Goals and Experimentation

Students have long used substances to help them study harder, faster, and stronger. Traditionally, the drug of choice has been caffeine. However, it's now clear that caffeine is a mere protein shake compared to academic steroids like Adderall and Ritalin. How does the ready availability of such drugs on the campus affect the learning process? I will answer this question three different ways:

1. Through analysis of relevant on-campus media coverage. Media written by and for students will be analyzed to determine how these drugs have affected campus culture.
   
2. Through interviews with stakeholders of the educational process. This will include interviews with educators and administrators to explore how these drugs have affected the educational process.
   
3. Through experimentation. My goal is to go to a top-ten law school without putting myself in massive debt. My academic and professional resume are adequate, but I will not succeed without a near-perfect score on my LSAT. I will experiment to see how my score on the LSAT changes over time and in response to Adderall.

The experimental protocol: I will take the official LSAT on Saturday, February 10, 2007. Every week, beginning Saturday, October 21, I will take a practice LSAT exam and report my scores and experiences. I will use Adderall to assist my studying and test-taking on alternating weeks beginning Saturday, October 14. On that day, I will flip a coin -- heads, and the first week is an on-week, tails, and the first week is an off-week.

I am in the process of refining my protocol. If you have any suggestions, please leave them as a comment. I'm specifically looking for recommendations for the following:

1. LSAT study books and/or other study materials. Which books work and which ones don't?
   
2. Specific study methods. How many days per week? How many hours per day? How should I structure my study time?
3. Are LSAT courses really worth it? If so, which ones are recommended.

While you guys help me with that, I'll be writing interview questions and making a list of interesting people to interview. With luck, the first interview will be ready next week.