Experimental section

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• 1 Like

  Achen165 Member

  February 2020 656 karma

  Not knowing which section was experimental while taking the exam adds a tad of stress to the mix— hoping that when there was a section I felt more confident in would be included in the scored portion, hoping that a section with a dreaded logic game would be the experimental, for example. I feel that I’m stressed about it only depending on how I feel the sections went in the moment, but gauging how things feel like they went on test day is incredibly hard because of all around stress. Test day nerves do different things to different people— for some it heightens senses knowing it’s the real thing and a slight score bump may ensue (rarer...lucky people), nerves make some flustered and make mistakes they normally wouldn’t (maybe they are rushing feeling the pressure of the clock), pacing errors moving slower trying not to make a mistake and hit less questions than they typically do in practice (me!), it can be hard to know what type of test taker you are even based on standardized test experience as the LSAT is more stressful for most and you might not even know until you take the real deal. I would say that if you do enough timed 5 section exams in practice, or even 6 if you really want to push yourself, you will not feel the effects of time. Practice tests tend to pass quickly to me, and test day adrenaline is a variant factor at play. From a purely objective perspective, I would expect score fluctuations due to different curves/ test formats, slight variations in the distribution of question types, familiarity with RC subjects. Maintaining mental stamina is the result of mental training and simulating test conditions as best as possible so you won’t feel fatigued by the length of the entire exam, and simply having the discipline to work on LSAT for multiple consecutive hours on end, without breaks, checking phone, snacking, multitasking, etc. Most people experience test day score drops, though a variety of factors are at play.

  Bottom line: don’t stress about the experimental section, but definitely try to include extra sections in practice tests to be prepared. Khan Academy has 5 section digital exams without you knowing which is experiential until you see your score, very much like the real LSAT.
• 1 Like

  Granger Danger Alum Member

  February 2020 717 karma

  I took the September test and the experimental section was the easier of the two games sections I had. (which is soul crushing if you read in the September 2019 test comments how brutal the actual games section was. Most of us got wrecked.)

  Also in the January test comments I'm reading that the experimental section again was easier. Food for thought.
• 1 Like

  dcstyles51 Alum Member

  February 2020 320 karma

  @achen013
  Woah, that was crazy detailed! Thank you so much for the response! I just pray I'm the one who does better under pressure lol. I'll try practicing with five sections from here on out, thank you!
• dcstyles51 Alum Member

  February 2020 320 karma

  @"espresso patronum"
  I did read about that, mostly only the flowers game. I'm sorry that was the test you got stuck with, sounded really difficult. I will keep what you said in mind!
• 1 Like

  Granger Danger Alum Member

  February 2020 717 karma

  @dcstyles51 thank you, it did totally suck, but I made me realize that my process for LG was pretty haphazard at best. @Sami and @"Cant Get Right"'s process on games is incredible. Joined their call last week for the dino game and I am so glad I did. I have notes if you want.
• 1 Like

  taschasp Alum Member Sage ⭐

  February 2020 796 karma

  Practice doing a few timed 5-section PTs, by breaking apart one PT into 4 sections and adding each of those sections at the end of 4 other PTs. So if you're doing PTs 70-74, you break apart PT 70 and add a section of it to PT 71, 72, 73 and 74 respectively. Then once you're done those, you can score PT 70 as if it was its own regular practice exam.

  Other than that, don't worry about the experimental. Treat every section on the actual LSAT as if its a scored section, and just do your best. Don't waste any energy on test day trying to speculate which sections are real and which one is not.