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Related Discussions
Riddled with Anxiety??
Llama Whisperer
Alum Member
As the September test date is fast approaching I find myself feeling more and more anxious. I wrote the June sitting and did better than I usually do on the LG section (-3), while scoring average on the LR and RC, ending up with a 159.
Now that I am back to studying and PT-ing I am feeling more anxious that my September score will not improve, or may go down compared to June due to my better than expected score in the LG section. I really want 165+ and am super tense/anxious thinking about it all the time!
Any tips other than to just blind review and practice as much as I can?
Comments
I feel your anxiety. What is helping me through a similar situation is that I am focusing on trusting the process. Which is more likely: A. Your study efforts are making your knowledge / execution level the same or worse than it was when you sat down in June. or B. You will be more prepared in knowledge and execution techniques with 2+ more months of studying?
If your study habits are solid, you can not help but be in a better place for your next test. That's all we can do to prepare ourselves for that moment when the proctor says, "You may begin, now." At that point, just let it flow. This test is important, but the less importance we give it in our mind during execution, the more likely we are to follow through with the habits we've developed during our study, drilling, and practice.
Also, give yourself a chance to just soak it all in and truly assimilate the knowledge. There is such thing as trying / working too hard.
Good luck!
You probably need to lower expectations a ton. Your mindset seems to be going into this test, I have to ace "THIS" one test, when that is not necessary. Schools want the highest LSAT score. They don't care that you have multiple retakes. So treat it like another PT that is administered with a proctor.
Also, I suggest you find a meditation app on your phone. I use Calm. Others use Headspace.
I have always been a highly anxious person. What helps me is to realize that this is not my only opportunity to take the LSAT. It takes some of the pressure off when I think about the fact that this is not my only shot. Even if I bomb September, at least the test day experience will help me in November. Anxiety is the antithesis of test-day success. Anything that you can add to your routine to relax daily, weekly, etc will help you overall, too.
Agreeing with the above comments, and also, maybe you know this already, but the number of times you can take it was lifted. So no more "only 3 takes in 2 years" limit.
Be aware that you can always bail out the day before the September test and then take the test again in November. You can measure your progress and see if you are scoring better than a 158/9 in the days leading up to the test. If you find that you are not scoring consistently above this range the week before the test, you can always cancel, push to November and continue studying. This will help keep you focused on September, as you should be, but also gives you a solid contingency plan if you are not PTing in the 160's.
In terms of a general tip, I wouldn't worry about LG, as it is a section that you should be able to get down to a consistent -3 or better before September. If you have only some minor improvement in the other areas you will probably see some kind of a score increase.
Thank you everyone for the tips/tricks/words of wisdom!
I've been feeling this way too. Since May I've done nothing but study for the LSAT. To be fair, I took about 3 weeks off to travel and I didn't touch a single thing. I spent May-June finishing the CC and took 1 PT at the end of June and I only really began to PT twice a week since the start of August. I've seen gains for sure but still not where I want to be and I'm still getting used to the newer LSATs. I used to sit and study for easily 7 hours for 6 days a week. I'd wake up, shower, eat, study, break, eat, study, break, study, shower, sleep repeat. I turned into a zombie!! Now, I've taken an approach similar to @"samantha.ashley92"
I cut down my study time to 5 hours, I take frequent breaks, and I've changed my mentality. I've come to accept that I'll end up retaking or delaying for November and it sucks but it's better to take the LSAT when you're ready. The last few days I've been so anxious and I actually had an LSAT nightmare?? Lol. The point I wanna make is, the anxiety is something we can control or try to control. I have bad anxiety and it only comes out whenever I'm stressed about things such as family or school.
You can drill, FP, PT all you want but a big factor of your performance is your mindset. I'm a hypocrite for saying this because I'm struggling with it now and I've done nothing but trip myself up over the possible scenarios but try to figure out first: what you need to improve on. Then from there, decide your strategy: are you going to focus on perfecting your strengths? Or are you gonna tackle your weaknesses? Then, you need to think about the timeline. The September exam is coming up vs. the November exam; do you have anything in the future that may limit your study time? If you're like me, this is a huge concern as to why I prefer to take the September exam. I start my senior year of undergrad the week of the LSAT and I don't want to put myself through studying + school + working again. BUT, a perk of this is the fact that a tight schedule= efficiency in your study time. So once you figure that out, then comes the part of realizing what has to be done/ how you're going to do it/ AND how you're going to give yourself time to just relax in between it all.
Something that really helps my anxiety is doing literally whatever I want to relax. Whether it's Netflix, doing nothing for one day, staying in bed, going out, whatever! The times I've scored high on my PTs is the times where I went into it with nothing on my mind. Nothing. Why? Because I was relaxed and confident. The times I've done horrible (basically the last 3 PTs) is because I'm anxious. I can't sleep the night before so I get a bad sleep, then I'm stressed about my score among other things.
You can overcome the anxiety! And you've overcome half the battle already. To make your jump you just need to change up your strategy a bit. Best of luck