The most frustrating LSAT experience is to study for hours on end, only to see your score stagnate. Trust me, you're not alone on this. Almost everyone who studies for the LSAT experiences this at some point. Let's discuss why people plateau and how to overcome this hurdle.

But first, it's worth mentioning that plateaus don't necessarily mean you are doing something wrong. Progress can take longer for some people, but as long as you are truly learning from your mistakes, your score should eventually go up.

Think about it this way--if you are trying to get in shape, do you see your body change every single day? No, you don't. But weeks or months at a time, you may see gradual or even sudden progress. The same thing applies to the LSAT. For this reason, many people stay stagnant for a while and then see a dramatic increase in their score because everything suddenly clicked for them.

Also, plateaus can vary from person to person. Some people are naturally able to learn Logical Reasoning very quickly but Reading Comprehension stagnates, or vice versa. This is why I recommend giving yourself ample time to study for the LSAT. It's hard to predict exactly how long it will take you to reach your target score, so it is much better to overestimate than to underestimate. Sometimes, it's not that you're doing anything wrong. For many people, it's just a matter of time.

That being said, there are certainly things you can do to break through LSAT plateaus more effectively.

1. Focus less on the overall score and more on individual concepts

Don't think that just because your LSAT score stagnates that means you aren't improving. Some sections are harder than others. If you got a particularly challenging section compared to previous ones, the fact you got the same score actually could mean you improved.

So, rather than focusing on how you did from a score perspective, focus on how you did on specific question types. If you prioritized Strengthen questions, for example, and your score dropped while you got 100% accuracy on Strengthen questions, that's a sign of progress. As long as you keep adding more and more skills to your toolbelt, your score can't help but to naturally go up overtime.

2. Don't just take full sections or practice tests. Focus on drilling.

Taking timed sections and LSAT practice tests is extremely important. But if you are missing roughly the same number of questions over and over again, it's likely you are making the same mistakes over and over again. And this means you are likely not recognizing specific patterns in the test.

Only taking practice tests can make it harder to spot patterns because questions are spaced out further from each other. For example, if certain question types don't show up in every test. But keep in mind that each LSAT question type and passage has its own patterns. The best way to identify them is by drilling questions of a particular type back-to-back.

Prioritize specific question types and concepts by analyzing prior practice tests. Don't just look at how many questions you got wrong of a particular type. Take into consideration the difficulty and skill type to help you determine what you should focus on (I will be writing a post on how to analyze tests later). Focus on one or two concepts for a week or however long it takes for you to feel confident in that subject, from easiest to hardest. Then, take a full-length practice test or multiple sections to see if you are consistently doing better in that concept. If everything looks better, you can move onto the next concept and continue doing this until you see progress. It is also important that you are reviewing questions properly, not just mindlessly completing as many questions as you can.

3. Be patient and consistent

As mentioned earlier, even if you are studying as efficiently as possible, you might not see results overnight. But if you have not been studying almost every single day, you're missing out on tons of progress that could have been made. You don't need to study a lot, but just one Logical Reasoning question or Reading Comprehension passage can do wonders for you in the long run if done consistently.

Have a structured, process-oriented approach to the LSAT with the Impetus LSAT blog.

The most frustrating LSAT experience is to study for hours on end, only to see your score stagnate. Trust me, you're not alone on this. Almost everyone who studies for the LSAT experiences this at some point. Let's discuss why people plateau and how to overcome this hurdle.

But first, it's worth mentioning that plateaus don't necessarily mean you are doing something wrong. Progress can take longer for some people, but as long as you are truly learning from your mistakes, your score should eventually go up.

Think about it this way--if you are trying to get in shape, do you see your body change every single day? No, you don't. But weeks or months at a time, you may see gradual or even sudden progress. The same thing applies to the LSAT. For this reason, many people stay stagnant for a while and then see a dramatic increase in their score because everything suddenly clicked for them.

Also, plateaus can vary from person to person. Some people are naturally able to learn Logical Reasoning very quickly but Reading Comprehension stagnates, or vice versa. This is why I recommend giving yourself ample time to study for the LSAT. It's hard to predict exactly how long it will take you to reach your target score, so it is much better to overestimate than to underestimate. Sometimes, it's not that you're doing anything wrong. For many people, it's just a matter of time.

That being said, there are certainly things you can do to break through LSAT plateaus more effectively.

1. Focus less on the overall score and more on individual concepts

Don't think that just because your LSAT score stagnates that means you aren't improving. Some sections are harder than others. If you got a particularly challenging section compared to previous ones, the fact you got the same score actually could mean you improved.

So, rather than focusing on how you did from a score perspective, focus on how you did on specific question types. If you prioritized Strengthen questions, for example, and your score dropped while you got 100% accuracy on Strengthen questions, that's a sign of progress. As long as you keep adding more and more skills to your toolbelt, your score can't help but to naturally go up overtime.

2. Don't just take full sections or practice tests. Focus on drilling.

Taking timed sections and LSAT practice tests is extremely important. But if you are missing roughly the same number of questions over and over again, it's likely you are making the same mistakes over and over again. And this means you are likely not recognizing specific patterns in the test.

Only taking practice tests can make it harder to spot patterns because questions are spaced out further from each other. For example, if certain question types don't show up in every test. But keep in mind that each LSAT question type and passage has its own patterns. The best way to identify them is by drilling questions of a particular type back-to-back.

Prioritize specific question types and concepts by analyzing prior practice tests. Don't just look at how many questions you got wrong of a particular type. Take into consideration the difficulty and skill type to help you determine what you should focus on (I will be writing a post on how to analyze tests later). Focus on one or two concepts for a week or however long it takes for you to feel confident in that subject, from easiest to hardest. Then, take a full-length practice test or multiple sections to see if you are consistently doing better in that concept. If everything looks better, you can move onto the next concept and continue doing this until you see progress. It is also important that you are reviewing questions properly, not just mindlessly completing as many questions as you can.

3. Be patient and consistent

As mentioned earlier, even if you are studying as efficiently as possible, you might not see results overnight. But if you have not been studying almost every single day, you're missing out on tons of progress that could have been made. You don't need to study a lot, but just one Logical Reasoning question or Reading Comprehension passage can do wonders for you in the long run if done consistently.

Have a structured, process-oriented approach to the LSAT with the Impetus LSAT blog.

At this point, you are determined to make progress on the LSAT, and you know exactly what you need to improve on. But there's a slight problem--you don't know how to plan things out each day, and you feel like you are frantically bouncing around with no direction. In this post, we are going to fix that.

Let's take a look at two example study plans:

LSAT Study Plan A:
Study Logical Reasoning and do some questions
Study Reading Comprehension and do some questions

LSAT Study Plan B:
Learn Strengthen question strategy
Do 15 Strengthen questions with thorough review
Do 3 Reading Comprehension passages with thorough review

Which study plan is better? The answer is Study Plan B. Let's examine why...

1. Daily plans should be specific
Have you ever tried to clean up your room and it was so messy that you didn't even know where to start? Confusion leads to a lack of motivation and you will then have trouble even getting started on your LSAT preparation journey. The less options there are to choose from, the more streamlined your study process will be.

Many people hit the books thinking, "I'm going to study LR". That seems fine, but there are a ton of concepts to learn, even within each section. For example, in LR you have all the different question types (Strengthen, Weaken, Must be True, etc.), and many different concepts (how to identify assumptions, how to understand structure, conditional reasoning, etc.). If you don't know where to start, you will either not start or will get disorganized in your prep.

2: Daily plans should be quantifiable
Notice how for Study Plan A, there is no specific endpoint. If you don't have an endpoint, you won't know when you are done studying.

As a result, some people end up doing far too little LSAT prep each day resulting in panic the last few weeks of the test, while others do far too much and suffer from burnout. Or if there are multiple things that are planned for the day, many people will spend far too long on one task and will not get anything else done.

Notice how for Plan B, we have a specific quantity of LSAT questions to complete within each task. If you finish them and have extra time, it's fine to do more. But at least you know when you have completed your bare minimum.

Doing 15 questions per day can seem like it's not enough. But as I've mentioned in many of my previous posts, consistency matters far more than quantity. 15 questions per day for a month is already 450 questions, and by placing limits, it encourages a deeper understanding of each question.

3: Daily plans should be manageable
Do you ever procrastinate with the LSAT? Part of the reason why many people have trouble maintaining motivation on the LSAT is the task seems insurmountable. It can feel like there are a million things to do, which becomes demoralizing.

Don't set daily plans that are unattainable. They should be challenging, but not impossible. Set realistic expectations for yourself. Someone who is working full time will not be able to do as many questions as someone who has no responsibilities outside of the LSAT, and that is okay. It only becomes a problem when they try to do more work than they can handle.

Hope this helps!

Please make sure you have watched Quantifiers Part 1 and 2 before watching this video. Otherwise, it probably will not make sense!

At this point, you are determined to make progress on the LSAT, and you know exactly what you need to improve on. But there's a slight problem--you don't know how to plan things out each day, and you feel like you are frantically bouncing around with no direction. In this post, we are going to fix that.

Let's take a look at two example study plans:

LSAT Study Plan A:
Study Logical Reasoning and do some questions
Study Reading Comprehension and do some questions

LSAT Study Plan B:
Learn Strengthen question strategy
Do 15 Strengthen questions with thorough review
Do 3 Reading Comprehension passages with thorough review

Which study plan is better? The answer is Study Plan B. Let's examine why...

1. Daily plans should be specific
Have you ever tried to clean up your room and it was so messy that you didn't even know where to start? Confusion leads to a lack of motivation and you will then have trouble even getting started on your LSAT preparation journey. The less options there are to choose from, the more streamlined your study process will be.

Many people hit the books thinking, "I'm going to study LR". That seems fine, but there are a ton of concepts to learn, even within each section. For example, in LR you have all the different question types (Strengthen, Weaken, Must be True, etc.), and many different concepts (how to identify assumptions, how to understand structure, conditional reasoning, etc.). If you don't know where to start, you will either not start or will get disorganized in your prep.

2: Daily plans should be quantifiable
Notice how for Study Plan A, there is no specific endpoint. If you don't have an endpoint, you won't know when you are done studying.

As a result, some people end up doing far too little LSAT prep each day resulting in panic the last few weeks of the test, while others do far too much and suffer from burnout. Or if there are multiple things that are planned for the day, many people will spend far too long on one task and will not get anything else done.

Notice how for Plan B, we have a specific quantity of LSAT questions to complete within each task. If you finish them and have extra time, it's fine to do more. But at least you know when you have completed your bare minimum.

Doing 15 questions per day can seem like it's not enough. But as I've mentioned in many of my previous posts, consistency matters far more than quantity. 15 questions per day for a month is already 450 questions, and by placing limits, it encourages a deeper understanding of each question.

3: Daily plans should be manageable
Do you ever procrastinate with the LSAT? Part of the reason why many people have trouble maintaining motivation on the LSAT is the task seems insurmountable. It can feel like there are a million things to do, which becomes demoralizing.

Don't set daily plans that are unattainable. They should be challenging, but not impossible. Set realistic expectations for yourself. Someone who is working full time will not be able to do as many questions as someone who has no responsibilities outside of the LSAT, and that is okay. It only becomes a problem when they try to do more work than they can handle.

If you enjoyed this post, follow r/LSATStrategies for more tips like these!

At this point, you are determined to make progress on the LSAT, and you know exactly what you need to improve on. But there's a slight problem--you don't know how to plan things out each day, and you feel like you are frantically bouncing around with no direction. In this post, we are going to fix that.

Let's take a look at two example study plans:

LSAT Study Plan A:
Study Logical Reasoning and do some questions
Study Reading Comprehension and do some questions

LSAT Study Plan B:
Learn Strengthen question strategy
Do 15 Strengthen questions with thorough review
Do 3 Reading Comprehension passages with thorough review

Which study plan is better? The answer is Study Plan B. Let's examine why...

1. Daily plans should be specific
Have you ever tried to clean up your room and it was so messy that you didn't even know where to start? Confusion leads to a lack of motivation and you will then have trouble even getting started on your LSAT preparation journey. The less options there are to choose from, the more streamlined your study process will be.

Many people hit the books thinking, "I'm going to study LR". That seems fine, but there are a ton of concepts to learn, even within each section. For example, in LR you have all the different question types (Strengthen, Weaken, Must be True, etc.), and many different concepts (how to identify assumptions, how to understand structure, conditional reasoning, etc.). If you don't know where to start, you will either not start or will get disorganized in your prep.

2: Daily plans should be quantifiable
Notice how for Study Plan A, there is no specific endpoint. If you don't have an endpoint, you won't know when you are done studying.

As a result, some people end up doing far too little LSAT prep each day resulting in panic the last few weeks of the test, while others do far too much and suffer from burnout. Or if there are multiple things that are planned for the day, many people will spend far too long on one task and will not get anything else done.

Notice how for Plan B, we have a specific quantity of LSAT questions to complete within each task. If you finish them and have extra time, it's fine to do more. But at least you know when you have completed your bare minimum.

Doing 15 questions per day can seem like it's not enough. But as I've mentioned in many of my previous posts, consistency matters far more than quantity. 15 questions per day for a month is already 450 questions, and by placing limits, it encourages a deeper understanding of each question.

3: Daily plans should be manageable
Do you ever procrastinate with the LSAT? Part of the reason why many people have trouble maintaining motivation on the LSAT is the task seems insurmountable. It can feel like there are a million things to do, which becomes demoralizing.

Don't set daily plans that are unattainable. They should be challenging, but not impossible. Set realistic expectations for yourself. Someone who is working full time will not be able to do as many questions as someone who has no responsibilities outside of the LSAT, and that is okay. It only becomes a problem when they try to do more work than they can handle.

About me: My name is Cho, and I am a personalized LSAT tutor and the founder of Impetus LSAT. I offer a free blog with advice on how to efficiently study for the LSAT, and many of students improved 15+ points and/or achieved scores in the mid-high 170s on their official LSAT. Feel free to check out my testimonials below:

This student started in the 150s and scored a 178: 178 on first attempt 😄 : r/LSAT

This student started in the 150s and scored a 172: Reddit Testimonial

This student started tutoring in the 160s and scored a 171: Tutor Recommendation : r/LSAT
Additional Testimonials

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You have been hitting the LSAT books hard for some time now, but you seem to be hitting a brick wall when it comes to Logical Reasoning. No matter how many sections you do, you don't see any progress.

Does this sound like you? We will discuss the common mistakes people make when it comes to Logical Reasoning (LR) prep, and what to do about it.

Mistake #1: Trying to finish all the questions

In timed LSAT practice sections, people often calculate that they have roughly 1.5 minutes per question and make it a goal to finish every question within that time frame.

This is a flawed way to think about this LSAT section. Here's why...

Some questions are harder or longer than others and naturally take longer to complete. If you think about the exam in this way, you will panic when you take longer than 1.5 min. As a result, if you take 2 min to answer a question you will think "oh my gosh... how much time do I have per question now? I need to go faster! I'm never going to finish this section at this pace!"

Do you see the problem here? You are wasting valuable time on the LSAT by focusing on time instead of the question in front of you.

I understand why this is tempting. After all, if you answer more questions on the LSAT you are more likely to get more questions right...right? Well, not exactly...

If you are too focused on time, you will try to read faster to save time. As a result, you will skim. And that is exactly what the LSAT test writers want. They have set up traps for those who do not read carefully at every turn.

Don't give them what they want. Instead, read carefully. Don't go into the section with the expectation you will answer every single LSAT question. Instead, make it a goal to answer every question that you do attempt correctly. In other words, prioritize accuracy over speed. I have seen so many students improve their LR scores just by changing that alone.

But of course, that is not always enough. You also need to practice correctly...

Mistake #2: Only doing timed practice

"The LSAT is a timed exam so we should only be simulating timed practice, right?" I can't tell you how many times I have heard this. This simply is not true.

If you are trying to get better at an instrument, you don't immediately start playing the instrument as fast as you can. You would go slowly to feel more comfortable and would naturally get faster as you improve. The same applies for the LSAT in general, not just LR.

Yes, you should be incorporating timed practice into your LSAT routine but make sure to include some untimed practice as well. This allows you to truly engage with the questions without any time pressure. If you are missing questions untimed, how are you going to get questions correct timed?

Practice questions untimed until your accuracy improves. Then you can start focusing on time.

Mistake #3: Not prioritizing effectively

I often see students far too focused on LR question types as their weakness. They will say that they need to get better at Necessary Assumption or Flaw questions, for example. But they determine this by simply figuring out which questions they miss the most. This doesn't tell the whole story.

For example, a lot of people brush off Main Point questions, saying they only miss them every now and then. But that could just be because there are very few Main Point questions, not necessarily because you are good at them.

That translates into the other LSAT question types. If you are not accurately identifying the conclusion of the argument, you will not be able to identify the assumption (after all, the assumption is the missing link between the premise and the conclusion). If you can't identify the assumption, you will not be successful with the assumption question types.

So, don't focus so much on the question type alone. Make sure you fully understand the conclusion and premise, and the relationship between the two. If you are not properly identifying the structure, make sure to review the passage thoroughly.

Mistake #4: Not reviewing efficiently

Most people hate reviewing LSAT questions, but I promise it is a big deal. It makes a world of a difference. If you just do questions without review, you pretty much wasted all the lessons you could have learned from them.

Here is how to review...

1. Do a single question and immediately check the explanations. Don't give up halfway through the answer choices and have a concrete reason behind why you selected or eliminated each answer.
2. Redo the question (from start to finish) utilizing the process provided in the explanations.
3. Redo the same question again the next day. If it still gave you difficulty, review it further

This is no doubt a tedious way to review LSAT questions, but it is so effective. In fact, it is more effective for someone to use this process for 20 questions than for someone to complete 100 questions with very little review.

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About me: My name is Cho, and I am an LSAT tutor and the founder of Impetus LSAT. I offer a free blog with advice on how to efficiently study for the LSAT, and many of students improved 15+ points and/or achieved scores in the mid-high 170s on their official LSAT. Feel free to check out my testimonials below!

This student started in the 150s and scored a 178: 178 on first attempt :) : r/LSAT

This student started in the 150s and scored a 172: Reddit Testimonial

This student started tutoring in the 160s and scored a 171: Tutor Recommendation : r/LSAT
Additional Testimonials

You purchased a popular LSAT book or course with glowing five-star reviews, motivated as ever. But after going through the entire course and reading multiple LSAT books cover to cover, you are shocked to see that your practice test performance didn't budge. You begin to wonder if reaching your dream LSAT score is even achievable.

Does this sound like you?

You are not alone. Hundreds of students reach out to me with this very problem. Nine times out of ten, the biggest issue is they don't have structure. Many of these courses offer helpful explanations of concepts but don't provide much direction in terms of how to make the best use of the resources available. In this post, we will discuss mistakes that are holding back your progress.

1. Not Learning Actively

One of the biggest mistakes people make is they will just watch videos or read through the chapter of a book. After completing one video, they immediately move onto the next. This entirely overlooks the fact that the LSAT is a skill-based exam and that it is the application that causes improvement, not the knowledge from the videos themselves.

Instead, take notes and stay active throughout the learning process. Memorize any key terms and processes provided by the video. Then, review your notes thoroughly.

Going through ten videos or ten chapters in a day can feel productive, but it likely will do very little for your overall improvement. You probably would only retain a very small percentage of that information and were not able to practice applying those concepts. Focus on just going through 1-2 videos or chapters at the most in a day and make sure that you understand what is being discussed.

Also, try to connect what you have learned. Do you remember a question that stumped you that discussed a concept in the video? If so, reattempt it using the knowledge you acquired.

2. Not Reviewing Drills

Any course that is worth your while will not just throw information at you and hope something sticks. It will also provide you with questions to test your understanding. This is where people frequently make a fatal mistake. They try out the questions, see if they got it right, and move on. But this is where you will learn the application part of the process mentioned earlier.

Instead, read the explanations thoroughly, even if you got the question correct. See if there was a better or faster way you could have arrived at the answer. These micro-skills will add up to significant progress.

3. Not Incorporating Sections and Practice Tests

It is beneficial to occasionally see a mixed set of questions. This trains you to be more flexible and adaptive to a wide range of question types, which you will need to do on the day of the test. When using a course, you won't have anyone evaluating your methodologies, so it is up to you to evaluate how well you are able to apply what you learned. If you are still having difficulty with certain concepts, it is worth going back and reviewing the video and drills for that concept, especially if the questions you missed were of lower difficulty.

Doing occasional sections is beneficial even if you haven't learned all the concepts and strategies from the course yet. Don't wait until you have completed the entire course. Attempting unusual questions will force you to think deeper, see the relationships between question types, and see the relevance of other concepts that are discussed in the course later on. I recommend aiming for two sections or one practice test per week.

I hope these tips help you!

Conditional Reasoning is a concept that can appear on pretty much any section of the LSAT. If you are struggling with Sufficient Assumption/ Must Be True Questions or In/Out games, there is a good chance you may not have a deep understanding of this concept. Check out my blog post where I explain the fundamentals of Conditional Reasoning and stay tuned for more!

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About me: My name is Cho, and I am an LSAT tutor and the founder of Impetus LSAT. I offer a free blog with advice on how to efficiently study for the LSAT, and many of students improved 15+ points and/or achieved scores in the mid-high 170s on their official LSAT. Feel free to check out my testimonials below!

This student started in the 150s and scored a 172: Reddit Testimonial

This student started tutoring in the 160s and scored a 171: Tutor Recommendation : r/LSAT
Additional Testimonials

Almost everyone has been there—they narrow it down to two answer choices and select the wrong one. This is one of the most common issues my students experience. In this free blog post, we will discuss strategies and study tactics that have helped them overcome this hurdle.

How to Stop Selecting the Wrong one of two answers| Impetus LSAT

If you have additional questions about the LSAT and want them answered in the next blog post, you can submit them to contact@impetuslsat.com or post them to r/LSATStrategies

*****

About the author: My name is Cho, and I am an LSAT tutor and the founder of Impetus LSAT. I offer a free blog with advice on how to efficiently study for the LSAT, and many of students improved 15+ points and/or achieved scores in the mid-high 170s on their official LSAT. Feel free to check out my testimonials below!

This student started in the 150s and scored a 172: Reddit Testimonial

This student started tutoring in the 160s and scored a 171: Tutor Recommendation : r/LSAT
Additional Testimonials

Stamina is one of the most common issues people run into with LSAT practice tests. This can be frustrating because you may feel like you have the skills but have trouble focusing due to fatigue. Unfortunately, people often overlook how important endurance is during their LSAT prep. But keep in mind that endurance should only be your focus when your accuracy is relatively high and you are already scoring relatively close to your target score. Here are some tips to help you boost your endurance and build your mental stamina...

Tip #1: Gradually work your way up

If you are preparing for a marathon, you wouldn't run a full marathon every day. In the same way, it's generally ineffective to jump straight into full LSAT practice exams everyday - at least in the beginning. That is a recipe for burnout. Instead, focus on gradually building up your stamina. Throughout your LSAT prep, you should build endurance in phases:

Phase 1: Individual Sections

Start with an individual LSAT section each day or every other day. If you are having issues with accuracy, you may want to start by doing them untimed and gradually work up to timed sections when you feel comfortable. Don't give yourself any breaks until you have completed the section. Try to especially focus on section types that are more mentally draining for you.

Phase 2: Practice Tests with Breaks

Once you feel comfortable with individual sections, it's time to gradually increase the period of time we spend focusing on the LSAT each day. Take practice exams with breaks between sections as needed. This will allow you to ease in more sections each day. For example, your initial schedule may look something like this:

Day 1: Section 1, break, Section 2

Day 2: Section 3, break, Section 4

How long you rest between sections is up to you, but it is important that you push through and complete the entire section. If you ran out of time in a section, you should be completing those questions untimed between sections.

Phase 3: Full Length LSAT Practice Tests

At this phase, you are ready to take full length practice tests. Take it with the same scheduled breaks you can expect to receive on test day. For those of you who are not receiving accommodations, here is how your LSAT practice test should be structured (assuming you are not receiving any accommodations and get 35 minutes per section):

1. Section 1
2. Section 2
3. 10 minute break
4. Section 3
5. Section 4

Tip #2: Make the Practice Tests Longer or Increase the Frequency

This should only be done after you have completed the three phases in tip #1 and you are seeking to maintain exceptional stamina heading into the LSAT. At this phase, you are seeking to go beyond the LSAT parameters.

Think about it this way--if you are used to running 3 miles, running 1 mile is going to feel much easier. That is the approach we are taking with the LSAT.

You can boost your stamina by either adding an additional section or by taking practice tests more frequently (2-3 times per week).

In general, I do not recommend taking a practice test more than 3 times per week. Doing so is often counterproductive because you may not have enough time to review questions between practice tests, which is where the real growth happens. It is beneficial to have a target number of tests to take each week, but don't sacrifice review to reach that number.

Tip #3: Get More Proficient with LSAT Concepts

One of the reasons why some people are struggling with endurance may simply be due to a lack of mastery with particular concepts. When you are first learning a new skill, your brain requires more energy than when you have mastered it. (Check out this interesting article by Scientific American for more details.) As a result, you may be spending a lot of brain power on questions you haven't mastered, which in turn may be causing endurance issues. This is why I always advocate mastering specific concepts before moving on.

As you take practice tests and sections, mark down questions that were challenging or took you a long time to complete. Then, try to determine what concept was giving you trouble--was it a particular concept, such as conditional reasoning? Did you have trouble understanding the structure or finding the gap in the argument? Did you struggle with finding an inference? Use this data and analysis to help you study more efficiently.

Tip #4: Meditate

There is an argument to be made that our attention spans are decreasing. From social media, advertisements, and daily responsibilities, there are so many things calling for our attention at once. In fact, studies suggest that our average attention span is shorter than that of goldfish!

For this reason, it has never been more important that we focus on well...being more focused. Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center claim that meditation can help us improve our memory and attention span. On top of that, it has been suggested that meditation can help with anxiety, depression, among many other things.

It may feel very unnatural at first, but many of my students report they feel more comfortable after practicing meditation consistently. This especially helps with the Reading Comprehension section, where most people struggle with staying focused.

I hope this plan helps!

Most LSAT experts agree that taking practice tests is an extremely important part of LSAT preparation. Not only do they give you a sense of the endurance and pacing aspects of the exam, but they can also help you better understand which concepts you need to focus on. However, like any tool, they can be used incorrectly. This is why so many people end up frustrated after taking many practice tests with nothing to show for it. In this blog post, we will discuss six common mistakes and how to prevent them.

Mistake #1: Using practice tests too much or not enough

Practice tests, while useful, can be very draining and require a lot of endurance. Taking too many practice tests without breaks in between can lead to burnout. Also, taking practice tests back-to-back prevents you from taking the time to review, which is where you will learn from your mistakes. The improvement comes between practice tests as you learn from your mistakes, not from the tests themselves.

On the other hand, some people never take practice tests either because they are waiting for things to be perfect or they are afraid to see the results. But if you never take a practice test, you are very likely to be thrown off by the real exam. Taking individual sections or drills will not be enough to emulate the endurance and time pressure of the test. Even if you don't feel ready, take a practice test just to get an accurate representation of where you are at. Ideally, you should aim to take at least 10 practice tests leading up to the day of the test.

Practice tests should be used as a tool to develop consistency and endurance, not as a direct tool for improvement. Start by taking tests as a tool to determine your current performance and drill the individual concepts or question types that give you the most trouble. Once you are scoring near your target, you can start ramping up the number of practice tests you take.

Mistake #2: Not Sticking to Actual Test Conditions

Students will often tell me they stopped in the middle of a section because they got discouraged or an unexpected situation came up. But this is precisely when you should be pushing through. There very well may be times where you will feel this way during the real exam, but you will not be able to stop and retake the test.

Additionally, people often perform way better than they felt, and certain sections may feel difficult while the remaining sections feel much easier. Just because you feel like you aren't doing well in a section does not mean you bombed the test. Practice pushing through even when things are not going in your favor.

It is also very important to stick closely to timed conditions. Fortunately, now that the test is online, the end of the section is automated. But avoid giving yourself an extra minute or two when taking practice tests. A little bit of extra time can significantly impact your overall score and give you a false sense of security. We want at least some practice tests to be an accurate representation of what score you can expect.

Mistake #3: Checking the Clock Too Often

Checking the clock can be tempting. After all, when you are in the middle of a section, you want to know how much time you have left. But as a result, you may end up wasting valuable time if you check the clock too frequently. The time it takes to check the clock, find where you left off and reset your thinking process becomes way too costly. As a result, people end up panicking halfway through the section.

This may sound crazy, but I recommend practicing without looking at the clock at all. After all, there is no way to regain the time you lost, and seeing how much time you have left can lead you to start rushing, which will only lead to careless mistakes on questions you may have gotten correct if you maintained your composure. Also, as you continue practicing this way you will develop an internal clock where you can almost sense how much time has passed.

But if you absolutely need to check your time, it's important to set very specific checkpoints to do so. This way, you avoid the temptation to sporadically check the clock. Here are my recommended checkpoints for each section:

Logical Reasoning--After a set of 10 questions

Reading Comprehension--After each passage and corresponding question set

Mistake #4: Burning Through the Most Recent Tests

The more recent tests are most similar to what you can expect on the day of the test. That doesn't mean the older tests are useless, but ideally you should save at least some of the most recent tests leading up to the test.

At the same time, people often claim more recent tests feel harder or different, so you don't want to get blindsided by these tests just a couple weeks before the real LSAT. For this reason, I recommend sprinkling in one recent test every few weeks. Then the final 3-4 weeks of your prep should be devoted solely to recent exams. Use the older tests for drilling specific concepts.

Mistake #5: Not Analyzing Your Results

The LSAT is largely a pattern recognition test. There are structures, inferences, and trap answers that show up time and time again. And if we are consistently making mistakes, it is likely there are patterns in our mistakes as well.

Rather than just trying to understand why each answer is right or wrong, it is beneficial to understand what types of questions or concepts you are consistently having issues with. This can bring to light skill sets that need improvement and will help you focus on your weaknesses, which in turn will help you improve faster and more efficiently.

Mistake #6: Rushing

People often rush, especially as they start to run out of time. They think they need to hurry up and complete the question so that they have enough time to complete the others.

But think about how many times you go back to a question and think to yourself 'If I just had a little more time, I would have gotten this question correct.' What ends up happening is you get nearly all of the remaining questions correct due to careless mistakes when you could have at least gotten an extra two questions correct if you had just spent a few extra seconds on them. When you are running out of time, you have to choose between the lesser of two evils--either you don't answer all of the questions and at least get some additional questions correct or you likely get all of them wrong. As counterintuitive as this may sound, the better approach is to be willing to sacrifice a few questions for the sake of accuracy. If you have questions remaining and only a minute to spare, blindly guess on the remaining questions. Then review them after the test and find ways to answer them more quickly for the next time.

Best of luck!

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