Full-time work and studying

[Ubiquitous law]

Has anyone here had a full-time job (9-5) and managed to put in studying time for the LSAT during the week? And if so, how many hours did you put in a week for studying? Also, when is a good time to study, early in the morning, or after work?

Is it even a good idea to work full-time and study for the LSAT if the job pays well?

I have a chance to take a well-paying job at 40K a year right now, or I can stick to my tutoring for 20 an hour which pays me way less a month. I'm debating to take the well-paying job and just quit if I can't do my studying the way I want. My other alternative is to get paid way less tutoring (and have significant hours studying and doing other things which may be useless) and only have money for gas/bills. Can anyone give me some positive feedback on my situation?

Thanks,
Che

[ishi]

Has anyone here had a full-time job (9-5) and managed to put in studying time for the LSAT during the week? And if so, how many hours did you put in a week for studying? Also, when is a good time to study, early in the morning, or after work?

Is it even a good idea to work full-time and study for the LSAT if the job pays well?

I have a chance to take a well-paying job at 40K a year right now, or I can stick to my tutoring for 20 an hour which pays me way less a month. I'm debating to take the well-paying job and just quit if I can't do my studying the way I want. My other alternative is to get paid way less tutoring (and have significant hours studying and doing other things which may be useless) and only have money for gas/bills. Can anyone give me some positive feedback on my situation?

Thanks,
Che

I worked full-time last year while prepping for the LSAT.  Improved my score by about ten points in less than a month, and I know I could have done more.  I decided on law school at the last minute, so didn't really know what I was getting into.  If you're working 40 hours a week, you could definitely put in 20+ hours a week studying, if you're committed to it.

[ptown]

All non-trads do it...man up

[Joel McHale]

Has anyone here had a full-time job (9-5) and managed to put in studying time for the LSAT during the week? And if so, how many hours did you put in a week for studying? Also, when is a good time to study, early in the morning, or after work?

Is it even a good idea to work full-time and study for the LSAT if the job pays well?

I have a chance to take a well-paying job at 40K a year right now, or I can stick to my tutoring for 20 an hour which pays me way less a month. I'm debating to take the well-paying job and just quit if I can't do my studying the way I want. My other alternative is to get paid way less tutoring (and have significant hours studying and doing other things which may be useless) and only have money for gas/bills. Can anyone give me some positive feedback on my situation?

Thanks,
Che

I worked full-time (8-5), went to school a few nights a week, and studied for the February test. You can do it if you have a schedule and stick to it. I did most of my weekday LSAT studying at night, but then I would switch to studying in the morning on Saturday. Even if you can't get a lot of studying in on some days it's helpful to just do a few problems here and there. The key is familiarity.

[OCLawGirl]

I work full-time and I'm a single mom.  My job requires some travel and I can't exactly say..."No, I need to take some PrepTests".  My job also requires overtime.  So imagine my schedule. 

MON - FRI
5am - 6am: STUDY
6am - 7:30am:  Get myself and my son ready
7:30 - 8:00am: Drop my son off at daycare and get to work
8:00 - 5:30 pm: Meetings, business plans, creating contracts - marketing stuff.  STUDY during lunch
5:30 - 6:00 pm: Pick up son; head home
6:00 - 9:00 pm: Dinner, STUDY - try to concentrate while listening to my son playing, screaming, crying, singing, tugging at me, musical toys...
9:00 pm:Put my son in the crib. I shut the door but can still hear him resisting and screaming cause he's not ready to fall asleep.  Me...STUDY - trying to ignore him and concentrate.
9:30/10pm:  SILENCE!  Finally, can concentrate.  But...do I have a meeting or presentation I need to prepare for for tomorrow?  Did I sign and submit that contract!  WHATEVER!  I don't care.  Back to STUDY.
11pm:  Urrrgh...My eyes are getting heavy...but-must-study!!! Nodding off - urrgh! Still studying.
1am: To bed. (4 hours of sleep)

WEEKENDS:
Wake up early and STUDY before the little rascal wakes up.  Go to church and pray for Suckit, Benefactor, LSATie and Judge Smails et al. 
Hire babysitter (if I have enough $$$ to spare) for aprox 6 hours undisturbed while I study (Tutor).

[LizPendens™]

WEEKENDS:
Go to church and pray for Suckit, Benefactor, LSATie and Judge Smails et al. 

i love you,  abbey.

[Saturn]

I am working full time now and studying for June (uh, and maybe Sept, too...) and I just started studying 4 weeks ago. I can say that I think you can do it, and as a matter of fact, I'm glad to have the balance.  I think my progress is reasonable, but what is happening is that my free time to hang out with friends is really getting cut in to.

I tip my hat to Abbey, though, I don't also have a kid
I do have a 50 minute commute each way, though.So, like her, I end up getting up early to work on LSAT stuff each morning. 

Good luck and have fun.

[nickolai]

I worked and studied for the Feb. test.  I work for a non profit (read: insignificant money) and managed to get in a good amount of studying.  I tried to maintain some balance though so I didn't study every day.  It did help to study with someone in a similar situation.  My schedule was:
6 am - Wake up
6:30 AM to 8:30 AM - Study
9 AM to 5 PM - WORK!!!!
5 PM to 6 PM - Veg out/Eat
6 PM - 9 PM - Study

As you can see, I would get in at least 5 hours of studying every time and the schedule wasn't too arduous.  Then on the weekends I'd spend anywhere from 6 - 7 hrs of studying (which included at least one practice test)

It's very do-able. But, it takes a lot of commitment and self discipline.  The best thing you can do for yourself is to set out a schedule and schedule in days where you do non-LSAT things like read a book, go to the gym, or spend time with friends. In my opinion, balance is  very important to conquering the LSAT. Being burned out is very detrimental to your morale. Best of luck!

[Hizzla Pimp]

I work full-time and I'm a single mom.  My job requires some travel and I can't exactly say..."No, I need to take some PrepTests".  My job also requires overtime.  So imagine my schedule. 

MON - FRI
5am - 6am: STUDY
6am - 7:30am:  Get myself and my son ready
7:30 - 8:00am: Drop my son off at daycare and get to work
8:00 - 5:30 pm: Meetings, business plans, creating contracts - marketing stuff.  STUDY during lunch
5:30 - 6:00 pm: Pick up son; head home
6:00 - 9:00 pm: Dinner, STUDY - try to concentrate while listening to my son playing, screaming, crying, singing, tugging at me, musical toys...
9:00 pm:Put my son in the crib. I shut the door but can still hear him resisting and screaming cause he's not ready to fall asleep.  Me...STUDY - trying to ignore him and concentrate.
9:30/10pm:  SILENCE!  Finally, can concentrate.  But...do I have a meeting or presentation I need to prepare for for tomorrow?  Did I sign and submit that contract!  WHATEVER!  I don't care.  Back to STUDY.
11pm:  Urrrgh...My eyes are getting heavy...but-must-study!!! Nodding off - urrgh! Still studying.
1am: To bed. (4 hours of sleep)

WEEKENDS:
Wake up early and STUDY before the little rascal wakes up.  Go to church and pray for Suckit, Benefactor, LSATie and Judge Smails et al. 
Hire babysitter (if I have enough $$$ to spare) for aprox 6 hours undisturbed while I study (Tutor).

Abbey, that was the motivation I was looking for. 

[Meravigliare]

I was working full time when I took the June LSAT, started studying beginning of May right when school ended (18 credits + job didn't leave a lot of time to start before then).  Anyways, I found it really difficult to study while working so much, I tried studying after work but usually I was tired and couldn't focus and I ended up retaking in February.  It was much easier to study while in school ~20 hrs a week than while working full time and I ended up doing 9 points better.  I guess my opinion is that if you can afford it (like don't have kids to support or anything), take as much time as you can studying for the LSAT, kick its a$$ and go to a great school.  If you know you want to go to law school, your job now probably won't matter much in the long run, so spend as much time as you can getting into the best school you can.  Just my experience tho!