@HadiSyed Sending my boss a snapshot of this to get PTO approved because "just study when you get home." Girl, no. This isn't a History Midterm.

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.

@amberdonato I work in big law as my firm's West Coast Litigation & Dispute Resolution Paralegal/Case Manager. The practice area is a fairly large scope, but all business litigation related, which has been my area for around 8 years. I picked the highest paid track for the non-attorney line of work mainly to stabilize my family. I finished my undergrad in business law in 2018 when my son was about a year old (he's 9 now) and only had like fifty bucks to work with, lol. But I finished my masters in litigation and dispute resolution when my son was 8 (much higher GPA). So my heart goes out to you as a student mom! It is no walk in the park. My pregnancy was brutal in college and did a number on my UGPA, then daycare cost me a kidney on the black market... so a JD was on hold indefinitely and now medians are so high I need some amazing LSAT to get in. 🫠 But it's beyond time, and I really want to be *done* with law school by the time I'm 35. The testing endurance is what kills me more than any of the actual logic. My tips arent ironclad or anything. I utilize the library a lot. I drill more than full test because long uninterrupted stretches are rare to come by. I utilize recording and text to speech a lot so when I'm stuck driving, in waiting rooms, doing something mindless at work, etc. I can listen. Game drills are quick ways to stay engaged too. Audio recordings also helped me a ton when I was finishing my undergrad. Ive found this test is more of an assessment of your executive function than logic alone. Divided attention is lethal and working professionals and parents live with chronically divided attention. Working on sustaining focus is just as important as the logic, so is figuring out when your brain works best and how to get it there. But message me anytime, wishing you all the luck 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

Sounds like it might be cognitive fatigue at the end of the section. Simplifying the approach to each answer type could help, skipping and flagging the harder ones to return to (hurts less to miss those than easier ones because you ran out of time). I'm someone who brain drains on section 2 of each test. Can perfect score the first section, and then plummet in the second.

Managing the cognitive fatigue is really important. Mitigating it comes from not wrestling too hard with everything. I noticed my biggest improvement when I asked "who cares?" to each answer choice, and got hyper critical of everything offered. Only one of them is correct. Dont compare answer choices to eachother, only back to the stimulus. Accept everything as a fact, dont fight with any facts and try to assess whether they are true or not. In most question types, they're true, period. But they may or may not matter or do what you need them to.

I'm a trial paralegal and a mom, and these trials seem to always coincide with my test windows. Last month, I billed 240 hours in arbitration and lost most of my study windows. My study schedule isnt a schedule, lol. But I'm getting a number of perfect to near perfect sections devoting up to an hour in the evening, quick drills on lunch hours when those exist, and 4 hours on weekend days. I dont study unless my brain is there... otherwise I just fall into bad habits made worse by cognitive fatigue. Even if you get 30 good minutes, its better than 2 hours of flubbing sections because you cant think straight.... Also, get a strategy down for each question type. Make it as simple as possible to follow and be able to identify the question types immediately. I have a recording of myself walking through each strategy that I listen to on my way to and from work just so my strategies and such dont erode. Also, prioritize sleep before the exam instead of cramming.