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Panic with timed work, pls help

quinwhitquinwhit Member
in General 40 karma

Hi! I’m having some trouble, if anyone can help me out, I would greatly appreciate it.

So, I’ve been studying for a couple months. I’ve been diligent with solidifying the general theory and question specific approaches. I enjoy learning this material and the ‘problem solving/puzzle’ aspect of LR and AR. I feel comfortable when I drill untimed or do the questions in the explanatory videos before watching them, and I see that my thinking is line with what JY has been teaching us. I also solve questions at a decent pace.

But the second I start to do some timed work, I completely freeze. I get so panicked! I reread stimuli multiple times and the answer choices still seem like they belong to another question. I only answer on ‘gut feelings’ that I can’t even explain during the practice. I’m VERY slow (about 15 questions answered per section), and to top it off I get increasingly panicked with every question. I spend more time partially reading and skipping around questions without making sense of anything.

I don’t have anxiety and I’m a relaxed person, even with school. I’ve tried to cover the timer for the problem sets, but just knowing that the timer is going is enough for me to freeze and significantly underperform.

I’m very frustrated because I know what I’m doing and how to do this test, but there is a barrier with actual performance. Does anyone have any advice or experience with something like this?

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Comments

  • FutureLawyer77FutureLawyer77 Member
    375 karma

    I have experienced something very similar when doing timed full exams. Would love advice as well.

  • jpgreensteinjpgreenstein Member
    136 karma

    honestly, I had this problem too. What helped was asking myself why am I freezing? I answer "Well I'm scared I am going to not finish and get them all wrong" It's this flight or fight instinct that you have to overcome and the best way is to keep doing things timed, completely bombing it/not finishing,take a breath, BR the questions, review your wrong answers, and repeat. Overtime you will get over this fear that takes over when you freeze up and you kind of develop an internal clock that just knows when you are spending too much time on a question and helps you keep pace to the point where you barely look at the timer.

    NB. A separate tactic that also helps is to take 10 secs to breath and reset when you freeze up. Close your eyes, count in your head, and then get back to work refreshed.

  • legallybrown2000legallybrown2000 Member
    51 karma

    I have this same problem, following for advice.

  • sakethsaran1998-1sakethsaran1998-1 Alum Member
    246 karma

    I can completely relate to this.I was in your place a few months ago. After a certain point untimed work does more bad than good (Like burning through prep tests) Make it a habit to do only timed drills and timed sections. You can always BR later and get a better understanding of the question untimed later. As I started doing only timed drills/sections I realized I my thinking process improved drastically under timed conditions in the matter of a few weeks. I went from panicking under time and wasting 3 mins on each question to finishing the section with 6-7 minutes to spare so I could go back to the questions I flagged. If I could go back in time and give myself one piece of LSAT advice it would be to stop doing drills /tests/ sections untimed.

  • DINOSAURDINOSAUR Member
    591 karma

    I had the same problem, and I still do, but it's much better now. When I freeze, I close my eyes and take a deep breath for some seconds, consciously relax my muscles (shoulders, legs, arms), then come back, I feel much better and can start thinking again. You should try this!

  • goforbrokegoforbroke Core Member
    320 karma

    I agree with @jpgreenstein. Examine why you are panicking because there are probably ingrained beliefs and cognitive distortions. Bring them out to the light and examine them one by one. Just bringing them into the realm of conscious thought can help dispel them.

    -Is it an overall fear that you won't do well on the exam? Well that's not true. You KNOW how to do these questions.
    -Is it that you feel you HAVE to do well? Tell yourself, you will do well, you put in the work. Plus with score preview, you can cancel and take it again, you have a built-in dress rehearsal!
    -Is it plain old fear? That the LSAT defines you? Well, it doesn't. You are a full, intelligent and capable person. Would it be nice to do well on the LSAT? Yes. But is it the end of the world? Definitely not. And like I said, this isn't a once-in-a-lifetime thing, you can take it again.

    Also maybe you can make smaller timed problem sets, maybe 5 questions, and start from there. When you start to panic, just take a deep breath (I'm serious, literally take a deep breath) and think about why it is that you are panicking. I would also recommend actually writing out your reasons for panicking under timed conditions, and even talking about it with someone. Not to get therapy, but the process itself (of self-disclosure and saying things out loud) can be tremendously helpful.

    Final two points:
    1) Remain relentlessly positive in your self-talk. Tell yourself: stay calm, I can do this.
    2) Exposure therapy: Expose yourself to timed conditions until they are no longer hold this grip over you.

    This doesn't mean some anxiety won't remain. I still get a little more amped up and nervous taking PTs. But that's normal. I hope this helps!

  • quinwhitquinwhit Member
    40 karma

    Thank you all very much, I really appreciate the advice and I think the tips will definitely work :)

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