On the edge of giving up or continue trying

allisonlainez01

Hi everyone !

I have been study for the LSAT for the past eight months. I noticed a lot of improvement with LG & LR. I’m very frustrated though because I’m capable of getting a -2 on LG & a -5 on LR but every time I take a practice test , it’s like these months of studying have not been showing up, but the thing is that I’m capable of doing the questions !! I just cannot do it under timing conditions & it’s making me so angry. I don’t know what to do at this point , I feel like everything I have been studying hasn’t paid off , yet it has because I see improvement , just not with time. If anyone has any advice on what I should do, please tell me. I am just frustrated at this point.

gogo180

How many months have you been studying and how many PTs have you taken? I also was extremely frustrated with my progress because of my lack of performance under time, but after taking over 10 practice tests, I started to get a hang of it.

BraverSC

I have the same issue. I can get the right answers just not under timed conditions. For me, it's because I get really anxious that I'm running out of time. To combat this, I've started to use the feature on here where you can create smaller problem sets where I'm still timed just in smaller increments and hoping to build up. Hope this helps...

garbage.flood

Don't give up! I felt the same when I started this journey just over a year ago. I'd consider the following before jumping ship...

1) If you are seeing improvements in your score outside of the testing conditions, then I imagine the test is beginning to make sense to you. This is what you need. Take as many PTs as necessary to normalize the process and I guarantee your ability to focus on the task at hand (rather than on the clock) will improve.

2) Pay close attention to your habits and YOUR skill set. This is a skills-based test and most of the highest performing students did not get there without putting in the work, but part of the battle here (especially for those of us with testing anxiety) is fighting our own inner antagonist. What an asshole. Once you've become more comfortable with the material, you'll need to develop efficiencies, personal tips and tricks, that will save you time and keep you feeling good.

Examples include:
a) Paying close attention to when you are waffling between answer choices - don't waste your time. We know you could get the answer correct if you had even 15 more seconds. You don't. Don't punish yourself. Select one and move on.
b) When an abstract conditional phrase is difficult to understand, it is not because you're stupid, but likely because it is a challenging question. Flag it and come back. Or don't. Just don't get sucked in.
c) The same goes for answer choices that seem abstract or confusing - they are confusing and seem abstract because they are likely the WRONG answer choice. Don't eliminate it yet, but don't waste your time trying to understand it. You're not stupid. It is. The correct answer choice, which will be much more obvious to you because you're awesome, will be just a few answer choices lower.

You're familiar with all of these tips. JY has mentioned them throughout the course. But you should take them very seriously. And work to develop your own. Doing well in law school and on the LSAT is as much about knowing the material as knowing yourself. I really think this is the key for those of us who struggle to succeed in timed conditions. For more inspo, listen to this: http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/31-puzzle-rush

3) Maybe you've taken on too much and should back it up and relax. I began studying last summer with the hopes of sitting for the August 2019 LSAT. When the time to test rolled around, I wasn't ready. I was overloaded with work and school. I decided to take a year off, finish my degree, and study again when I had more time available to me. Best decision I ever made.

4) Meditate. Do audible, breath-conscious yoga every day, multiple times a day. You need to calm your nervous system. This test requires tremendous mental discipline and meditation will help you get there, while reducing your blood pressure and making you less anxious over all.

I hope that this helps. I really do. I struggled in much the same way in the beginning, but have improved my score by 60% so far. I have now surpassed my goal and am aiming higher. You've got this.

garbage.flood

One more thing: LR questions began to seem much more formulaic and predictable to me after spending a few weeks simply articulating out loud to myself the characteristics of a given stimulus. Without timing myself I would look over the stimulus (forget the answer choices and question stem) and dissect it completely. If it was just a bunch of facts, I would state what kind of inferences I could make (what do I know is true?). If it was bad argument, I would come up with one or two reasons why, thus identifying what might help fix it. You get it. Take as much time as you need for each one and you should begin to see improvement. At the very least, wrong answer choices will become so much more obvious.