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Case Study: What I did wrong on test day
Paul Caint
Alum Member ⭐
Hey all,
I just went over the September 2017 exam and realized how many silly mistakes I made. Out of the 11 LR questions I missed, I really should not have missed 7 of them. In RC, I shouldn't have missed 3 - they were all super easy in hindsight. Over the past few months I've been thinking of what I did wrong on and leading up to test day, and I thought I'd post the biggest mistakes I made in hopes someone might learn from them (including me 
)
1. Being a night owl, but waking up early.
For the last two weeks leading up to the exam, I forced myself to wake up at around ~6am every day, eat breakfast, get ready to take a PrepTest by 8:30am. Thing is, I'm definitely a night owl, and I never really got used to waking up early. Additionally, when school started to really hit (I'm a senior in undergrad), I wasn't going to bed till 11 or 12am, yet I was still waking up at 6am because I felt I had to condition myself.
All this ended up doing was making me really tired all the time. I was averaging 4-5 cups of coffee a day, and consequently I definitely did not feel 100% on test day. I think you should condition yourself, but don't be uncompromising in it. As in, if you are lacking sleep, get sleep!
2. My no-burnout strategy backfired.
Everyone told me not to do a PT a day, so I thought - I'll just do a PT every other day leading up to the exam! Guess what. Still burns you out. I did that for the last two weeks leading up to exam week - I think I was still burnt out come test day.
3. I got to the test center too early.
I was really paranoid I would be late to the test center on test day. Consequently, I woke up at around 5am that morning - had my coffee, ate breakfast, and got to the testing center by 6:30/7am. Unfortunately, we didn't actually start the exam until ~10:15 - 10:30. So while others had only been awake for 2/3 hours, I'd already been up for 5!
4. I was a chatty-Cathy before the test.
Okay, this is a bit embarrassing to admit, but I met this girl who got to the testing center as early as I did. We talked for like the whole 3 hours straight leading up to the exam. It was amazing. It was like a movie - two starcrossed lawyers find eachother during the LSAT - like some kinda rom-com. We talked about our goals, our life ambitions, our childhoods, everything!
But all that talking actually wore me out, leaving me tired before we even started taking the exam. I think before the exam, you should try to hone your mind. Focus, get in a zen-state if you will (some 7sager talked about meditating beforehand).
5. I overdid it on the caffeine.
As soon as I woke up, I had a breakfast with a coffee. Then when I got to the testing center, I started sipping on a 5-hour energy. This left me jittery and nervous through the exam, especially at the beginning, and compounded the effect of #6...
6. I flipped shit at the experimental section.
I actually started crying. I had experimental RC, and it was all going really well! The first three passages seemed really easy, and in fact they all were about topics I'm well-versed in. But, before I even got to the last passage, the proctor called 5 minutes. I started tearing up right there and then. All the hard work and studying leading up to the exam felt like it went down the drain. It would be 7-8 questions I would miss automatically, kissing my 170 goodbye. I carried that defeated feeling through the rest of the exam, and it showed.
7. I threw the strategies out the window and tried to mind-muscle my way through.
Being distraught about the experimental section, I just lost all grasp of the strategies. I wasn't even diagramming logical chains for inference questions. Simple contrapositive answers felt like a foreign language instead of ez pz lemon squeezy. I forgot the distinction between necessary and sufficient assumptions. I wasn't identifying the conclusions, I wasn't rephrasing referential phrases. Nerves got to me and I threw all techniques out the window.
I still ended up getting a 167 on the exam, but that was 6 points lower than what I had averaged in previous PTs. I hope you all can learn from my mistakes, as I hope I will come the December test. I think bottom line is you have to find what works best for you. A lot of people were pushing me to wake up early all the time, and it didn't pay off. I let nerves get the best of me and I didn't follow J.Y.'s wisdom.
But December 2 is a new day, and I'm hoping to kill it
Comments
2 & 3 are spot on.
Burnout is real and you WONT know you are burned out until it's passed.
I got to the test center at 7:30 and we didn't start testing until around 9:30.
First of all, 167 is still a great score! (But I understand the disappointment considering you were averaging 173).
1 and 5
I can see that happening. I've been trying to condition myself since September to sleep about 6 to 6:30 hours per day.
Caffeine and lack of sleep sort of go hand-in-hand. Nerves + lack of sleep is bad combination.
I will definitely remember that!
3
This one just kind of sucks.
On the one hand, you can't predict delays but it sucks to get there too early. On the other, you've spent way too much time studying for this to screw yourself over by being late. I guess the best thing I can do is find out traffic patterns, and how hard it is to get from my house to the test center on Saturday mornings at 8:30am (Probably not that hard).
How many PTs/week is recommended to avoid burnout? I seem to hear a lot of burnout stories.
Thank a lot for sharing man!
So.... did you get her number?
@10000019 Hell yeah I did
@"william.truong" Honestly I think maybe two PTs a week, 3 if you have a super brain. And maybe don't go over it the same day.
Some of these I completely see. I don't know. I think getting to the test center early and familiarizing yourself with the environment can be helpful for those who are nervous. I also am not sure how burnout works--I started ramping up the amount of PTs I took in the final two weeks before the test. Although I wasn't fully "there" for the test and ended up blanking (an odd conscious state), I didn't feel like it was because of burnout but, like you, I am a night-owl and didn't get enough sleep or sleep at the right time. Which makes me think that burnout manifests itself in significantly different ways in different people (and interacts with other factors). I wonder if you felt that it was LSAT burnout or just genuine sleepiness (perhaps from studying into the previous night) that did you in.
Mind-muscling though. Damn...the f'ing worst. I think that I benefited from the "auto-pilot" state that I went into since I didn't consciously try to grasp, control, or work through every inference, detail, answer choice. Trying to "really concentrate" on these things can be a real hindrance to pacing and actually can oddly lead to making a lot of little mistakes on the test (e.g., wasting time setting up the wrong diagram to a game). Better to hone your skills so that you can work through the test with less conscious effort--easier said then done, but it does help especially in situations that are high-stress.
To me it seems like (1), (4) (maybe), (5), (6), and (7) might have most done you in. But no worries...you'll kill the December exam.--A.c.S
All valid points, but I have advice that's helped me a ton regarding (6)
Somebody, I forget who, told me that anytime you're struggling during a section on test day, convince yourself that it's an experimental section. It will help you relax and not freak out. Obviously don't overdo it and completely stop trying on that section, but try not to start thinking the whole test is wasted. Even if later in the test you find out it was definitely real, at least you've gotten past it and hopefully gotten some momentum back in other sections.
167 is very a great score for the first taker. Assuming you will take it again on Dec., i wish you all the best!
And thanks for such a detailed reflection! : )
Great post!!
Please make this into a movie.
https://media.giphy.com/media/PPLBrsojYDyuc/giphy.gif
@"Kings Never Die" Yeah I know, I just didn't think nerves/test day in general would have affected my score so much. It really did feel completely different than PTs, even though I was copying PT conditions as much as possible...I think just the realness factor of it got to me (plus all the other factors).
@tylerdschreur10 Yeah! I should have done that to be honest. It was really bad to carry that feeling of defeat throughout the whole exam. It made even the ez pz logic games section feel stressful...
@acsimon Well I have to admit I did PTs for like 2 straight months...I did nearly every PT from 1-70 (with some skips in between). Honestly I don't think I ever gave my brain enough time to recover from any of it.
And yeah I have like an "auto-pilot" mode usually, but my auto-pilot for the September exam was malfunctioning haha. Like you remember the question with lizards and bugs (being vague here for legal purposes) in LR? It's a super easy logic chain question and the correct AC was just a contrapositive. I probably spent 2 minutes just staring at the question having no idea - that's me being burnt out
@akistole haha getting a 170+ on the LSAT will make the ending even happier
@"Paul Caint"
So you didn't have your phone in the test center, right? How did you get her number? Did she write it on a piece of paper!? This is so cool, old-fashioned!
https://media.giphy.com/media/A7rTdPxXP9fqM/giphy.gif
Ok I'm writing a rom-com script based on your story titled "167 to 178"
@akistole On my hand haha
https://media.tenor.com/images/b463f2b99ede8d919b2b927af3477aeb/tenor.gif
https://i0.wp.com/24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9010sXDqf1qdhag9o3_250.gif
Did you at least get a date out of it? If so #worthit
LMAO this story just kept getting progressively better
This is going to be one of those epic rom-com scenes that people are going to recreate!
Yup! We're still talking.
Haha didn't expect this discussion to turn into a convo about my love life
I think you should debate going to law school. The story sells itself - there's no way that people would not watch the movie. I can see you making whole lotta $$$$$$$$$$$$$
Yea, after you get accepted to prestigious schools with your 178 on the December LSAT, you should pitch this story to Hollywood. There hasn't been this kind of classic rom-com in decades.
+1. Also, I reckon the title of the movie should be "We Found Love In A Hopeless Place".
@thisissparta
Hahahaa omg yes
@thisissparta
In Theaters December 2021
Haha! That's all I was wondering
See you're my spirit animal the only thing I'm concerned about is how to write this meet-cute for the screenplay! Omg Ashton Kutcher can be the lead!!
yeah, and as your supportive 7Sage family we expect free vip tickets @"Paul Caint". many thnx.
Edit: and free snacks too. many thnx part II.
Oh I expect all of us to be invited to the world premiere + after-party.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZOZ_ynXk5EQ/WP5LVVSr6yI/AAAAAAAA98c/O7BgLfomwKo1wu7WFm-nrPs5Lnc2eZUsgCEw/s1600/l3.gif
Hahaha this thread is gold.
I got you fam
No. 7 happened to me during my first take
I got nervous I wasn't going to finish and rushed through/thew all strategies out the window, any tips on how to not lose track of the techniques day of the exam??
Wouldn't be surprised if #4 was 95% to blame.
Yikes I got the same score and had been averaging about the same beforehand.... Reading comp just did me in.
Best of luck in December!