Hello all! I am hitting a block and it can be hard not to panic. I am taking the LSAT in August and have a goal score of 170. The best PT I have done was a 160 and then on my blind reviews I am usually hitting a 167. I have done two PTs two days in a row and am getting terrible scores. I find myself getting frustrated and tired when reading RC and some of the LR.
I think it is important to mention that this last week my studying has not been so consistent because of some time off, but there is no way that all my progress has been lost in just one week of not studying? I feel like I am doing a completely new test because the RC feels much harder. I plan to take the LSAT one more time regardless of my score. I am not sure if I should schedule for October or November.
Any suggestions?
4 comments
Take a (proverbial) deep breath— panicking over the LSAT is never worth it :) It sounds like you know a lot of the underlying logic, but you’re burning yourself out by taking two pts back to back. The solution to fatigue is not tiring yourself out more!
I can’t promise you’ll jump to a 170 in August after your best PT was a 160, but being relaxed and well rested will help a lot with the fatigue you’re describing. The best tip I have for RC is to pretend you’re reading a very interesting or very useful article for your real life. When I read passages, I would myself I had to read very closely in case one of the facts mentioned came up in pub trivia (lol).
Have you taken any RC courses/read any books on the subject? Do you review your wrong answers closely? Those can can also help if you find RC less intuitive than LR.
@IanA Hello! I feel like I am not actively looking over my wrong answers because I get so frustrated at getting them wrong, I focus on the wrong things. RC, at least I thought, was my strong suit. But I just did a LR section and did as bad as I did when I first started studying for the LSAT :(
@asanchez I totally get it! I would get so upset that I got something wrong, especially if it seems obvious. Remember that the test is trying to trick you. If you want it not to trick you, you have to learn what tricks it's playing. One of the best ways to do that is reviewing what you got wrong! Getting something wrong does not say anything bad about you.
Also, sometimes you have bad days. A few weeks ago, I had a PT that scored the lowest I've gotten since my diagnostic. Since then, I've had two of the highest PTs I've gotten. You can't let a bad day bring you down!
At the end of the day, you never know what's gonna happen when you actually take the test. Just stay in the moment: the only thing that matters right now is the question in front of you. If you got it wrong, the only thing that matters is figuring out why. Leave that frustration outside the proverbial room. You can find an outlet for your frustration too --- I started running because of the LSAT lol. I also do a little bit of ranting in my Wrong Answer Journal if I'm particularly frustrated with a question.
@IanA ugh thank you. you have been very kind! right now i have been taking on rowing to relieve stress.