How do I stop mental fatigue? Tips, tricks, advice???

mmiglio

Hi everyone.

My brain tends to go on shutdown during the latter half of the Reading Comprehension sections, and the last quarter of the LR sections.

No matter how many times I read, I get tired.
Will this go away during test day due to adrenaline, perhaps? I'm just so tired of taking practice tests and thinking to myself "screw this."

In my last LSAT Prep Test I missed EVERY QUESTION for the last reading passage, my brain just says "screw this" and starts day dreaming. Even with this mentality I've been scoring in the low 160s.. I really think if I can fix this problem I'll score in the 164-170 range.

iiiSpoon

If you are feeling mentality exhausted for the whole day, not just during the latter half of the test, your exhaustion might be your brain pleading for recuperation. If your brain becomes exhausted during the test, then its just a matter of getting your mind normalized.

If you have not checked out 7sage's "Winning the psychological battle," there are some great tips on keeping your body/mind at its optimal fitness to help conquer the LSAT.
http://7sage.com/lesson/winning-the-psychological-battle/

Don't feel down on messing up on ONE reading comp passage; there are some notoriously tough ones out there ie that legal theory one under difficult reading passages in the syllabus. I suggest blind review that passage, understand it (since often times when introduced to a subject for the first time can feel like you bumped your head very hard), redo it, and conquer it. Not only will you build confidence but you will familiarize yourself with the subject.

Btw, congrats on your mid 160 score even after missing all the questions on ONE passage!

jwynne2

Have you tried coffee? 5 Hour Energy? What time are you taking your PTs? It's important that you do it at the same time as you'll be doing the actual LSAT. Are you exercising? Eating right? Are you waking up at the same time each morning? Making sure you answer 'yes' to all of these questions will solve the problem.

For reading comp, force yourself to interact with the passage. Try to trick your brain into thinking it's the most exciting thing ever and you can't wait to read more about it. Ask questions, make predictions as to what's next, make mental pictures of the passages in your mind. Do the same for LR. Yes, test-day adrenaline could snap you out of this, but it's best not to rely on it. What you're doing now isn't working, so you need to start making changes to the way you're studying and the way you're living.

mmiglio

Wow.

You both had some very insightful advice for me, thank you.

As I reread my post, I noticed one of the sentences didn't make sense and I repeated myself once; that's the kind of unaware state of mind that I enter after taking the LSAT, lol.

As far as doing all those things jwynne2 suggested, I'm not doing any of them, heh. I've been cramming the LSAT really, really hard, and it's been substituting for all of my other normal activities. My LSAT is at 8 AM, and I've just been doing them mid-noon or in the evening.

Today I'll try to fix these things.

LSATPuppy

I'm not sure if this would help but you might as well give it a try. Sometimes when I'm nearing the latter half of a reading section and my brain starts to feel foggy, I take 3 deep breaths. I also have tried stretching for 2-3 minutes while breathing right before a section and found that it really wakes up my brain.

You're going to have to find a technique that tells your brain to snap out of it when you start to daydream. I think it's all about doing small things to train your focus and eventually it will become habit.

Jaguar007

YA I def haven't been doing them at LSAT time which is 8 30 am haha more like one pm
Man I am glad to see other people also say screw this at some point haha!

clarissa.h

You might like to start taking some vitamin supplements if you don't already. Research by Dr. Eric Braverman says vitamin balance in the body makes a world of difference - and I've experienced this myself firsthand. Off the top of my head I would recommend the B vitamins (a B complex, especially be sure to get B12). You should do your own research and see what the consequences of deficiencies in certain vitamins are and what the benefits of higher intake of certain vitamins are. The body is all chemistry.