Tips for Studying for the LSAT in Just One Hour a Day

Many students reach out to me because they have a limited amount of time to study, and they want to make the most of every hour they invest in the LSAT. For example, I had a student who was preparing for the LSAT, working a part-time job, taking classes, and participating in college athletics. Of course, having more time each day can have its advantages. However, I found that those who were the busiest often saw greater improvement than those with more free time each day. Contrary to popular belief, you can prepare for the LSAT with just one hour each day. In this post, I'll show you how

Focus on one thing at a time

Most of us do this when we are learning any skill. In basketball, you may practice just doing jump shots. In tennis, you may practice just doing the backhand. But for some reason, people often avoid doing this with the LSAT. They insist on always doing timed sections or practice tests.

But with the limited amount of study time you have, it's extremely important that you are studying efficiently. If you just practice a single thing, you will be able to improve on that concept much more quickly. On top of that, many LSAT concepts are related, so you will be able to learn other concepts even more quickly as a result.

When you notice a specific concept is giving you issues, drill that concept specifically. Master it before moving onto the next.

Drill a Small Set of Questions Each Day

What if you knew that the exact passage in front of you was going to show up on the LSAT? Would you study it any differently? If so, you likely aren't reviewing questions thoroughly enough.

Despite what many people claim, you do not need to do a large amount of questions each day. In fact, for many people this actually delays progress because they aren't taking the time to thoroughly learn from their mistakes.

It's much more effective to study a small set of questions. 5-10 questions per day is plenty, but here is how to do it:

Day 1: Complete 5-10 questions of a specific type. Review each question as you complete them, rather than reviewing after completing a batch of questions.

Day 2: Reattempt the questions from Day 1. If any of the questions were still giving you difficulty, review them again. If you have leftover time, attempt new questions as well.

Day 3: Redo the same process for Day 2

This means that although you should aim for 5-10 questions per day, that doesn't necessarily mean they will always be new questions. And sometimes, you may end up doing the same questions across several days. That may feel slower, but you are actually learning much more from each question as a result, which will help you improve more quickly.

Give yourself a flexible deadline

Although the tips above are intended to help you improve as quickly as possible, you may still need more time. This just depends on the individual because there are many factors that go into your overall improvement. Understand that if you can only carve out one hour per day, you may need to consider a longer time horizon.

Consider getting Outside help

The difficult part about LSAT prep is that most individuals have blind spots they are unaware of. They are unknowingly repeating the same mistakes, which is why their score stagnates. Hiring a tutor can help you identify weaknesses so that you can target them more effectively. This will in turn help you progress much more quickly on the LSAT, especially if you have a limited time frame.

Did you find this post helpful? If you are looking for personalized tutoring that is structured and methodical, click here.