The tip is: don’t study badly.

A friend who tutored the LSAT for years used to tell her students that the worst thing they could do is study while doing something else: watching TV, listening to music, tuning out a conversation (that you’re not really tuning out, because how possible is that, really?). Her tough-love line was, if you aren’t going to study well, don’t at all. It’s worse to develop bad habits and associations around the test than it is just to study less.

I’ve come to see her point. When I talk to people who don’t understand why their scores aren’t going up, it often goes like this. They tell me that they study all the time! They use the strategies! They have read the guides cover to cover and highlighted! But then I hear, well, sure, I have Pandora on. I study during Project Runway–but I’ve seen them all before so it’s not even like it’s suspenseful! I just like having it on in the background?

You know what I say to this? Auf wiedersehen, 170+.

When you devote half your attention to a task, you’re saying that that task doesn’t demand your full brainpower. This may work when you’re talking to your mom on the phone and washing dishes, or reading Gawker and keeping an eye on the phone to see if that certain person texts, or cleaning your roommate’s toothpaste off the sink while plotting his “accidental” demise, but the LSAT isn’t a stubborn clump of Colgate or a story about your Uncle Clifford’s mystery mole. It’s an endurance test designed to challenge the best and brightest minds intellectually, emotionally (anxiety is probably the number one issue students want to discuss one-on-one) and physically. You don’t train for a marathon by stopping every two miles to update your Facebook status, and you can’t successfully study for the LSAT by half-heartedly committing to your preparation.

Easier said than done, I realize. Believe me–I spent twenty years doing exactly what I’m saying you shouldn’t. I wrote college papers to Michael Jackson denying he’s Billie Jean’s baby daddy and Bono’s stalking. Do you know when I stopped? When I was studying for the LSAT. I had already graduated from college when I learned that I wasn’t going to get by on half-braining it, because when I did, I missed twice as many questions as when I found a quiet space and focused. That remains true today.

So close the door to your bedroom–your dog will be fine–get a big, bright lamp and a little pair of bright orange ear plugs if you have to, and set a reasonable goal: I’ll do this for thirty-five minutes. One section. See what a difference it makes. And good luck.