Wait. What is This LSAT Prep Post Doing Here?

I’ll keep it short. I’ve been meaning to create a timeline to help you visualize how your LSAT prep should go. This week, after the end of the semester and before I start my summer job, seemed like the right time.

So I did. It’s above.

First, know that it’s intended as a rough guide to help you think about how to order your prep and roughly how much time to spend on each element of your prep. I didn’t mean it as a prescription—you may spend more or less time on any single element of your practice if it makes you feel happier. However, it is a pretty close approximation of my recommendations to you. So, for example, you may want to do 6 or 7 timed practice exams instead of 5 as your test date approaches. Fine, but it’s probably not best for your score to do 20 of those and not do any stop-time drills. In other words, as long as you’re sticking relatively close to this timeline, I think you’ll be doing good work.

Here’s the idea: From the time you press “play” on your first Velocity video until test day comes (and you’re ready for it!), your prep can fit into five main boxes. I recommend that you tackle those boxes in the following order:

1. Theory. Start with the Theory Videos on Day One, and watch them all before you do anything else. Plan to spend 1-2 weeks watching Theory videos. Then, plan to return to at least some of them, and rewatch them as often as necessary. I imagine you may watch and rewatch Theory videos for roughly the first third of your Total Prep Time™ (though it seems reasonable to think you may rewatch some of them even past the halfway point in your prep. Remember, this is just a rough guide!).
2. Untimed Practice. This is the soul of your learning. You’re putting the Theory into Practice. You’re working slowly, according to your study plan. I recommend you do it the way I've got it on the timeline: start with some games, then devote a considerably greater amount of time to LR, then a little time to RC, then cycle back through. There are LOTS of other equally legitimate ways to organize this portion of your prep. Want to do it a little differently? Have at it! No matter the precise order of your attack, you’ll spend roughly the first two-thirds of your Total Prep Time™ doing this kind of learning. But as you approach the halfway point in your prep, you’ll want to fold in some:
3. Stop-Time Drills. These are so useful for capturing your thinking and getting a sense of how fast you’re moving! I recommend you spend about half of your Total Prep Time™ working on these drills alongside both the Untimed Practice and your:
4. Count-Up Timer Drills. Here, you’re driving home the skills you’ve learned, while finding out how fast you can work without the pressure of a timer. You should be doing these once you’re basically done with your Untimed Practice; so roughly a third of your Total Prep Time™ goes to Count-Up Drills, along with the Stop-Time Drills, and ending alongside some delicious, nutritious:
5. Timed, Full-Length Tests. These are dress rehearsal. They’re not great for learning to do LSAT (that’s why we do them last!), but they are unparalleled for telling you how ready you are for test day (all together now: that’s why we do them last!). I recommend doing four or five full, timed tests. I also recommend using some additional tests to turn them into five-section full length tests (see the FAQ for more details on that). I’d do them once you’re basically done with your prep. The last 20% or so of your Total Prep Time™ is the right time to start these timed guys.

So, that’s that. I hope you find this additional iteration of the schedule helpful to you. I thought it might be a nice way to get you thinking about your time allotments. I may take next week off (I thought I was going to take this week off), but I’ll be back soon to talk about how my summer job is going.

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Post them below, or shoot me an email.

Be good to one another, for we need it now more than maybe ever,

d

P.S. Looking for a smoking hot Velocity LSAT discount code? Use this code: DAVE10 at checkout to get 10% off your enrollment in any course! That code will work throughout 2018.