To those who haven't taken June test yet...

sarahblair

Hi all,

I know many of us are in the same boat in that we may not be writing until Tuesday (and in some cases Thursday I think?). Anyways, I just wanted to come on here and give a word of encouragement. As the comments are flooding in on the official June thread, I find it hard not to get more anxious for the upcoming test. As expected, some sections seem pretty tough for people and reading this kind of throws me off (but I need to remember how subjective the test is too)! Of course, I expect the test to be challenging and expected to see comments like these. But in the midst of it all, those of us who haven't written yet should try to maintain a calm demeanor and crush the test that ends up being ours! It's easy to see what others are saying and speculate how yours may turn out, but I think the mentality of this test is so invaluable that we should all just stay strong and know how much we have prepared. Then, after the test the outcome will be whatever it may be! All in all, I just know how nerve wracking it is seeing all the comments, whether it be about proctors or the actual test, and how much it really gets in your head. Those of us who haven't tested yet, we seriously have got this. Remain calm and do it how we know! And to those of us who have completed... congrats!!! What an exciting time with hopefully great news for all come July 1! Stay positive y'all

MonkeyMammoth24

I took the test this afternoon. I was in the same boat, I read comments about how difficult people found it and how the LG and such was difficult compared to PTs. It gave me anxiety to read that. But I found it much easier than my practice. I finished the logic games section for the first time ever without having to guess on any of them! It is subjective so do not think other peoples’ experience will be yours as well.

Good luck to you!

sarahblair

@addiespitz thank you! I'm glad you had a great experience and it sounds like you did fabulous! Congratulations and cheers!

123anami

Come into the test expecting proctor issues is also a tip i'd add. I expected the worst and was not thrown off when I wasn't able to connect with my proctor securely for 40 minutes at the beginning. Also from the sounds of it the test I took today was completely different from what I've seen people say about Saturday's test. You got this @sarahblair your comments have helped me so much these past few months! Good luck!!

sarahblair

@123anami thank you so much, that means a lot!! I'm sure you did great, congrats that it is over. Do you know why you couldn't connect with your proctor for so long?

Confidence150

Thank you @sarahblair . Good luck!!!

Saaamuel

I know it's ironic / counter intuitive that I'm saying this here on 7sage forums but literally from here on out until the test, stay off all LSAT forums and social media. The negatives of anxiety and self doubt significantly outweigh any positives that you could gain from reading the posts.

zoomzoom

The best thing I can advise people is to completely stay off the forums, Reddit, whatever, etc.

While these platforms can be plenty helpful to receive advice/tips for preparing for the exam, they also can help generate unneeded anxiety and fear. There are a lot of anxious people on these platforms and putting them in a room together freaking out does absolutely no one any good.

Close off these platforms for a few days before and after the exam date and walk into the exam confident you've prepared and done your best. Don't let a few freak outs stop you from doing your best!

123anami

@sarahblair said:
@123anami thank you so much, that means a lot!! I'm sure you did great, congrats that it is over. Do you know why you couldn't connect with your proctor for so long?

It’s because my Mac had accessibility and security settings they didn’t let me know beforehand that I needed to enable ProctorU to access or something, so it took a couple back and forths with their technical support but their technical support team is great and handled everything for me. Just threw me off a bit

sarahblair

@123anami ah, I see. I feel like I've seen others say that too.

sarahblair

@Saaamuel @oychoi79 I know, it's so true that staying off the forums would help keep the anxiety levels down but it's so hard to resist seeing other's reviews! You're right though, it would be better.

FindingSage

Thanks for posting this! I am a very anxious test taker but I have been through multiple flex administrations now so I thought I would share some perspective.

First, we all need to know ourselves and what does or doesn’t make us nervous or impact our mental state. I used to be unable to read comments or really anything regarding the tests. It would start anxiety and panic and worst of all I would start to focus on things that were out of my control. I would focus on the curve or what was the really hard game or RC passage everyone was referring to? Or what if I got an “easier” version and the curve was so tight that I had no real chance to hit my goal score?? Anyone who obsessing over these or similar things might be truly benefitted the most staying off social media.

Since I have been studying before the flex even started I can now ensure you guys that while I have not read every comment or every post there is nothing that I have read is out of the ordinary for these flex tests. There has never been an LSAT where there wasn’t hard questions or a hard game or reading comp passage.

We need to remember that the people posting will be disproportionately people who had a negative or unexpected experience- no matter if it is a proctor issue or a bad section or even a bad test.

For the most part we don’t know who these people are, how long they have studied, if they have previously taken the LSAT and what kind of test taker they are.

We can’t assume that when we read comments from people about having to guess on an entire game even though they normally finish that this person has in fact completed a sufficient number of games and a sufficient number of practice tests. There are plenty of people testing who have taken but a handful of PT or have been studying a minimal amount of time.

We also can’t assume that people have the same goals as ourselves. We might read about someone “killed” a section we found really difficult not realizing that this person’s goal score was a 150. We might also read about how horribly a section went and then double question ourselves when that section feels okay to us thinking we have fell for all the trap answers. We don’t realize the person posting about how horrible they did had a score goal of 175+, so if they thought that the missed more than a couple on the section it was horrible for them.

We also need to remember that our self perception regarding this test may not be even be remotely accurate. This is why we take practice tests so that we can have some idea of what we might score. But even they are not perfect indicators as the flex has more of a score variance than a standard test.

So what can we do at this point?

We can realize we are not going to learn much tomorrow. For people who want to do some light LSAT that is totally fine but this isn’t a test we can cram for. Instead we should focus on our metal and physical well being tomorrow and make sure that we are ready to focus for Tuesday or Thursday. We should also plan that the test will be hard but that is okay because we are well prepared. We should accept that we may make some mistakes and it is okay if things don’t go perfectly. And most of all we should strive to remember that we have put in the work and we are ready!

clear227

@FindingSage Well said! "Easy" or "hard" are totally subjective. Everyone has different strengths as well.

Just because one person struggled or succeeded with a question doesn't mean you will have the same experience.

carlyvangstadboyd

@sarahblair @FindingSage @oychoi79

preachhhh. I second that motion and this is me liking your comments twice

https://media.giphy.com/media/LttEPtKMnIoWIITPWm/giphy.gif

sarahblair

@FindingSage thank you for the insight, I totally agree. There is so much unknown amongst the comments based on personal experience that there really isn't a reason to get all worked up about them. I appreciate the thoughtful comment!