Liftoff.

If you’re a student in Blueprint’s fall LSAT classes, your head is probably reeling at this point. Premises! Conclusions! Ordering rules! Contrapositives! There’s a lot to take in during the early weeks of your class.

There’s very little memorizing involved in preparing for the LSAT – but there are a few things in the first several lessons that you should memorize. For instance, the words that indicate sufficiency and necessity are going to crop up over and over again in your LSAT studies, and being able to correctly identify sufficient and necessary conditions is paramount for a wide range of LSAT questions. It’s therefore well worth your time to memorize those words, so go ahead and break out those flashcards.

You’ve also probably noticed how much homework comes with the class. I don’t know about you, but in high school (and beyond) my main objective was to get through my homework assignments as quickly as possible so I could return to the important work of, I don’t know, watching Family Guy reruns and stalking my crush’s AIM away message. However, at this stage in your life, that’s a bad idea. (The part about rushing through your homework to get it done ASAP – stalking your crush’s away message is always a good idea.)

You’re not going to get much out of your LSAT homework unless you really understand the material backwards and forwards, so instead of trying to do things as quickly as possible, consciously make an effort to slow down and fully think things through. Similarly, you might feel an impulse to “test yourself” on the material by doing the homework without looking back at the lesson, but it’s actually a better idea to refer back to the lesson as much as necessary. We want you to be soaking in the material in each lesson as much as you can, so don’t feel bad about flipping back through your textbook as much as needed.

Lastly, make sure you’re taking advantage of having an instructor as a resource for all of your questions. There are a ton of resources on Blueprint’s website to help with any confusion you may encounter while doing homework, but if you’re still a little flummoxed after checking out the video explanations, your instructor would be thrilled to talk you through it.

These early lessons form an important foundation for the material that comes later in the course, so it’s well worth your time to make sure you’re taking away the important information and learning the material correctly. Studying for the LSAT is a marathon, not a sprint, but – to take this metaphor to its cheesy, groan-inducing conclusion – your first steps set the tone for the rest. Good luck!