[fmaceda]

Hello Mike,

I would like to thank you for creating such a remarkable resource, I love how clear and simple to understand it is. Now here is my dilemma – before I stumbled across your wonderful book I had already purchased the Powerscore Logic Games and Logical Reasoning bibles. I don’t want them to go to waste and I feel like they could be useful as well. If you are familiar with the material in those books, what do you think is the best way of using them combined with your book? I feel that your book is easier to understand so ideally I want to get through the Trainer firstly, and then use the Powerscore bibles to brush up on my skills. I am taking the exam in June so my main concern is that if I get through the Trainer coupled with a study guide at first then I will have exhausted the most recent exams and therefore will not have them for the few weeks prior to the exam.

Do you believe that it is absolutely essential to use the Trainer with a study guide? Can I use a study guide as more of a reference or do you recommend following one rigorously? Perhaps you could help me design a study guide that incorporates all the study materials I have?

Should I just read the Trainer and the Powerscore bibles at the same time? Should I save the Trainer for last?

I really don’t know what to do and any input would be much appreciated and it would help me incredibly. I will also mention that I have exams 29-71. I just want to get your opinion on how I should combine these resources to get me ready for the June exam.

Thank you so much once again and I really appreciate your time.

[Mike Kim]

Hi there —

Thank you so much for your comments, and it’s awesome to hear that you are finding the Trainer useful —

I’m definitely in favor of using as many study resources as you’d like, as long as it doesn’t hinder your drill, pt and review work (sounds like you are already thinking about it on those terms) —

Here are a few points you might find relevant —

a) The trainer is designed to be a stand-alone study guide and you can absolutely feel confident that it covers everything you will possibly need to consider — before writing it I spent many months breaking down years worth of exams in terms of every single micro-challenge presented, and I only started designing the book after I felt confident I had come up with a system that accounting for all possible concerns — since the Trainer has been released, I have yet to run into a single problem on any newly administered LSAT exam that centers on challenges not discussed/taught in it.

b) Having said that, using another quality resource, such as the Powerscore guides, shouldn’t take anything away from the experience of studying the Trainer — it’s just like having two teachers for a subject instead of one — you’ll be fine dealing w/the different viewpoints, and seeing different viewpoints can very well help you deepen your understanding.

So again, it’s really up to you whether you want to utilize both, and you should be fine either way —

In terms of organizing your time, there are many effective solutions, but here’s a simple method that I think might fit your concerns best —

1) Split up your available PT’s in terms of which ones you will use for drilling and which ones full PT’s — I suggest at least 50% for drilling, if not more.

2) Split up the PT’s you plan to use for drilling into three parts — so, for example, if you are going to drill 29-51, you may choose 29 – 36, 37-44, 45-51 or something like that.

3) You can figure out individual assignments for these three groups either by (a) taking off one of the pre-made trainer schedules avail for free on the trainer site or (b) using the question breakdown tool on the lsatters site.

3) Plan on studying using the Trainer first, then adding on Powerscore if and when you need to.

4) Know that, in general, the Trainer and its study guides are designed so that for the first half of the book you are mostly studying in the book, then, for the second half of the book, you are integrating what you learn with drill work.

5) So, expect to go in this general cycle for your work

1) Studying in ½ half of trainer →
2) studying in second half of trainer while simultaneously doing first of 3 rounds of drilling →
3) (optional) determine after u r done w/trainer whether you might find certain additional study tools useful (for example, maybe you decide it’ll be worth your time to study ps lg but you don’t need more lr instruction) →
4) after optional #3 step, move on to second of 3 rounds of drilling →
5) go into the third round of drilling when you get to a point where you feel you are pretty much done w/most of your “learning” and ready to just work on getting better and better →
6)then move on to PT’s.

Hope that was clear — you don’t have to follow that at all, but I figured it was a good match for your situation —

Wish you the best and if I haven’t covered anything or if you have any follow up just let me know —

MK

[fmaceda]

Thank you so much Mike. I very much appreciate what you do. I’m confident that because of The Trainer, I will score higher on the LSAT than I would’ve without it. Best of luck with everything!

[Mike Kim]

Appreciate the comment! — thanks for putting your trust in me — hope the Trainer helps you reach your goals, and if you need me you know where to find me — take care — mk