Anxious about my first PT

ninaaaa15

Hi everyone,

I have been studying for the LSAT for about 4 months now, and I'm finally fully finished with my core curriculum. I am planning on now taking PTs. I'm having major anxiety about taking my first ever PT because I'm scared I will not perform too well since it will be my first time taking a full-length LSAT exam. I'm afraid of getting a very low score and feeling very discouraged afterward. I still struggle a lot with time, and I'm anxious this will get the best of me and cause me to perform horribly. If you have experienced something similar, please share how you overcame your anxiety about taking PTs.

Thank you in advance!

praiseolaolorun

I struggled with this but on the actual test. went into the actual test without taking any full PT. One thing that helped me is realizing the differences in PT and the actual test. PT is to help you get better and help you realize your weak spots as well as your strong ones too. The actual test is the real thing. Law school won't admit you on your PT but rather your actual one. PT is where you're able to make mistakes and correct it before the big thing. It's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to score a low score on PT. After the first PT you'll start to see a difference in your emotions as you approach other PTs. it takes the first PT and you're fine after. You got this!

JShepherd

I feel that everyone struggles with this anxiety you describe, to some degree, as it's human nature to do so.

I think you need to have a new perspective going into your PTs. You need to embrace the PT. PT is a wonderful tool that's going to help you improve, again and again, while you're traveling towards your goal on your LSAT journey.

You should be looking at PT as a valuable tool that is going to help you even further hone and focus your study and practice areas you're needing to focus on. After your first PT you will now know for sure which sections and questions types need improvement, and which areas are your strengths, which will need much less.

After your targeted studying and practicing on your areas of weakness, that you learned from your first PT, weeks later you get to take PT 2 and check out where you've improved and where you need more work.

PTs should be embraced as a powerful tool you utilize on your journey to LSAST success.

Best of luck.

ryan.lattavo

ninaaaa15,

As a lot of other commentators have said, I think everyone deals with this anxiety on their first PT.

What helped me push through it all is knowing that everything that I get wrong on a PT translates to more right answers later. It's a learning tool, and shouldn't be treated as entirely comprehensive of your skills at this point in time!

Further, you should focus on utilizing your PTs properly at this stage! Make sure you're properly reflecting on why you got an answer wrong--I love to recommend to students that they utilize a Wrong Answer journal specifically for this purpose. At this stage in the game, you want to track your foundational skillset and your timing skillset, and the best way to do that is analyzing your performance between timed (which tests foundational + timing) and blind review (which tests strictly foundational skills).

By the way, if you want further help with this process and someone in your corner guiding you through it, you can schedule a free consult with a tutor here: https://calendly.com/7sage-tutoring/7sage-tutoring-free-consultation?utm_source=FCA_A

They'd love to tell you how 7sage tutoring can help you!

Best,

Ryan

--- KPL ---

I’ve been studying for over a year now made solid progress, but still not where I want to be. I’m not going to speak to technique or strategies to combat anxiety. But rather argue for a shift in your mentality to embrace your anxiety. It’s probably not going away. Nor should you want it to, it is your mind’s fight/flight response. It means you care and that this is something worth fighting for. You can adapt and use anxiety to your advantage. The LSAT is tough and learning curve is steep. I won’t sugarcoat; be prepared to get your ass kicked over and over. Resiliency is key. And if you can keep pushing through that pain and disappointment, you’ll eventually adapt. At some point you’re going to just accept that the test is going to hit you and your ego hard, it’s up to you to keep picking yourself up and resolving to do better next time. Results will come, most likely slower than you want them to. Be patient, keep pressing. Remember, every attorney and law student has devoted themselves to the LSAT and succeeded in walking this path. You can too.

Star Platinum

My first PT after doing the core curriculum, I think I score 2 points over my diagnostic? My diagnostic was a 134, and I scored a 136 after like 50 hours on the CC haha.

But after like 2 PT's, my score skyrocketed from a 136 to a 151. Now I'm consistently scoring in the low 150's, but my blind review can hit the 160s....

ninaaaa15

All of your comments have been so reassuring to read through! thank you so much for taking the time and sharing your experiences with me I truly appreciate it!!