[cameronepstein]

Hi Mike!

I recently purchased the new LSAT Trainer and having only gone through the first few chapters, can tell I have really found the book for me. I’m planning on taking the LSAT in June of 2018 and am aiming for a 168+ score. I took the free June 07′ exam and scored a 154, so I have my work cut out for me.

What schedule do you recommend I follow? Should I use the 16 week schedule and should I use the one that uses 52-71 or 62-82? I’m wondering so I can purchase all of the correct 10 Actuals for drilling and PTs.

I know there’s probably no one objectively correct answer on how to get from 154 –> 168, but I guess I’ll ask you what you would do if you found yourself in my shoes, with my timeline.

Thanks in advance!

p.s. The aesthetics of the Trainer are amazing. The cover, colors, and font are so beautiful. It makes it that much more enjoyable to read.

[Mike Kim]

Hello Cameron —

That’s all so nice to you to say! Thank you so much for the kind words — awesome to hear all of it and excited to see how well the Trainer works out for you —

In terms of going from 154 – 168+ — there are no guarantees and every student is different, but I think it’s a very realistic possibility, and, as long as you think you have the time and energy to invest into your studies, I think it’s a more than legit goal for you to work toward.

In terms of schedule, I think both can serve you well — a few thoughts to help you decide —

1) Starting now with the 16 week schedule is, to me, just about ideal. So, as long as you have the time and energy to study, you are in a great position —

2) The schedules are designed to be very flexible, so, with the extra time you have, you should keep in mind that you can adjust things as needed when you feel you need extra practice in a certain topic, or tutoring, etc.

3) And, if you don’t end up needing to adjust or stretch the schedule, that just gives you extra time for more pt work before the exam.

Ideally, (though it really isn’t a big deal if it doesn’t work out this way) you want to save the most recent exams to use as your final PT’s before test day —

So, my suggestion to you is —

a) if you think it’s more likely that you will stretch the schedule over the entire 6 months (and get extra help along the way as needed), I’d suggest you go with the 62-81 schedule.

b) otherwise, or if you are not sure, I’d suggest you start with the 52-71 schedule — you can always switch out older tests for newer tests in your schedule if necessary.

HTH — Good luck with your studies and wish you the best — if you have any follow-up or need anything else, don’t hesitate to get in touch —

Mike

[cameronepstein]

Hey Mike,

Thank you so much 🙂 It’s amazing getting personalized advice from the author of such a great book!

I guess my only other question is whether or not to time the drills in the study schedule? If so, how much time do I give myself for each LR question? I feel like each game and RC passage should be done in 8:45 or under. But with LR, it’s not clear how long each question should take.

TYIA!

[Mike Kim]

Hey Cameron —

Sure thing! — happy to help —

I do recommend that in general you time all of your practice work and that by habit you try to solve problems as fast as you can (without sacrificing accuracy). Of course, if you are just getting familiar with a question type and want to be more deliberate with your strategies, or if you are struggling with a question type and want to break things down more, it can also be very useful to do some untime work as needed. But again, for the most part, I think that timed practice is more effective and will yield better long term results.

In terms of timing goals, in total you want to average about 1:10 or less per LR q, but you should expect for this to vary drastically based on question type and difficulty — some q’s can and should be solved in :40, while others, even when solved very well, can take 1:40 or more.

So, you want to keep in that 1:10 average per q in the back of your mind, but don’t stress too much if certain q’s or sets cause you to deviate from that — more importantly, you want to track your time across your practice and work toward getting faster and faster.

HTH — let me know if u need anything else — MK

[cameronepstein]

Ahh! Thank you, Mike! It feel so much more confident having a clear cut strategy. I’m one full week into my study and have found myself actually excited to read ahead because of how the book reads.

One last question and I swear I’ll leave you alone: (until I get my 168 and tell everyone!)

Do you think it’s okay to re-do logic games and the drills in the book on separate scratch paper? I know we won’t have scratch paper for the test, but I am a big fan of being able to re-do games several times. I suppose I could make copies, but I don’t know if it’s really worth it.

[Mike Kim]

Hey Cameron —

Sure — I think that’s a great idea, especially with drills / games that you know might cause you trouble or that, as you mentioned, you know you want to play multiple times (which I strongly recommend as well) — one suggestion I have is to try and keep track of your work and keep it as organized as possible, so that you can more easily review your work, think about differences in your approaches, etc. —

And anything else you need, don’t hesitate to reach out — I’m always happy to try and help in any way I can — that’s what I’m here for 🙂 — take care — MK

[cameronepstein]

Hey Mike,

Another couple weeks into The Trainer, and things are clicking in a way I just did not ever imagine. For instance, your chapters & drills on conditional logic have made it so the logic on the test finally makes sense! To be honest, before I found the Trainer, I had basically resigned to the fact that conditional logic was going to be something that I just was incapable of grasping. After a few weeks with the Trainer, I am finding myself able to more intuitively solve sufficient assumption questions by seeing the “gap” or flaw in the argument.

Happy Holidays and thank you for all of your help!

[Mike Kim]

Hey Cameron – that’s awesome to hear — happy holidays to you as well! — as always, let me know if you need me — MK

[Haris]

Hi Mike,

I wanted to ask a similar question. I am free this winter break until late Jan and I will be back in college and will work part-time after that. I can easily work in the 16-week schedule but I was wondering if it would be wiser to do the 4-week study plan in the winter and spend Spring semester going over practice tests instead of worrying about learning new material. Would you recommend sticking to the 16-week plan or the 4-week plan with months of PT.

[Mike Kim]

Hi Haris,

I have a couple of ideas for you —

First, just a quick note about the schedules — they are designed to account for your learning, drilling, and practice tests, and prioritize those components in that order, so, if you chose the 16 week schedule, you’d still get your primary learning done relatively early on in your studies and be able to focus mostly on pt’s later in your studies — on the flip side, I wouldn’t recommend the 4 week schedule, which would unnecessarily rush you through the learning, drilling, and pt experience —

So, if I were in your shoes, I would either —

1) Work off either the 52-71 or 62-81 16 week schedule, with the expectation that you may adjust things a bit to fit your schedule (you’ll see that it’s very easy to move assignments up or back weeks as necessary) or

2) Use this winter break to go through just the Trainer (with a diagnostic test or just a little bit of drilling if /when you see fit), and do so as carefully as you can. Afterwards, move on to drilling (and you can use the schedules or the Questions-by-Type resources on the site to organize the drill sets for yourself), and then to PT’s whenever you feel ready (coming back to the Trainer as you need) —

HTH and good luck with your studies — let me know if you have any follow-up or need anything else — MK

[menokoqa]

thanks