how much is too much studying?
I’ve been dwelling on a curious thought for the past few days: When can I stop studying and *know* that I am ready? At what point can I put down my pencil, smile, and feel like I’m done (with zero guilt)?
You’re rolling your eyes at the screen. But these are genuine questions that I find myself asking whenever I am preparing for a big project or test. I confess, I even googled this. But I didn’t see anything useful.
At this point, you might be thinking:
WTH, there’s no such thing as too much studying! LR, don’t waste interweb space with this nonsensical garbage!
Just hear me out…
This feeling of security has happened to me before, although on rare occasions. Even though I was a high school overachiever and went to a prestigious university, I procrastinated A LOT. Why? I guess I just lost the will to carry out my plans. As expected, I got burned a few times. However, I do recall that warm feeling of awesomeness when I did manage to execute my plans.
And I feel as though the LSAT is no different (aside from the crushing sense of doom). So this got me thinking, if I was to hypothetically write my own success story (aka “The Secret to my LSAT Success”) what would it say? Another way of putting it would be, if you or I came across a LSAT Cinderella, what would make that story remarkable?
- Once upon a time, I was born and naturally gifted. I scored a 170 on a cold diagnostics test and ended up with a 180. Or…
- I scored a 152 on my cold diagnostic. Took the LSAT and failed it twice. For the third time, I devoted 4 months to the LSAT and made a detailed plan. I did many full-length PTs, did every single PT question at least twice, and was scoring 175+ on the last 10 PTs leading up to the real test. I scored a 180 and couldn’t believe my eyes.
Clearly, the second one had a plan and stuck with it. My point, which I hope to prove come October 2011, is that there is a *maximum* when it comes to studying and that sense of security comes naturally when you’ve “worked your heart out” (You gotta admire Vince Lombardi’s words, even if you hate football).
Self, be strong. You don’t need to stress about whether you’ll be ready when the time comes, as long as you did everything you possibly could.
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Hi, Legal Rabbit! Thank you for stopping by my blog. I’ve enjoyed reading yours.
If it’s worth it to you, then no, there is no such thing as too much preparation.
Ah… I remember doing what you are doing now just one short year ago. Like you, I threw my whole self into it; well, as much as I could anyway. I had a million things going on as usual, and put the LSAT off to the last second (meaning I took it in December and sent my apps out over Christmas break — I know “they” tell you explicitly not to do that but I did and survived). It took me locking myself into a quiet little room for 4-6 hours a day, but I ended up exactly where I needed to be.
Don’t become complacent (and by reading your blog, I don’t think you will), but you are ahead of almost everyone else who will be in that room in October. Well done! If you maintain this stride, you will do well.
Also, the safe haven of internet anonymity is fine, but in real life, don’t tell anyone your LSAT score, and absolutely do not denounce certain scores as “bad.” Especially given how absurdly competitive many pre-law students can be, all sharing this golden nugget of information can do is one of two things (make them resentful or make them feel inadequate), and neither are desirable. Keep it your little secret
I’d say this still applies once you are into law school. Rankings generally only publish the 25th-75th percentiles, so always remember that you could very well be speaking to someone who fell below that 25th percentile, but got in some other way.
Best of luck, and I look forward to reading your triumph post in a few short months!
Cheers,
E
Thanks E for the thoughtful response and the warm encouragement. It’s always encouraging to hear from others who have experienced and survived the LSAT.
Ideally, no one will feel depressed or resentful of my progress. I don’t intend for this blog to be hurtful in any way, but thanks to your insight, I can see how my words may be misconstrued. I use this blog as a study log and I hope that others can relate to it because it’s really honest (and slightly amusing, or so I’d like to think). At the end of the day, I can’t control how others read and interpret my blog. Hopefully, people will see and accept the “good”, and throw away the “bad”.
It’s definitely possible to over study. It happened to me and it freaked me out because my scores started to go down a lot. After that I studied less and my scores actually improved. The weekend before the LSAT I did nothing LSAT related and went to concert. I wore my concert t-shirt to the LSAT (to remember the good times) and rocked it. I think that doing well on the LSAT has a lot to do with a positive state-of-mind (this is coming from someone who scored below average on the diagnostic and improved by over 20 points on the actual exam…) You can do it!
Lawlessblawger, thanks for commiserating with me and the motivational words.
/notes to self: stay positive!