College Sophomore Studying for LSAT

[KarmaGo]

Hello everyone! I've lurked on this forum for a while but I figured I would learn a lot more by creating an account and establishing a small presence here. Allow me to introduce myself...

I'm currently attending a junior college in California and plan to attend a UC school (probably Berkeley or LA) this coming fall for my junior year. I am majoring in political science and am on a set path to attend law school after graduation and enter the JAG Corps. That's the plan at least. This spring before I transfer will be really lenient for me in terms of schoolwork and all so I decided to start studying for the LSAT. I purchased "Cracking the LSAT 2012" by the Princeton Review and I'm doing my best to learn all this material. From my previous lurking on the forum, I seen varying opinions on methods of studying whether alone or through prep courses, and also when exactly to study. So I hope to gain some insight from some of you as to how to proceed in my case.

I am in the process of ordering around 30 practice tests that should last me for a while and go over it alone. My first question is, is this an appropriate time to study? Most of the people on here seem to start studying over the course of a few months before the actual test. That would make sense because the material would be fresh in your head. But I plan to spread the material out and take my time to let all the material seep through completely before I take it. Would that be prudent? I'd like some advice regarding that please.

Another question I have is how many of you studied via prep courses or study groups or tutors? For now, I plan to study alone but I can definitely see the benefit of having external assistance despite the financial cost of prep courses. While I'm at it, any LSAT study groups in the South Bay?

Thank you for your input everyone!

[Jeffort]

If you are going to self-study rather than take a prep class, get rid of the Princeton Review Cracking the LSAT book.  It is not good.  There are several other LSAT prep books available that are excellent for self-study.  The Powerscore books (the LSAT Bibles) are excellent.  The Manhattan LSAT books are also good.  The many others available from various publishers/companies, especially the ones you can find off-the-shelf at bookstores are terrible, including the Kaplan self-study LSAT books. 

A must-have book for self study is the LSAT SuperPrep book.  It is written and published by LSAC.  It contains good overviews of the three section types (though not nearly as comprehensive as the above mentioned books), three tests and detailed explanations for every question in each of the included tests.  Everything in it was written by LSAC people that write the LSAT test questions.   

If you take a full length prep course from a quality/reputable LSAT prep company you should be provided with pretty much all available previously administered LSAT questions plus other stuff in addition to live instruction and therefore would not need to purchase copies of the available official/authentic LSAT PrepTests.  If you decide to take a live full-length prep class, do some research ahead of time to see what is available in your area.  There are some excellent prep companies that offer classes but also some really crappy ones. 

[KarmaGo]

Thank you for your reply Jeffort. Yeah I've sort of noticed that the Princeton book isn't as comprehensive as I'd like. I'll definitely order the Powerscore books and the LSAT Superprep books.

I probably will take a LSAT prep course sometime next spring. There's one in my area called Blueprint LSAT Prep. Do you know of them? For now since I'm on my own, how many hours a week do you recommend studying for the LSAT?
 

[ahinz90]

I agree with Jeffort. The Princeton book definitely is not good. I studied independently and started about 2 months before the test. I used the Powerscore Bibles and LSAC's 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests series (as well as The Next 10). As for how early to study, if you do a class, I would wait until closer to the test, but if you're independent, I can't say. Everyone studies differently independently. I would probably wait until closer to the test, but it's ultimately up to you.

[KarmaGo]

Thank you for your reply ahinz90. I agree with you about the Princeton book. I've already ordered the books that you listed. I'm just going to go over the LSAT materials just to get a feel of it and get used to it. I'll go over into overdrive mode next year.