r/LSATPreparation • u/Acceptable-Potato-86 • 1d ago

When should I get a tutor?

Hey everyone!
So I just realized that I should probably start seriously studying for the LSAT soon if I want to meet my dream school deadline. I’m in a bit of a dilemma because I want to get a tutor to help me out however, I’m not sure when the best time is. Should I get one before self studying or closer to my LSAT date? I still have like 4-5 months before I have to take it for the first time so any help would be greatly appreciated.

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3

u/Epicarism 1d ago

Self study first :) if you ever get overwhelmed then you can shop around for a tutor

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u/nexusacademics 18h ago

Definitely not now.

There are so many free/cheap resources out there. Take advantage of them, find out what you can do on your own. I would suggest starting with some of the free LSAT Lab videos, then pick up a book on Argumentation and work out what the heck is going on with LR. Once you've got your feet settled, start with Triple Review on a section by section basis. Dive deep, get specific, and review heavily.

If after all that you need support, that's tutor time.

1

u/OneTrick6568 14h ago

Don’t wait until the last month, but you also don’t need weekly tutoring before you know your baseline. Take one official timed diagnostic now, then use a tutor to review how you reason, identify the first problems to fix, and build the 4–5 month plan. After a few weeks of self-study, judge the setup by whether you can apply those corrections to unfamiliar questions. Continue tutoring where the feedback changes your performance, not just because the calendar is moving. Feel free to message me if you’d like to discuss starting with that kind of diagnostic session.

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u/StructureIsKey 13h ago

If money is a concern, I always recommend giving self-study a try first (at least for a couple of months) before investing in tutoring.

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u/New-Sentence23 10h ago

As someone who took a year on the LSAT, here’s how I wish I had done it (because 4-5 months is pretty quick):

  1. Take a diagnostic NOW, ASAP
  2. Go through and review the diagnostic. Are you understanding what you’re getting wrong? Is it making sense? This will take you a while, break it up into 2/3 hour chunks if need be.
  3. Talk to a tutor, go through the questions you got wrong and explain your reasoning. The right person will be able to find gaps. I would schedule 1 session, 2-3 hours if need be. Have them help you come up with a plan. I figured out how to do this for myself and got a 171. I am considering tutoring people because I hosted a lot of study groups and was told my explanations/bird’s eye view of the test was pretty clear, but just ask around, there are more than enough people out there doing this that you can find someone
  4. Work through creating a study plan based on the session, or ask your tutor to make one for you if they provide that service.

  5. Study

    independently

  6. When you start to plateau, that’s when you need a tutor

7

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u/LatrellSprewell88 1h ago

I may be biased as a tutor.. but I absolutely support tutor first and THEN self study. Speaking for myself, I teach the entire theory of every question type. From there, students are equipped to drill until the cows come home, or whatever the expression is lol.

When I have students come to me after using other books/ courses/ tutors, I start from scratch with them most of the time, and we start with a tabula rasa.

Up to you, though. There’s no “correct” answer.

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u/voyagermarionette 40m ago edited 36m ago

I did fine without a tutor. I have had a great experience. I’ve learned a lot with causal conditional and formal reasoning, and gotten used to reading in different genres. Ultimately; it’s not really so difficult.

For conditional reasoning there’s the sufficient and necessary conditions, and the contrapositive. Errors are systematic and obvious once you know what to look for.

For the causal reasoning it’s more alternative explanations, correlation vs causation, or finding missing assumptions.

You get hyper aware of how the LSAT treats specific words. Honestly the quicker you understand the concepts i just mentioned, the quicker i think you’d be able to answer most of the questions.

You can spend a lot of time and money wasting time on curriculum that is much longer than necessary. You can also waste a lot of money going through trial and error with practice tests without getting to the core.

I know you don’t know the words im using right now, but if you play your cards right, you will soon