getting exhausted

[Deleted User] · February 2015

So when I practice logical reasoning, I complete 100 sets of same question type, then I do 100 more few days later. I try to do 50 in one day & another 50 the next day. However, I get really tired after reading 3-5 stimiluses so I take a break and time just flys. I feel like I've opened my lsat books so much, I'm ready to vomit.

Anyone have suggestions?

LSATisland · February 2015

There's nothing wrong with taking a break. Definitely take one, if you need it.

Nilesh S · February 2015

Yeah... that's as sure a sign of burnout as any... take a break... of a few days...

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@"Nilesh S" People keep telling me to take a break but I honestly feel like me taking breaks after reading 3-5 stimilus is the problem. I used to go straight at it from 10am to 4am (not a typo) with maybe 2 hour break in between. However, that was beginning of my prep where I was just answering questions and hoping I got them right without really understanding why 4 are wrong and 1 is right. Now I know exactly how to practice for lsat but I don't have it in me anymore to go straight at it from 10am to 4am. Ugh

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@LSATisland good job on the lsat (noticed the Sage title)

Nilesh S · February 2015

@royaimani... that is EXACTLY why you need to take a break.... because it has gotten monotonous for you... which is a sign that burnout is there... if you don't rest, it will start affecting PT scores... the best thing to do would be to think of nothing LSAT related for a week or maybe even a little more... and then come back at it... hopefully you will be rejuvenated and this won't be an issue... if it still is, then you have got to ask your self the tough question... is this really what you want... chances are that if you can't handle LSAT prep, law school is not for you...

TBH.11235 · February 2015

I think the definition of burnout is when you can no longer efficiently and productively learn from your current mode of practice. If you feel that you've hit this wall, then it's likely best to take a short break (maybe a couple days), take that time to reflect on how you can iterate on your practice techniques, and then pick up again. In particular, consider rebalancing your time between PT's and review. During my practice I found that a good balance was that 1 hour of PT/timed practice should equate to about 1-1.5 hours of analysis/review.

Getting over burnout and plateaus are difficult, and often require some retooling. But as Einstein said, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Best of luck!

[Deleted User] · February 2015

Probably it's a burnout

bonjoursm · February 2015

By break, I think most of the commenters mean a few days, not just a break after 5 questions

harrismegan · February 2015

Take a break. I used to feel so guilty about taking breaks, but it's the best advise. You want to be hungry to attempt LSAT questions, not burn out.

bwrc1992 · February 2015

the june lsat is really quite far away. take 2 or 3 weeks off and come back to it. you'll feel refreshed and you also force yourself to retrain. the best thing i ever did was take a few weeks off. i felt refreshed, confident and excited.

burning out will result in poor habits. the very last thing you want to do is develop bad habits.

it's only february!

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@"Nilesh S" while I appreciate your advice, I must say...telling someone that law school may not be for them is rude and ignorant. Law school is for everyone who wants and dreams of going to law school. No one is born with the natural excitement and intellegence to prep for the lsat. It's not a God given gift. It's something that if you set your mind to, you can do. Just like with anything in life. I also remember reading your post about how you have finally been able to get into a good law school (Georgetown) after taking the lsat couple of times. I am sure you wouldn't appreciate someone telling you "perhaps law school is not for you."
Congratulations on your acceptance.

Thank everyone for the advice.

ddakjiking · February 2015

Yeah. If you feel burnt out, definitely take a break of at least a whole day. Like @harrismegan , I would get so guilty if I took even half a day off. I get my Feb test score in about a week so I'll let everyone ITT know if pushing through with no major breaks did/did not affect me. lol.

blah170blah · February 2015

Hi @royaimani! I just wanted to pipe in on behalf of why @"Nilesh S" might have offered the advice of reconsidering law school.

I don't think the comment was in any way targeted towards you and intended to demean your passion and interest in law. I do think for people who aren't serious about law school, burnout is a physical manifestation of their lack of commitment to attending law school. For those individuals, it is actually sage advice for them to consider pursuing other career goals given the fact that law school is an incredible monetary, temporal, and emotional commitment to make. It is very prudent for those individuals to think about all the costs of going to law school and weighing those costs against benefits before moving forward. Again, you are right in that going to law school is the individual's choice and no one should be prescribing options for anyone else. That being said, I do think the advice is warranted in some cases but it is very evident by your passionate response that it does not apply to you.

Hope that clarifies things!

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@blah170blah thanks for clarifying. I do disagree with the sentence that burnout is a physical sign indicating lack of committment. People study study study and burnout. That's not their lack of commitment, that's their lack of knowing when to stop and take a break. To me, burnout is a sign of overworking yourself.

Anywaysssssss I took a break today. Still feeling guilty lol

ENTJ · February 2015

I'm sorry @royaimani... I don't get what you want from this discussion thread. A lot of good people have presented some really good pieces of advice. Do you fundamentally disagree with the advice given? Or have you found the advice provided unhelpful to your current predicament?

blah170blah · February 2015

I think we have two different terms for burn out and lack of commitment. For me, if I were to write a dictionary, under the term burnout, I'd have both:
a) overworking yourself
b) physical discomfort associated with lack of commitment

I think for you, burn out only consists of the definition "overworking yourself" and would assign a different term to definition "b." Perhaps it's unfair of me to lump the two definitions together. Just in my experience, the two (a) and (b) seem to manifest very similarly so, unless you know the person, it's hard to tell which is actually taking place.

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@"Al [^-^d]" I have found all the advice (except the one about reconsidering law school) helpful. This is why I thanked everyone for their advice and actually took a break today.

Just because I am disagreeing with parts of someone's statement doesn't mean I find all the advice given to me unhelpful

ENTJ · February 2015

@royaimani: I see. It's an understatement to say that we all incur an incredible amount of stress studying for this test. We all know the ridiculous strain and sacrifice that is required to do all that we can to score well. I hope you're able to decompress and re-focus yourself so that you're optimizing your study time. I wish you well! Good luck!

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@"Al [^-^d]" thank you. Good luck go you and everyone else too! #wegotthis

emli1000 · February 2015

Take 2-3 days off if you don't want to take a lot of time off. I'm sure that you've been studying a lot and it's starting to build stress on yourself. But don't let that get the best of you! Instead go to the beach or do something that you actually enjoy and miss doing since you've been dedicating all of your time prepping for the LSAT. Trust me, once you open those books again you'll be refreshed and you might actually tackle all 50 of those questions in a breeze! Then you may need to get in the habit of probably taking 2 days off during the week, if you don't already do so. I always feel so guilty taking a day off. I feel like it's a day I could be advancing 6-8 hours of my study time. But you also have to give your mind a break. Because if you don't it won't be pretty in the long run. Since there's 4 months left until the June LSAT all of that stress/burnout can build up and those last couple of weeks before the LSAT can be terrifying. Such as your score will not be where you want it at because by this time (end of may) your mind is over it and no longer cares for this test. Trust me. The power is in the mind so you def need to give a break at least once a week.

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@emli1000 thank you. I took today off. I think I'll go back to lsat tomorrow. I kinda miss it lol its weird.

Nilesh S · February 2015

@royaimani Please don't get me wrong and I apologize if I have offended you... but this is the exact same advise that WAS INDEED offered to me when I had a similar problem as yours.... I took a 2 week long break and was able to put in long hours again... the point that I was trying to get across is that chances are if you take the break... you will be rejuvenated and will be back to where you can put in time into the LSAT... that said... if you can't put in the time after AFTER said break (note how this is premised on a HYPOTHETICAL if ... I'm not telling you that law school is not for you) ... then this is something that you will have to assess for yourself... because the LSAT is designed to roughly mimic the kind of strain & time commitment that you will be under and will be required to make when you go to law school... of course... none of this is directed at you personally... No one... certainly not me is telling you to reconsider law school... my exact statement was
"if it still is, then you have got to ask your self the tough question... is this really what you want... chances are that if you can't handle LSAT prep, law school is not for you..."
As you yourself said... law school is for anyone who wants to go to law school... the fundamental question that you may have to assess if after a break you still don't want to put in the long hours is "is this really what you want" (middle of my para) ... because if you do... you will find it in you to put the continuous time... Both me and a friend doing a grad program were prepping for the LSAT... (he was with Testmasters... he took a break came back to prep and tarted again... but would invariably end up prepping for courses and TA assignments instead... at the cost of his lsat prep... he ultimately decided he was happy doing the PhD... so he didn't give the test)
The question is not whether law school is for you because of any quality or any such thing... but whether you want it enough to work for it post break... that said as @blah170blah has pointed out... you do seem to desire it enough so go for it. @royaimani ...I hope I'm clearer here and my apologies to you again... my views are premised upon and shaped by my experiences and not meant to be offensive or demeaning.And thank you for your wishes... and yes in response to your question there were plenty of people telling me that law school was not for me... some good friends, some relatives... and some old profs... I made sure to send them all an email thanking them for their support along with a scanned copy of the acceptance letter especially the handwritten note from the Dean of Admissions. Not to gloat or anything... but it did feel good... gave me a cheap kick

Team N - 1: Haters - 0 !!! Especially that uncle of mine... I wish I could see his face... On second thoughts maybe not... given that its as ugly as S*** (all caps).... but I digress... All the best!

ENTJ · February 2015

@"Nilesh S" You forgot to drop the mike and walk away.

Nilesh S · February 2015

@"Al [^-^d]" LOL... yeah I did get carried away at the end... but I was having such a GOOD time

jdawg113 · February 2015

yeah the worst part about this test is once you understand it and what prepping really entails it becomes your life almost and anything not LSAT related makes you feel guilty but you have to fight the guilt and find something to distract you and take some time off. Luckily theres plenty of time before June so theres more time you can take off, later down the road a day wont kill you but you dont want to take much more off, now you can get a few days off to relax and refresh your brain. Take advantage of your situation and think in terms of what is best for you rather than LSATISLIFE mindset we all tend to get

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@"Nilesh S" I'm glad you were able to prove those people wrong.

@jdawg113 thanks for the advice.

Erika123 · February 2015

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jameskicksa/35-signs-you-are-studying-for-the-lsat-b2tp#.ec0GWBxANZ

35 signs you are studying for the lsat

#10 makes me so sad

I had a life before, I talked to real people.

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@Erika123 I've seen that buzzfeed article before. It's on point with everything.
I used to be known as the person full of excitement. I am now considered boring....lol

harrismegan · February 2015

ahaha OH my god yes. Someone recently called me boring and it made me so sad. I just need my sleep so I can LSAT, okay? Is that so hard to ask

haha

[Deleted User] · February 2015

@harrismegan don't worry, 7sagers don't consider you boring.

What's more fun than logic games?! Wish my friends could play logic game with me. Lol

Alexander.1989 · February 2015

"Wish my friends could play logic game with me." um...... yeah, you need direct sunlight! ASAP

[Deleted User] · February 2015

OK lol

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