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Words of advice

keets993keets993 Alum Member 🍌
in General 6045 karma

Anyone have advice or motivation for someone who is starting to doubt themselves and their reasoning as test day approaches?

Comments

  • lsatstudy18lsatstudy18 Alum Member
    156 karma
  • The NoodleyThe Noodley Alum Member
    662 karma

    I do; I tend to second guess myself in LR after first round usually change from right to wrong; now unless I have preponderant evidence that my initial choice is wrong, I switch;

  • JO_OderahJO_Oderah Alum Member
    36 karma

    nice article above! No need to worry! If you don't like your score you can always take it again! And now it is offered like 10 times a year instead of just 3! It's natural to feel nervous, but if you have prepared and put the effort in, all you can do now is just leave the rest to the universe.

  • BumblebeeBumblebee Member
    edited January 2019 640 karma

    I share your sentiments. I've started to doubt myself in RC especially as the test day approaches. Personally, to cope with anxiety, I've come up with a study plan for March and June LSAT (to remind myself there are second and third chances!)

    But I am determined to take this week's exam with what I have now. I hope to treat it as another PT and accept my current skills and their consequences.

    If you are determined to take this week's exam, try to replicate what you've done these past months of prep and delay your worries, doubts, and analysis until after the exam is done.

    Thank you for your post and those who wrote helpful comments. This was therapeutic for me. :)

    Best luck to all of us!

  • akistotleakistotle Member 🍌🍌
    9372 karma

    Honestly, I don’t think I can give you good advice because I screwed up the real LSAT many times. (Like many times 😅) I had been emotionally drained and felt crushed because of this test.

    But it’s important to remember that it’s just a test. Don’t worry about it. If it doesn’t go well, you can take it again!

    I got the score I needed when I stopped caring about it.

  • Quick SilverQuick Silver Alum Inactive Sage
    1049 karma

    It's a marathon, not a sprint. I also agree with the detachment mindset Akistotle shared above.

    Perhaps most important, trust yourself - trust your gut. At the end of the day, you're the one taking this test, going to law school, and putting in the hours as an attorney. So trust yourself and do what's right for YOU.

    If that means you're ready, great (we can feel nervous even when we're in a good place). If it means you need more time to study, trust your gut. It may mean taking the test and canceling. But you know yourself best. Not family, significant others, friends. You're the one who is taking this exam and living with the consequences. So trust your own instincts on taking the exam. strategies, everything.

  • SLP_futureJDSLP_futureJD Alum Member
    464 karma

    @keets993 expressing solidarity with you! I'm feeling similar but plan to use the rest of this afternoon and tomorrow to decompress and keep my mind busy with things other than the LSAT. Saturday is just another test- I know I've taken a bunch and I'm sure you have too. We've got this- truly!

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    "Fear, as it turns out, is indeed a liar."

    Wow applaud

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    edited January 2019 1694 karma

    If you fail now, at least you know you tried and simply failed. Failure is ok. Every closed door is just a reminder to all the other paths you have, and look at all the friends you've made on the way, jumping to help you. If humans were meant to succeed in everything they tried, things like exploration, passion, pursuit, and even life itself would be meaningless. But don't give up.
    Life will probably not simply hand good fortune and success to you, and even if it did, that would have no meaning. Failure has to be possible, and it will occur. However, it's when we keep going with our heads up, in spite of failure that makes life meaningful and worth living.
    Fate can throw at us both fortune and misfortune, but to have the choice and attitude to face either bravely is true fortune, and to hide, avoid, sulk, or lose sight of your path, regardless of whether that path is the right path, is to doom yourself to misfortune. You will never have the satisfaction of having tried your best, and you will never experience the catharsis of moving on and becoming stronger.
    So keep on the path and pay no attention to distraction, and when the time comes that it truly doesn't make sense to keep going, if it truly wasn't your fate to walk that path, then embrace your departure from that path gracefully. But only think about that after you finished your task at hand.
    Everything in life can be taken away from us, everything except our attitude. Viktor Frankl said something along those lines, and as times get darker, we must hold these words closer.
    Keep your mind positive, and instead of letting the pain, doubt, anxiety bury you, become a flame so that when they try to cover you, they simply become your fuel. And when you finish, the journey would have been so much more meaningful because of the obstacles.
    Try to remember what motivated you in the first place, whether that be the goal of helping others, helping ourselves, acquiring prestige or wealth or wisdom, or maybe just for the sake of a challenge in itself; remember the positive thoughts and feelings, and let them guide you; remember those thoughts and use them to turn your pain, doubt, and anxiety from intangible injuries into steps, so that by the end, whether you succeed or fail, you will be standing higher.
    Hope this ramble helps somehow?

  • keepcalmandneuronkeepcalmandneuron Alum Member
    470 karma

    @Bamboosprout said:
    If you fail now, at least you know you tried and simply failed. Failure is ok. Every closed door is just a reminder to all the other paths you have, and look at all the friends you've made on the way, jumping to help you. If humans were meant to succeed in everything they tried, things like exploration, passion, pursuit, and even life itself would be meaningless. But don't give up.
    Life will probably not simply hand good fortune and success to you, and even if it did, that would have no meaning. Failure has to be possible, and it will occur. However, it's when we keep going with our heads up, in spite of failure that makes life meaningful and worth living.
    Fate can throw at us both fortune and misfortune, but to have the choice and attitude to face either bravely is true fortune, and to hide, avoid, sulk, or lose sight of your path, regardless of whether that path is the right path, is to doom yourself to misfortune. You will never have the satisfaction of having tried your best, and you will never experience the catharsis of moving on and becoming stronger.
    So keep on the path and pay no attention to distraction, and when the time comes that it truly doesn't make sense to keep going, if it truly wasn't your fate to walk that path, then embrace your departure from that path gracefully. But only think about that after you finished your task at hand.
    Everything in life can be taken away from us, everything except our attitude. Viktor Frankl said something along those lines, and as times get darker, we must hold these words closer.
    Keep your mind positive, and instead of letting the pain, doubt, anxiety bury you, become a flame so that when they try to cover you, they simply become your fuel. And when you finish, the journey would have been so much more meaningful because of the obstacles.
    Try to remember what motivated you in the first place, whether that be the goal of helping others, helping ourselves, acquiring prestige or wealth or wisdom, or maybe just for the sake of a challenge in itself; remember the positive thoughts and feelings, and let them guide you; remember those thoughts and use them to turn your pain, doubt, and anxiety from intangible injuries into steps, so that by the end, whether you succeed or fail, you will be standing higher.
    Hope this ramble helps somehow?

    You sir have just levelled up to adult bamboo from a sprout. Well done. So beautifully written. :smiley:

  • btownsqueebtownsquee Alum Member
    1207 karma

    We've done problems together for a while--your reasoning is always rock solid. You've helped me and countless others on these forums with motivation, study techniques, and LSAT reasoning. On Saturday, you get to showcase what you've already known for so long! I'm rooting for you! You got this!!

  • salonpapassalonpapas Member
    138 karma

    @Bamboosprout said:
    If you fail now, at least you know you tried and simply failed. Failure is ok. Every closed door is just a reminder to all the other paths you have, and look at all the friends you've made on the way, jumping to help you. If humans were meant to succeed in everything they tried, things like exploration, passion, pursuit, and even life itself would be meaningless. But don't give up.
    Life will probably not simply hand good fortune and success to you, and even if it did, that would have no meaning. Failure has to be possible, and it will occur. However, it's when we keep going with our heads up, in spite of failure that makes life meaningful and worth living.
    Fate can throw at us both fortune and misfortune, but to have the choice and attitude to face either bravely is true fortune, and to hide, avoid, sulk, or lose sight of your path, regardless of whether that path is the right path, is to doom yourself to misfortune. You will never have the satisfaction of having tried your best, and you will never experience the catharsis of moving on and becoming stronger.
    So keep on the path and pay no attention to distraction, and when the time comes that it truly doesn't make sense to keep going, if it truly wasn't your fate to walk that path, then embrace your departure from that path gracefully. But only think about that after you finished your task at hand.
    Everything in life can be taken away from us, everything except our attitude. Viktor Frankl said something along those lines, and as times get darker, we must hold these words closer.
    Keep your mind positive, and instead of letting the pain, doubt, anxiety bury you, become a flame so that when they try to cover you, they simply become your fuel. And when you finish, the journey would have been so much more meaningful because of the obstacles.
    Try to remember what motivated you in the first place, whether that be the goal of helping others, helping ourselves, acquiring prestige or wealth or wisdom, or maybe just for the sake of a challenge in itself; remember the positive thoughts and feelings, and let them guide you; remember those thoughts and use them to turn your pain, doubt, and anxiety from intangible injuries into steps, so that by the end, whether you succeed or fail, you will be standing higher.
    Hope this ramble helps somehow?

    Wow. This truly helped. Thank you so much!!

  • keets993keets993 Alum Member 🍌
    6045 karma

    Thanks everyone for your kind words!!

    @akistotle I would love to know your whole journey sometime!
    @Bamboosprout I love your posts as always. For me, it wasn't necessarily about fear of failure (and I don't think you can 'fail' when you've worked so hard) but...well I'm still not entirely sure what it was all about yet.
    @btownsquee thanks girl <3 <3

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    edited January 2019 1694 karma

    @keets993 said:
    Thanks everyone for your kind words!!

    @Bamboosprout I love your posts as always. For me, it wasn't necessarily about fear of failure (and I don't think you can 'fail' when you've worked so hard) but...well I'm still not entirely sure what it was all about yet.

    Ahhh, my bad. I assumed you were talking about burnout, and I further assumed that burnout is simply when the seeming cost of doing something edged higher than the benefit. And I shouldn't have assumed, but when I saw the message, it was the day before the test, and I wanted to just say something asap. So when I say failure, I meant whatever result you would get that wasn't able to create a benefit greater than the cost, this could mean a lower LSAT score than hoped.
    Hahaha, we all know that "you can[not] 'fail' when you've worked so hard" logically, but I think very few of us truly believe that emotionally and psychologically.

    Hope everything is well for you, did you take the test last weekend?

  • keets993keets993 Alum Member 🍌
    6045 karma

    @Bamboosprout yes I know you had the best of intentions and were provided words that you hoped would bring comfort 💕 and they did!

    I did take it. I saw your post btw, and proud of you, for learning from your mistakes. I had a similar urge to change an ac but resisted.

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    @keets993 said:
    @Bamboosprout yes I know you had the best of intentions and were provided words that you hoped would bring comfort 💕 and they did!

    I did take it. I saw your post btw, and proud of you, for learning from your mistakes. I had a similar urge to change an ac but resisted.

    makes me smile

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