Taking PTs under nerve-racking conditions

Comments

• nye8870 Alum ⭐

  October 2015 1749 karma

  Hi there. I have taken the LSAT twice and can attest to the fact that it is highly unlikely the environment is going to be anywhere near as loud or distracting as you experienced in the library. However, I also would not look at it as a wasted PT. The lesson learned, at least, is that allowing yourself to be distracted/lose focus officially can play a factor in your score. The take away could be to work on tuning out whatever might be going on around you. That being said, for most/rest of your PTs, it is not necessary to artificially throw yourself into conditions that are pretty far off from what you will experience on test day. For my money, I figured out that the most detrimental distractions to me were my own meandering thoughts (which killed me the first time around). This October I had a plan to push my own self back on track the second I felt my mind wandering off track and it helped a lot. Good luck!
• harrismegan Member

  October 2015 2074 karma

  @nye8870 said:
  Hi there. I have taken the LSAT twice and can attest to the fact that it is highly unlikely the environment is going to be anywhere near as loud or distracting as you experienced in the library.
  

  I would agree with this. I took it twice and both times my room was completely silent and amazing. No distractions at all. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
  
• danielznelson Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  October 2015 4181 karma

  I would definitely focus on providing a variety of settings, but not necessarily in terms of noisiness. I actually thought about purposely finding a noisier environment, but there really isn't anything to gain aside from a potential, psychological boost. If anything, the quiet during the actual test could then throw you off! The most important things in my opinion are to A. simulate as closely as possible the likely environment and B. take the test in several locations.
  
  I'm guessing you were at a university library. If so, try a public one, check out the crowd, and then consider taking it there. You definitely want to be ready for some noise... but primarily those in the category of loud AC, pencil-tapping, clock-ticking, et cetera. I'm hoping to find a sound clip (extended, of course) of an actual test-taking class session of any type. The coughing, sniffling, and other sounds aforementioned may eventually irk me.
• DaveH162 Alum Member

  October 2015 221 karma

  @danielznelson download the 7Sage app and use the proctor tool. You can adjust settings for background noise and distractions
• allergic Alum Member Inactive Sage

  October 2015 246 karma

  I took one PT in the quiet room at a library and the rest in my house with no distractions. During the real thing, a couple of the proctors were talking near me, which was distracting, but I don't think it affected my score. I don't think practicing with distractions would have helped me, but maybe it would for you, hard to say. It sounds like you had too many distractions for your recent PT though.
• danielznelson Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  October 2015 4181 karma

  @DaveH162 Thanks! I actually have the app and thought they had such a feature... but forgot about it entirely. Maybe I thought I had only dreamed about it? Who knows. But this will be a huge help. Thanks again.