How Many LSAT Questions Should I Do Daily?
The other night at the Spivey-PowerScore Napa Meetup, I was talking with some students about LSAT prep. The question came up about how many full LSATs or LSAT sections to do daily. Was one test a day too much? One section a day just right? Or was there some other perfect number of questions to do daily that produced optimal results?
Everyone Is Different
The very first response to that question is to realize that each student is different. What is perfect for one would be terrible for another. So, you have to factor in individual circumstances in giving any advice about doing questions. But, equally importantly, the question itself is based on a faulty assumption.
Question Volume Isn’t The Goal
In a sense, doing questions for students is the odometer of LSAT prep. Like miles driven, it helps them track the volume of their preparation. And that is useful! But for many students, doing questions becomes a goal by itself, and they simply want to do as many as possible in order to make that number go higher and higher. The problem is, just doing questions for the sake of doing questions is not good preparation.
The Better Odometer
Instead, the better measure is how many questions can you complete AND review thoroughly. Quality review is the key to any successful prep and if you do questions without proper review, you are wasting time. I’d rather have a student do just 10 questions and review each thoroughly than do 30 questions and not review them comprehensively.
Why Is Review So Important?
The review aspect is so important because the LSAT is a test of processes and principles, not facts. You have to be able to recognize patterns at work, and see the principles as they play inside a wide variety of topics. And to see that well requires studying each question until the mechanics are clear. The more questions you then review, the easier it becomes to see how the test makers use similar ideas across a variety of questions, and how they tweak each concept in order to hide the idea.
Make Sure You Measure Your Prep Correctly
So, don’t worry quite as much about how many questions you do, and think a lot more about how many questions you know extremely well. It’s far better to cover fewer questions very well than to cover many in superficial fashion.
Thanks and if you have any questions, please post them below. Happy studying!
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