Avoiding Burnout
Quick Tip
Wrong Answer Journal
Many people find studying for Logic Games to be the most intuitive—just do sections, and do them over and over again. However, people struggle to find a natural equivalent for the other sections: Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. For those, doing the questions over and over again seems less helpful.
The solution? A Wrong Answer Journal. Whenever you miss a question, write a detailed summary of why you missed the question and what went wrong, coupled with a deep analysis of every answer choice. Include a screenshot of the question as well so that you can come back to it later. Then, when you have downtime, flip back through the screenshots and redo the questions to see if you can replicate the correct reasoning (or if you fall into your old traps).
Discussion
Avoiding Burnout
The LSAT is a lethal combination: most people don’t enjoy studying for it, and it’s terribly important. What happens when you combine a stressful, unpleasant activity with high stakes? You get anxiety and burnout.
It’s important that you avoid this happening. The LSAT is a marathon, and not a sprint, so making sure you’re willing to pursue it for the long haul is vital to success. Below are some tips for combating the likeliest drivers of burnout.
Space out your studying. Doing a manageable amount of studying every day is preferred to cramming it all into particular days. Not only is this worse for retention, but it also increases the likelihood of you viewing LSAT studying as a slog. One hour each day is far better than a seven-hour day that you dread happening.
Know when to take breaks. If there’s a day that you really, really don’t feel well or don’t want to study, don’t force yourself to. You should develop enough of a rhythm with yourself, your body, and your study routine so that you know when you’re telling yourself that enough is enough and that a break is justified.
Try to cover different material on every day of studying. This helps to reduce the monotony of studying and make it feel more varied. For example, you may wish to do a Logical Reasoning Fundamentals Day, a Logic Games Foolproofing Day, and a PrepTest Day consecutively instead of trying to cover all three days’ worth of material in one.
Find parts of the LSAT you can enjoy! This is admittedly the hardest part, but studying goes by much, much faster if you can find pockets of the test that you enjoy. For me, that was always Logic Games—I viewed them like the types of puzzles I would do when I was a little kid, so I found those to be less unpleasant. As a result, when I found myself feeling the most burned out, I would gravitate towards doing Logic Games as my “break.”
Nobody ever said the LSAT is easy, so it’s important to develop strategies for sticking it out in the long haul. Finding ways to avoid burnout is essential to success if you’re going to study for the test over an extended period of time and avoid treating it like a sprint.