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Hitting a fence
notlegallyblonde
Member
I wouldn't say I am hitting a wall with studying, but I've definitely hit a fence.
I am forcing myself to maintain my study schedule, which I am proud of. Still, I can't stay focused while trying to retain information. I constantly feel like everything is just dragging on.
I've implemented some measures to stay engaged (basically, printing out everything everything possible to be able to take more specific notes) but I cannot seem to shift my mentality.
If you have had to overcome this kind of issue, I'd love to hear how. I know this type of thinking will not do me any good.
Comments
When I find myself struggling to stay focused I take a day off and do something I really enjoy and reflect on where I want to be in the future. It gives me a boost if motivation. I also started going to the gym frequently to relieve stress and to just focus on myself before studying. It could also be that you are studying for long periods of time which can lead to the burnout. An hour of effective studying is better that 3 hours of dragging along! Hope this helps!!!
If you feel burned out, I recommend taking a break and really re-evaluating your approach on studying. Are you spending enough time reviewing your mistakes? Are you doing too many practice sections or practice tests? What are your weak sections? Are their particular question-types you are struggling with? What is your diet and sleep habits like? All of the answers to these questions are relevant as they are what can really allow you lock back into your studying with laser focus and allow you to overcome the plateau/fence that you're struggling against.
Keep in mind, this is also a difficult exam with a significant amount of remarkably intelligent people seeking to score at least above the 80th percentile (160+) - so it's really important to maintain an attitude based in mindfulness and humility. I started off at a 144 diagnostic and I'm now PTing at the mid 160s - one thing that I've learned for certain is that whenever I have experienced a plateau in my studying, it means that my attitude and my approach to evaluating problems and mistakes have been wrong - it helps to reach out to a tutor or another high-scoring test-taker for their input. However, externalizing your doubts and referring to an expert(s) as you are is one step, the next step is resilience and hard-work to follow-through on their feedback/guidance.
Remember, you can do this.
Hello @ruhlena1 , I agree with @malevolent-saint , to me it sounds like a you're experiencing 'burn out' I've been there, a couple times, and so has just about everyone. The consensus is clear on what to do and generally everyone is better off for it. Take a day or two off and completely disconnect from the LSAT. DO something that you enjoy and really forget about the LSAT. The more I am able to disconnect from the LSAT the better I felt and more motivated I was to get back to studying.
A note about your study schedule, it is just an arbitrary schedule, people learn and progress differently. If you are following a pre planned then likely the plan just divided up the amount of material by the date you want to complete it. Plus, you may learn one thing faster than others and you might learn other things slower than others, but on average you'll complete the course in the same amount of time. I use to force myself to study on days I did not want to and that made me not like the LSAT and my score suffered. Now however, when I am not feeling the LSAT, I stop and come back to it the next day. Give your brain a rest.
Quality studying is way better than mediocre studying, I learned this the hard way. 2 hours of great studying is better than 6 hours of mediocre studying. Lastly, if you are still in the CC, then take your time and get the fundamentals down. For whatever your goal score is you'll have to put in the time to get there you'll either put the time in upfront or later when BR'n PTs. I think it is better to get the fundamentals down in the CC first so you do not use up valuable PTs.
The test is learnable, You got this!
Depending on how demanding your training regimen is, you may just need a little break. It's not quitting or weakness, just letting your brain rebuild and rejuvenate. I hit my wall the week prior to the June test and my scores dropped by 5+ points, which reflected on my actual test. After taking a couple weeks off, my first practice test was 10 points higher than my official June LSAT score. No amount of studying could get me over the wall. Just some time away so I could come at it with some energy and focus again.
Ruhlena I felt that a few days ago and I took some days off. My fear is when I feel like I'm in a rut and continue, I'm developing bad habits.
I used to lift weights and a common piece of advice was "listen to your body."
As concerns the LSAT, it's more like listen to your brain, emotions, etc. When I'm "sore," it tells me I need to take a break before I do more harm than good.
I had to get over the fear of, "If I take time off I won't get the highest score possible." Now it's the opposite.
Also, sometimes we have other obligations--family, work, school--and that's just the nature of studying for this test.
Thank you all for your words of wisdom! I was certain what I was feeling wasn't burn out but after a few days away from the LSAT I realized I was just fooling myself and definitely feeling burnt to a crisp.
I'll be traveling this weekend to look at one of the cities of some law schools I'll be applying to. Monday I'll resume studying -- hopefully with a fresh mentality