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Study Plans · Lesson 1 of 6

The LASER Approach: structure all of your prep

After this lesson, you can structure your LSAT prep using the LASER approach, in the right order, and set a weekly study schedule you can actually sustain.

10 min video, plus notes and 1 practice question below

In this lesson

• Follow the 5 phases of the LASER approach in order, Learning, Accuracy, Sections, Exams and Endurance, Review, so you build a foundation before you ever sit for a timed exam
• Move from untimed learning to individual 35 minute timed sections only once you're comfortable with the question types, so pacing pressure doesn't undo the accuracy you already built
• Set an endurance target: at least 10 full length timed exams before test day, or 20 if you're aiming for a top score
• Use the Socratic Review Method to ask why you missed a question, whether the error lived in the stimulus, the question stem, or the answer choices, instead of just checking the answer key
• Budget realistic weekly study hours based on your actual schedule, and extend your timeline instead of cramming if you need more time

Learning: build familiarity before you time yourself

LASER stands for Learning, Accuracy, Sections, Exams and Endurance, and Review, and it's important to follow these 5 phases in this exact order. A common mistake is jumping straight to taking exam after exam, measuring results, feeling good or bad about them, and moving on to the next one, while skipping the phases that build the foundation those exams are supposed to test. That's like putting the cart before the horse.

In the learning phase, the goal is simple: build familiarity with the LSAT's sections and question types. At this stage it doesn't matter much which resource you use, since any gaps from a lower quality resource can usually be corrected later. What matters is that you come away clear on what logical reasoning and reading comprehension are actually asking you to do, question type by question type, before you try to perform under pressure.

Accuracy: drill by individual question type

Once you have a basic feel for the exam, move into the accuracy phase: drilling questions by type. Do a batch of necessary assumption questions in a row, then a batch of sufficient assumption questions, then a run of whatever reading comprehension passage type gives you the most trouble, science passages for example. Working 1 type at a time, untimed, builds the pattern recognition you'll need once everything gets mixed together on a real section.

Sections: move to timed pacing

By this stage you should have a good, if imperfect, handle on the different question types, something like 70% accuracy is a totally fine place to be. Now it's time to add the clock, timing individual sections at the real 35 minute limit. It's common to do great work untimed and then watch things fall apart under a timer. That's exactly why this phase exists on its own, before you stack sections together: you want to get comfortable with that time constraint in isolation first.

Exams and endurance: go full length, then build your week around it

A full length practice test runs under strict, test day style conditions: 2 sections back to back, a 10 minute break, then 2 more sections back to back, over 2 hours of sitting. It's normal to feel wiped out afterward. Building the endurance to handle that takes repetition, so aim for at least 10 full length timed exams before test day, and at least 20 if you're pushing for a top score. Doing 1 a week works if you're busy, 2 a week is better if you have the room in your schedule.

That endurance goal has to fit inside a real week. If you're working full time or in school, roughly 2 hours a day on weekdays is a workable target, split as an hour at lunch and an hour in the evening, or 2 hours in the evening if lunch isn't an option. On weekends, aim for about 4 hours a day, for example 1 block from 9am to 1pm or 1pm to 5pm, leaving the rest of the day free.

If you can only commit to 1 day of the weekend, that's fine, but plan on a longer overall timeline to compensate. The same goes if you're juggling family obligations or 2 jobs: stretching prep out to 5 or 6 months at a slower pace tends to produce better results than trying to force it into 3.

Review: the step most people skip

Review is the phase students shortchange the most. They look at the answer key, think 'oh, I get it now,' and move straight on to the next thing without actually learning from the miss. The Socratic Review Method fixes that by having you ask the right questions at every stage. Start with the stimulus: did the argument bury its conclusion in the middle, use tricky words like except, unless, until, or without that need translation, or require taking the contrapositive to link statements together.

Next, look at the question stem: was the wording just unfamiliar, or are you genuinely unclear on what that specific question subtype is asking, since necessary assumption and sufficient assumption questions, for instance, ask for very different things. Finally, look at the answer choices: what made the wrong one tempting, and what ultimately makes it wrong, then what made the right one unappealing, and what ultimately makes it correct.

Working through every difficult question this way, especially the ones where you were down to 2 choices or got lucky on a guess, takes real time. But it's the biggest lever you have. Going deeper on questions you've already done is worth more than knocking out another timed exam.

The short version

• Before your next full length exam, log whether each miss was a stimulus, question stem, or answer choice error, and write down the specific pattern to watch for next time.
• Pick your weekly exam pace now, 1 a week if you're busy, 2 if your schedule allows, but only if you also have time to review each one in depth before the next.
• Block your study hours on your calendar this week, roughly 2 hours on weekdays and 4 on weekends, and if that doesn't fit, extend your test date instead of cutting review time.

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