The countdown begins – as of today, the June LSAT is exactly one month away. Now, one month is still plenty of time to see significant improvement, but you’ll want to make sure you’re using your remaining time as effectively as possible. Here are some tips for accomplishing that:

Studying during the last month before the LSAT

In terms of studying, you should be getting to the end of starting to learn new stuff, and slowly shifting gears to be focused more on reviewing things you’ve already learned. Your review should take two formats: 1) timed practice (such as doing a full section, or two passages back-to-back, or however else you want to handle it), and 2) untimed practice on things that you need to brush up on.

Of course, you should also be doing some practice tests during this next month. Make sure that you’re being strict with your timing, and don’t try to pack too many practice tests in – they’re useful for assessing progress, building mental stamina, and working on your timing, but the untimed practice mentioned above is where you’ll really hone your skills. Also, because taking practice tests is mentally taxing, it’s important to space them out – you could conceivably get to a place of diminishing returns if you try to do too many on consecutive days.

Logistics to consider

It’s also time to start thinking about logistics. You may even want to experiment with morning-of breakfasts (which is definitely the best LSAT homework we have ever recommended on this blog). The ideal breakfast is something that will keep you full for the duration of the test, but won’t be so heavy that it puts you into a food coma.

On a more serious note, since the June LSAT is on a Monday, if you haven’t already secured that day off from work or school, now is the time to do so! Some people also have the opportunity to take extra time off during the week before the LSAT to focus on studying (which, while helpful, is certainly not necessary for success – nor is it sufficient. Ah, LSAT jokes!).

Important deadlines

Lastly, there are a couple dates you need to be aware of. May 25th is the deadline to upload a photo of yourself onto the LSAC website. LSAC is pretty strict about its requirements for the photo (the basic summary is that it should be like a passport photo), so make sure to check those out in advance of the deadline. And May 15th is the deadline to change your testing center, your test date, or get a partial refund. Changing your test center or taste date will put you out an extra $125, which almost the cost of registering for the test. The partial refund is for only $50. If you’re absolutely positive that you’re not scoring near where you want, then you may want to postpone your LSAT date. However, schools really only care about your highest LSAT score, so if you’re scoring even close to your goal range, it probably makes sense to go ahead and take the June test anyway; you may surprise yourself, and if you do end up taking the test again later, you’ll have the benefit of knowing firsthand what test day is like.