I have been sleeping really poorly the last week or so due to a combination of social obligations, working full time, and fitting in 3-4 hours a day of LSAT study. Last night while exhausted I performed very poorly on an LR section relative to my expectations.
It felt extremely demotivating. I was super short on time and really struggled to interpret anything I was reading. Instead of doing a blind review right then, I decided to just go to sleep. I knew I'd end up even more sleep deprived while obsessing over every wrong answer.
I got a ton of MUCH needed sleep and did my BR this morning. Soon after I did another LR section. It felt incredibly easy by comparison. I know the sample size is small, but I've noticed a major correlation between my scores and how well rested I am. It makes sense to me that something as difficult as the LSAT would prey on a tired mind. If you take 10 extra seconds on every question (which as a percentage of the recommended time per question is really not that crazy) you will end up in a major time deficit.
All of that to say, I'm feeling a lot better. Time to improve on the concepts I didn't understand in the BR! Good luck everyone.
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The first time I took the LSAT, it hit immediately after a 3 week civil trial I was managing (that we didnt anticipate actually moving forward). It was basically getting off of a plane, showering, and off to the test center after three consecutive 100 hour weeks and no sustinence beyond a steady supply of beef jerky and energy drinks. The attorney I worked for at the time (little sadistic) said that he wished the LSAT had a separate section that you had to show up to on an nearly empty stomach, wired on caffeine, with no more than an hour and a half of sleep.... Just to see what youd score under conditions more similar to being an attorney. I just blinked at him and told him he made that my reality when he didn't convince the client to settle. We won, but didnt get punitive damages, so we honestly should have settled. Got a 153 on the test. Went back thinking SURELY that trial "caused" my lower score compared to what my practice scores were. But did not sleep the night before that one either because of nerves. Moved it up by a whole single point 😒 154 but practice scored consistently between 160-166 for months. Individual sections sometimes even perfect. 154 was 4 points lower than my very first ever diagnostic. It's the sleep. Moral of the story: ALWAYS GET THE SLEEP.
100% agree! While balancing a fulltime job and study for the LSAT, one thing I've realized is that whenever I'm really tired after a long day or haven't slept very well the night before my scores are SIGNIFICANTLY worse. On the contrary, whenever I study on the weekends or days where I feel very well-rested, I do much much better.
Given this, I've began to just not study at all or just in little bits on nights I know I'm tired because I realized that on those nights where I continue to study I end up doing worse and getting frustrated at myself because I think I'm getting worse but in reality am just mentally and physically exhausted.
Make sure you guys are well-rested while studying, I've found it to be almost counterproductive to study while tired.
tbh i take my tests right before bed sometimes in case i get a repeat of my jan test and go in with 4 hours of sleep and no breakfast pahahha. nerfing myself on some inigo montoya swordfighting with his left hand shit.
@zunair Lol, if you can learn to test with little sleep you'll be a demon with a good night's rest