Struggle with timed pressure.

joe.dicicco.1993

Hey everyone,

I hope all of your studies are going well, this is a great program. I've been studying for about seven months now and i'm taking my first official LSAT in February! I did the entire CC and have taken about five practice tests. I'm taking one a week until about two weeks out (Feb 22). My BIGGEST issue is time pressure. It's the bane of my existence. I answer really tough question relatively quick during timed drilling but when I sit down to take a full timed PT, I sometimes get so uptight that I have to reread passages several times and my accuracy suffers as well. I was just wondering if anyone else had this experience and how they overcame it? My current scheduled is practice test every Monday and then four to five ours daily going over BR and drilling. Mabye i'm suffering from burnout?
Thank you for any feedback..

Joe D.

zacharytsmith26-1

Yes, this was a huge problem for me when it comes to the first section of a test. Once I got past the first section I was fine but I had extraordinary anxiety starting a full test. As you get better at the test, your confidence will increase and you wont feel as nervous so just give it time. I also started working out, that helps with focus.

joe.dicicco.1993

Thank you Zachary, I will take that advice and keep my head down!

studyingandrestudying

I wonder about a warm-up routine and if that would help. I've had these freeze ups too.

joe.dicicco.1993

That’s interesting... so do a couple LR questions before a PT? It’s true, once you get into “the zone” that pressure goes away.. Thanks!

Chris Nguyen

As a warm up, I do 10 LR questions, 1 game, and 1 passage from the PTs under 35 before I start any type of studying, including taking a practice test. I don't even look at the answers or grade them either so I don't psyche myself out. This really helps me get into the zone.

Regarding anxiety with time, that used to be a huge issue for me too. I would freeze up when I thought about the time and my focus would go haywire, so I would do even worse. To counter that, I actually rarely look at the time when I take tests and cover it up, only checking it every 10 questions or so. This really helped me stop being so anxious about the time constraint.

It's a little weird, but it really helps me to say a little mantra before every practice test too. Something to calm down my nerves, like "Everything is going to be okay. I am taking this test to learn and become better."

joe.dicicco.1993

Thank you! Great advice.