Hello everyone! I made the this post on here back in August of this year: https://7sage.com/discussion/62033/dealing-with-burnout-testing-in-september
I just wanted to come on here and provide some words of advice and hope. I was studying for the LSAT for 4 months, I started with a 158 diagnostic and worked my way up to 169, but then I was extremely burnt out and dropped back to 158. I took many peoples advice to take rest days, because it was clear that I had the skills and knowledge to do well but I was overworking myself and couldn't perform.
So leading up to test day I scaled my hours back, took full rest days where I did absolutely no work, and focused on my mental health (I know not everyone can cut back on work or take full rest days so I'm grateful I was able to). This was kinda scary because I'm used to studying and making myself over-prepared, but I had to learn to trust myself and my studying. Well this strategy paid off and I got a 171 on my official test when I had never cracked 170 before!! The test day went great and I felt super confident and had a clear mind.
All this to say, if you are struggling with burn out DON'T FEEL GUILTY about taking rest days and days off!! Chances are, it will actually benefit you and improve your score!! Anyway thank you for listening to my ted talk and best of luck to everyone applying this cycle and taking the LSAT!!!
7 comments
Pray that my story has a similar ending as yours 🙏. Great job on the 171 though so proud of you!! Best of luck for your applications.
@Kyle180 Best of luck to you, you got this! And thank you
Hi! What did you do the days before and day of? Did you sleep a lot?
@businessgoose Hi thats a great question! So I did my last PT 1 week before my test (sept 5) and I reviewed that PT on sept 7 and did not study/look at LSAT at all after that (mainly because I had work and school but anyway). Day before my test (sept 11) I slept in, did some light exercise and honestly just chilled. I probably just watched tv or did some hobbies. I kept reminding myself that I’ve prepared for the LSAT for many months now and my stats show that I will do ok. The day of my test, I slept in because my test was at 1:30pm, I just woke up and ate, packed my snacks/bag and then I did some journalling which I do often. I wrote down some positive affirmations (I will trust my skills, I am capable of doing well, I can do this, etc) and then I wrote down some things I want to remember during the test and what I will do during the test like “I will remember to take deep breathes, I will read every question carefully, I won’t change my answer unless I find the fatal flaw” and other things I’ve learned during my prep. Shoutout Katie Mae Rials for this life hack. Overall my focus the day before and day of was getting in the best mental space I can be in and easing my nerves as much as possible and I’m so happy to say it worked well for me and I felt good while writing the actual test. I would recommend this more than trying to cram last minute. Remember you’ve already done the work leading up to this. Hope this helps!
@Chebebe Thank you!!!!
That’s amazing. Congrats!!!!!
@Daisy Thank you!