally I say no.

Without proper instruction you may develop bad habits/bad approaches depending on which prep books you use before class begins vs. the curriculum the class uses to teach you how to attack the test and improve your score.  Different prep providers teach things in different ways.  If you study with a book from a different company than the one you are taking the class with you can get confused because of differing instruction about how to go about it.

You also risk misunderstanding and forming incorrect conceptions of the substance in the books since you don't have an instructor you can talk to and ask questions as you go to clarify things and make sure you are understanding and doing everything correctly. 

You should go with one quality prep source and stick with learning the concepts and techniques they teach you and make sure to take advantage of being able to ask the instructor questions and discuss things.  Your prep curriculum should be consistent.

Whenever I teach a class I like my students to be LSAT 'virgins' so I can easily instill in them everything they need to do well and not have to waste class and after class time dispelling previously formed misconceptions/breaking bad habits people formed by prepping incorrectly before the class.

I've had students in classes I've taught that had read many of the 'off the shelf' books they found at bookstores before starting class, which are mostly terrible, and had to unwind their highly confused ideas and strategies they got from them.  There are only a few quality current up to date prep books available for self study written by experienced people dedicated to teaching the LSAT that know what they are talking about.

For example, the ARCO and Nova books you can find at most bookstores are sooo out of date, (They were written at least a decade ago and the publishers just keep re-publishing the same thing year after year and sometimes change the cover of the books).  Those and a myriad of others do not go into detail about the substance of the test and techniques you need to be good at to score in the high percentile range of scaled scores on a currently administered test. 

The best books out there for self study that are very comprehensive are the LSAT Bibles from Powerscore.

If you are taking your class with them and have their books I don't see a problem with you briefly perusing them a little before class starts.

Which company are you taking your class from and which books are you currently using?  Please don't say the 'K' word.   

...quantifying LSAT scores in nickels and dimes did help me see studying as a great investment of time.

  Money is a major motivator for me, and that is exactly what I did in high school. I'm a smart guy and always got by without studying much at all. But during my senior year I realized I needed to do more than just "get by" but had to do REALLY well to have a chance at getting scholarships for college. I busted my azz > straight A's > got the scholarship I needed ... 

 

$$$ is a huge motivator.  Scoring a few points higher can translate to hundreds of thousands of $$$ income down the road over the years.  That's a fact!

[widespreadLSATpanic]

Thanks, Jeffort! That is pretty much what I was thinking...let the course teach me. I'm doing the Powerscore online class. I've heard good thing about their Bibles that you mentioned, but I was told I didn't really need them since I'm taking the class.

Trainwreck - sorry for the slight thread-jack!

[lawdog]

I guess I should have answered the question in the original post. I haven't really started studying much yet for the LSAT, but in general going for a run gets me motivated to be a more productive person. There is definitely a connection between feeling good physically and feeling good mentally. Running with some good tunes on the ipod is by far the best stress reliever/motivator for me. Those endorphins kick in and you've got a nice "healthy high" for several hours > ready to dominate the day/job/studies/whatever!

Really good advice, wp!  A nice run can increase your energy and make you much less likely to get frustrated     when taking on a serious mental challenge. If you're not a runner, try going for a walk. Any such aerobic exercise (in some moderation, of course) can improve your focus and endurance 

[lawdog]

Thanks, Jeffort! That is pretty much what I was thinking...let the course teach me. I'm doing the Powerscore online class. I've heard good thing about their Bibles that you mentioned, but I was told I didn't really need them since I'm taking the class.

Trainwreck - sorry for the slight thread-jack!

Incidentally, I think the Bibles could still be helpful in some cases (if you were looking for extra individual work, for example)--you would obviously see some conceptual overlap with your course, but the questions discussed in the Bibles are usually different from the ones in the courses.

[EarlCat]

$$$ is a huge motivator.  Scoring a few points higher can translate to hundreds of thousands of $$$ income down the road over the years.  That's a fact!

Not just over the years, but literally the year after you take the test.  There are millions of dollars in scholarship money sitting out there, and a great LSAT score can literally push your offer into six figures. 

Yes, six-friggin-figures for a good test score.  Get motivated.

[Jeffort]

I guess I should have answered the question in the original post. I haven't really started studying much yet for the LSAT, but in general going for a run gets me motivated to be a more productive person. There is definitely a connection between feeling good physically and feeling good mentally. Running with some good tunes on the ipod is by far the best stress reliever/motivator for me. Those endorphins kick in and you've got a nice "healthy high" for several hours > ready to dominate the day/job/studies/whatever!

Really good advice, wp!  A nice run can increase your energy and make you much less likely to get frustrated     when taking on a serious mental challenge. If you're not a runner, try going for a walk. Any such aerobic exercise (in some moderation, of course) can improve your focus and endurance  

Yep aerobic exercise helps in many ways.  It's a healthy distraction.  You get away from the books for a while and get the blood and endorphins flowing while getting your mind off the test.  Plus it kicks up your appetite to get you to eat well.

When I prepped, in the weeks leading up to test day I had my routine regimented hour by hour day by day and followed it very strictly.  

Since I was taking a morning administration I forced myself to get up at the time I had to on test day to get to the test center for weeks in advance to get my circadian rhythms set so I wouldn't be groggy.  Since during the practice time I didn't have to drive anywhere I watched the Today show when I woke up and then took my practice tests starting at 9:15 am, the approximate time you start at the test center for morning administrations.  

After taking each practice test (sticking to the 35 min per section limit down to the second) I took a break, had lunch, and then scored it.  After that I spent the rest of the afternoon into the evening reviewing it and studying more and always stopped by ~6pm, went for a bike ride, had dinner, relaxed, watched some TV and got to sleep by 11pm.  I treated it like I was training for an Olympic competition and repeated that cycle for weeks leading up to test day.  It's the most regimented I've ever been because I was determined to get a 170+ score.

I even made sure to eat the same things for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday and at the same times of day to make sure my digestive system didn't mess me up due to weird food or some other irregularity.  I truly trained for it in the last several weeks Olympic style and viewed it that way.

It worked!  177

[Trainwreck]

Not just over the years, but literally the year after you take the test.  There are millions of dollars in scholarship money sitting out there, and a great LSAT score can literally push your offer into six figures. 

Yes, six-friggin-figures for a good test score.  Get motivated.

Meh, its not just about money for me. If it was, I could take over the family business and be set. I just think I'm bored by the LSAT right now, and no amount of running or aerobics is going to change that. I need to make it fun to do. I wish they had Modern Warfare for the LSAT.   

[LSAT Blog]

Meh, its not just about money for me. If it was, I could take over the family business and be set. I just think I'm bored by the LSAT right now, and no amount of running or aerobics is going to change that. I need to make it fun to do. I wish they had Modern Warfare for the LSAT.  

Which sections of the LSAT do you find least fun? Here are some brief thoughts on how to stay engaged for each section:

Logic Games - I like to think of them as a puzzle/challenge - what big inferences are there? what's the most effective way to break this game wide open? how can I solve it most efficiently? they work your mind in a way similar to sudoku or kenken, where one part builds on another.

Logical Reasoning - two different ways you might look at this come to mind:

1. someone's trying to trick you/pull the wool over your eyes. for example, in stimuli containing an argument, LSAC often uses one concept in the evidence and another in the conclusion. the terms used to describe these concepts might seem similar at first glance, but they're actually quite different. In PrepTest 37 (June 2002), Sec 2, Q26, (a parallel reasoning question) the stimulus uses the word "known", but one of the answer choices uses the word "seen." These words might seem similar in a quick skim, but they're not the same concepts. you could know something is there without having ever seen it.

2. every stimulus containing an argument is spoken by your gullible kid brother who believes (and repeats) the unjustified claims of every commercial he sees while watching saturday morning nickelodeon. (appeals to authority, emotion, bandwagoning, etc.) your job is to whip him into shape by showing him where he's gone wrong in his reasoning, to recognize and point out his fallacies.

Reading Comprehension - make the different viewpoints presented in a passage into a fight or debate between the various theories, camps, beliefs, etc.  To stay engaged, I try to slightly oversimplify/caricature the different viewpoints to further separate them in my mind. I try to pick a word or phrase to represent each viewpoint - makes things easier to follow.

If you don't mind listening to music while you study, here's a general workout tip that might help:

Pick a few of your favorite bands and make a rule that you'll only let yourself listen to that music while you study. No study, no favorite music.

Try to form positive associations between your favorite things and the LSAT. Hopefully it'll make you like the LSAT better, rather than just making you like your favorite things less  

-Steve