Dual-N-Back as a potential burnout indicator.

canihazJD

Been playing Dual-N-Back for about a month after I saw it recommended as a way to boost short term memory for LSAT and had made it to the N4 level. I'd been ramping up prep for November - adding reading and drilling volume, and tutoring, in addition to my PT/Review routine, I started noticing a decline in performance in the game. The game sets your level of difficulty off your dual task (audio and visual) short term memory performance. I got so bad it kicked me back to level 2. Over the next days, I started experiencing that kind of hazy loss of focus, and started making a lot of stupid mistakes on questions, culminating in getting thoroughly worked in an LR section (-6, when I typically average -1) a couple days later.

I haven't researched the game or anything, nor can I make any causal claims... just a correlation I thought might be of interest here as burnout often goes undetected until you're neck deep in it.

Aside, I do feel that Dual-N-Back has helped me remember LG rules, allowing me to work through games without referencing the rules or my representations of them as much. I wouldn't go so far as to say you should start using it... probably put it up there with doing sudoku or reading academic journals - worth checking out but definitely not necessary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-back

Law and Yoda

This came up in a logic book I read in undergrad and it is so much fun to play! Regardless of any LSAT benefits, its entertaining like Sudoku or KenKen.