The Scene
Yesterday, I had a Stats exam at 9, classes until the afternoon, homework, prepping for Mock Trial, practicing for my voice lesson, and finally work from 8:00 pm until just before midnight. Somewhere in there, I needed to eat, plan some content, and overall just feel like I am advancing in other areas of my life.
Then I thought: I really need to start prepping for the LSAT. When am I planning on doing that? Am I going to fall behind?
To be honest, I have no idea. Not because I haven’t thought about starting, on the contrary, I think about it constantly. I do research on what it takes, I know the timeline to get a 175+, but then I take a look at my real week, and not the ideal version where I can multitask to complete everything and still have time to watch my favorite TV show, but the actual day-to-day. At this point, I just feel as if I can’t find time.
And I feel like this is something people don’t talk about: the advice you receive is always built for a version of your life that doesn’t exist yet.
Here’s What I’d Tell You
The biggest mistake I find is treating LSAT prep like a season. Something you start when the semester chills out, when work slows down, when there is no excuse not to study. Life never gives you room. You have to take the LSAT in windows of time before you start waiting for all the free time in the world— that simply won’t happen.
Here’s how this looks in practice: start with what fits, then expand from there.
Protect 30 minutes before trying to protect 2 hours of your time.
The goal is to eventually have these long, focused study blocks, but if you wait until you can carve out that time, you will lose precious time you could be using to get closer to your goals.
Track what you do, not what you planned.
There is a gap between the schedule you write and the life you actually live, and most people feel guilty about that gap and just give up. Instead, log what you actually completed, then you can be honest with yourself and improve based on fact.
Separate learning from testing
Early prep is concept work, simply building the skill. If you open a practice test before you have spent time understanding the LSAT, you are already building anxiety about the LSAT. Dedicate two phases to learning and testing to avoid feeling overwhelmed and stay motivated.
Before You Go
If you’re preparing for the LSAT or, like me, are struggling with this battle, you don’t need to have it figured out yet. You need a plan that fits your life and not someone else's.
I’ve been building something exactly for that, a study planner designed around the reality of busy lives and full-time school on top of law school prep. It’s coming soon, and if you are on this newsletter, you will be the first to hear about it.
See you next week.
Thanks for being here for issue five. If you're a pre-law student and any of this resonated, or you're in a totally different place in your journey, I'd love to hear from you.