Self-study
Hi, I have been studying the LSAT for quite a few months now, and I have built my score from a low 145 to a nice score of 164 at my best, and an average of 161. Especially my past few PTs have generally been around the low 160 area. My problem is when I test sections, I typically have strong scores like -4 being my worst in LR recently and having common -4, -3, and -2. Yet on full PTs, no matter the beginning or ending of the exam, I do fairly worse. I'm talking closer to -4, -5, -6. I'm not exactly sure why this is, but I have some guesses, like the scary feeling of taking a full test compared to a section, but honestly, I am not too sure. This is also corroborated by the fact that, unlike sections where this practically never happens, sometimes on recent PTs I completely bomb sections. I'd love to hear any advice or thoughts on how to approach this, because my room for improvement feels less on the fundamentals and understanding of questions and more on the psychological / consistency side. Thanks for any comments in advance!
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3 comments
Hello! Doing a full PT definitely feels different from doing individual sections; there is a lot more pressure and cognitive fatigue involved. Because the actual exam will be exactly like a full PT, it is crucial to physically and mentally train your endurance for that format.
I agree with @AltanM about starting by trying 2 sections in one sitting to gradually build your stamina. Once you feel more comfortable doing two sections in a row, try doing two sets of them with a 10-minute break in between (simulating a full PT).
To share a bit of my own experience: before I actively practiced taking 2.5-hour exams in one sitting, my brain completely went on strike by the time I reached the fourth section of my first real LSAT attempt. It was only after a prolonged period of regularly simulating the actual exam conditions that I stopped feeling fatigued at the end.
Even though diving into a full PT can definitely feel stressful, try to reframe it in your mind: you are doing the exact physical and mental conditioning required to crush the real exam!
I hope this helps, and best of luck!
Repetitions and building stamina are super important! Maybe instead of taking full PTs you can work your way up by doing more sections (2-3) until you’re hitting your targets there. Giving yourself time in between sections and making sure to take the 5 and 10 minutes to refresh helps a ton too! I would try to get up and walk around during the 10 minutes so it feels more like two two-section sets instead of four!
hey there! congratulations on your evolution! i would advise you to review your preptests thoroughly. even when you're able to get incredible scores in LR and RC, the mistakes you make during preptests are usually different, especially because of the psychological factors you mentioned. because of that, i think that if you analyze your mistakes and try to understand what your thought process was during the PTs, you'll see improvement!