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Freakout: Commence!
Hey all 
I've never started a thread on this board so here it goes. I'm sure everyone has a bad PT every now and then, but I just had my first major PT fumble since starting my studies. It really feels like a kick in the gut in the confidence department. I'm sure this is a problem most people have and I'm really just bringing the drama (I tend to do that), but what are some tips you all have about getting over the initial freakout period in cases like this?
Here's some background. My highest PT is a 171, my lowest is a 161 (not counting my diagnostic), and my average is about a 167. I just got a 162 on a PT (BR 169). I do two PTs a week with blind review, studying about 30 hours a week in total (I'm a freelance editor so I'm hashtagblessed with a flexible schedule). I've been plateauing between 166-168 for a while now so I was kind of hoping my first foray out of that bracket for weeks wouldn't be a significant drop. And what my BR tells me is twofold: one, PR and PF questions are going to haunt my dreams until the end of days and two, timing really makes me lose my shit. Tips on how to quell clock-related anxiety are much appreciated because my heart rate enters "girl you may need an elephant tranquilizer" territory real quick.
I can't tell if I want to just halt PTs for a little and hit the ground running tomorrow drilling my weaknesses or just take a few days off completely. But if I'm being real, I just need to vent my frustrations with people who get the pressure we put ourselves under. People around me are understandably a little baffled that I'm beating the crap out of myself for what seems like no reason. Anyway, I appreciate you getting to the end of this and if I had medals to hand out, I totally would. Any feedback is appreciated since my current approach of crying buckets full of crazy LSAT tears is, you know, not the best.
Comments
Well it sounds like you got one bad egg score out of the other good scores, but I like to think regardless of how the test went there is always something that can be learned, whether that be readjusting your testing conditions a bit, or that really hard RC are actually impossible RCs or anything like that! 30 a week hours is a lot of time to be working your brain on this crap! My suggestion is to take this weekend off starting Friday at 5pm until Monday at 9am, and go outside (nature has healing properties); read a book by a large tree, watch some squirrels play, go swimming, have an evening fire and use past LSAT's as fuel for the fire, or. I think some much needed time off would be really beneficial. I totally get the frustration of doing stellar and then dropping the ball and having a bad test, that pit in your stomach and the frustration and feeling like you won't get into law school, but don't beat yourself up! At the end of the day all this test is are words on a paper. Take it on the chin and pick yourself up and get ready to kick some ass!!!
I think you're 100% right.
My dad is a lawyer so he did go through this test too (although he wasn't quite as nuts about it as we sagers are for the most part lol) and he said the same thing. A hike in the woods really does sound like what the doctor ordered at this point. All this test and screen time can't be doing me any favors. And seriously, I do lose sight of the fact that the test is just a bunch of crap on paper. It starts looking like a monster after a while haha thanks for your feedback!
My recommendation would be to take the weekend off starting today and have a fresh game plan ready to implement on Monday 7/31. The calendar happens to falls in your favor as far as monthly goal setting: possibly set a goal that you want for the month of August after a 4 day rest. Possible suggestions for some August goals: a -0/-1/-2 on games (whichever you are closest to), no confidence errors on an LR section, a -3/-4 on RC, a -2/-1 on a repeat RC section etc. The great thing about an LSAT community is that many others have been where you are and have overcome the setbacks that come on the road to a great score. These setbacks are going to happen, it is what we do when we have a setback that allows us to mature towards a better score.
My recommendation would be to do a few days, or an hour or two each day on some focused drilling next week. Ideally, come test day, if you want a high score, there cannot be a single question type you hope the test designers leave off the exam or not give that many of: for me, I used to hope I wouldn't see that many sufficient assumption questions and now I am happy when I see them. With enough practice, that which I used to fear, has given way to a genuine sense of confidence and curiosity about the question.
I hope this helps
David
Thanks a ton, David. The point I quoted above is so helpful (I honestly may write it down and put it on a sticky note on my laptop haha) and I will keep all of this in mind! I think making a game plan like you mentioned to drill weaknesses until they feel reflexive to me is the best way to go. At this point in my prep that feels like the most productive thing to do. I feel like I'm making silly mistakes on concepts I otherwise understand when I'm timed so recognizing correct and incorrect ACs quickly for things I struggle on is going to be a make-or-break thing. Thanks again, I really appreciate it!
Interesting I just did the same thing. Normally hitting the 167ish mark but today scored a 162. The worst on LG and LR I have done in awhile. No clue why and feel absolutely destroyed by it...
Same on LR here! I normally only get like -3 total and I kind of bombed. I also consistently get -1/-2 on RC and I completely messed up one passage today. That's so weird. Well if nothing else, there's solidarity comin' atcha from me. It really is such a discouraging feeling, especially since we both appear to be in the bracket that's so hard to break out of. A dip is the last thing our brains need
Yeah, something about the "modern tests" just does not click with me. I always see a score drop when I take them. However it normally doesn't drop this low, and I'm not sure what happened with LG I almost always go -1 there.
I'm actually in panic mode right now. I feel like the world dropped out from under me.
If you don't mind me asking, which PT was this? And I hear you. If I said I didn't sit there and have an absolute meltdown after seeing my score today, I'd be lying. It definitely feels like a wrench in the gears but knowing it's a normal part of LSAT progress is my only solace at the moment. (That and the meal I'm about to comfort eat tonight.)
Don't let one bad PT phase you at all.
As for the clock-related anxiety, yeah, I'll take any tips you have for that, haha. I just kind of rely on my confidence to get me through. I used to check the clock too much and that would cause me to create a negative feedback loop in my mind of me just checking more often, more anxious, and as a result I'd go slower. It totally sucked.
What eventually helped was me recording myself doing sections. It allowed me to see myself from the third person and know I'm good with my own pace. I used to footage from about 4-6 sections of LR to find out where I needed to pick up the pace and where I could afford to allocate that time (and how much time) if I needed it. It was also what eventually lead me to see I was looking up at the watch every minute and 15 seconds. I would then take sections without any clock or rushing myself and still find I'd made pretty good time. Again, this just gave me the confidence to know that the clock really isn't my enemy and only my weaknesses with the test are ...
Good luck going forward.
Take a break if you need it, but I don't think you're burned out as much as you are psyching yourself out. You've scored a 171! No one hits that by mistake.
PT 73 it was an absolute wrecking ball. Some of it was careless mistakes - others I'm still not sure what is going on....
I need to get on this filming myself thing! Also what does a great job of helping forget a bad PT is friends, and a fine bottle of cabernet sauvignon!
@"Alex Divine" What do you use to record yourself with?
gooseneck on amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JK70KUY?ref_=pfb_96cgblbc9kjnghhgf49j2ig475gd&tag=hydfbook0e-20&ascsubtag=pfb-P01-V01-O5-T1-HI-4DCJUB
This one for an iPhone 7+
@"Alex Divine" Thank you!
No problem! You'll definitely have a good experience with this one. Before this I used 2 different ones I got from Best Buy.
You know, I think you're right. I never shy away from a heavy workload so it likely is more of a psych-out situation. I definitely need to get on the whole filming thing too. I have a vague idea of where I'm sinking my time but a concrete representation would do a world of good I'm sure. Obviously my dream would be to hit or break 170 on test day but at this point, staying in my 168 zone would make me pretty damn happy. Thanks a ton for your input
And @Harrison_Pav I'll be hitting the wine hard tonight hahaha
@LSATcantwin The careless errors are the absolute worst. Sometimes I BR and I'm like what in the actual hell was I thinking with that answer the first time?? Can't afford that on test day ugh.
It's something I used to think was a bit too much, but now that I've seen how much it helps, I'm 100% sure I was wrong, lol. So definitely get on that. It decreased my "timing anxiety' by at least 40%
@"Alex Divine" That's music to my ears so I'll definitely try it, excessiveness be damned. I feel like a life of LSAT excess is sort of our brand here at 7Sage anyway lol
Clock-related anxiety? Buckets of tears?
This tread is pretty long and so I haven't read many of the comments, but I'll just say two things.
(1) You shouldn't be crying buckets of tears over this test on PTs. Mistakes on Pts are opportunities to shore up weak areas that you might not have noticed before. Perhaps that particular test really highlighted areas that weren't as stressed on the PTs where you scored @168. So, how you respond to this PT in your studies might actually have the benefit of foolproofing areas which weren't before--but didn't seem like they were too important to worry about.
Whether or not that way of construing the matter is the case, you always have to remember that PTs don't count. So you shouldn't have time anxiety when doing PTs (you just have to drill this thought into your head repeatedly, cause it gets shaken easily). That can only help you with your PTs--being collected and under control (partly cause it doesn't count) is better than being frantic for something that very few people will ever know about.
And notice what it does. Presumably, by doing the PTs-- and working on weak areas in response--will help your later PT scores improve (even if you hit small plateaus). With these higher, improved scores in hand--completed under calm conditions--your confidence can only grow as you great ready to take the real thing. You think "I scored between a 171-174 on the last five tests I've taken", and this helps you think that you can..no, you will do so again on the your actual test. That reduces the anxiety which, in turn, can't hurt and also is closer to your emotional state on PTs (and so more likely to mirror those PTs for performance).
So, in a circuitous way, I'm saying that you have to have a certain mindset towards the PTs and I think that the rest of the psychological benefits (and score benefits) will tend to follow.
(2) Next test that you do, try to answer every question calmly and don't worry about finishing each section. That's not saying that you go extra slow--be brisk--but make sure that nothing you do is rushed or a product of freaking out.
Afterward, see where you are. Presumably, there will be some sections where all the questions won't be answered. Prehaps you didn't get to that last LG. But I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised at the amount you're able to do. And you'll know that that's basically your timing floor. You'll know where you're at under that floor; and you can just discount some of that score as being a product of the calm pace at which you approached the test. When doing this, also practice skipping!
I hope this is at all helpful. The main thing is that there's death, heart-break, doc review and so on to cry buckets of tears over in the world---no need to add LSAT PTs to the mix.
Much more than luck--A.c.S
@acsimon This is all so helpful. Thank you for such a thoughtful response! (And the buckets of tears comment was pretty tongue-in-cheek, don't worry. Just trying to make fun of myself and my drama a bit.
) You're totally right. I also am going to use the method you put forth as I continue doing sections and PTs and I'm sitting here right now wondering why I didn't think of it haha My mindset going into PTs is always so unhealthy and I really believe using this method is going to set me on a better, more productive course. Thanks again!
@"Maddie Distasio" So I couldn't let that test beat me yesterday. I went home and relaxed after work. Today I came back and redid the LG. I went -0 with over 8min to spare. I know it helps having seen the games yesterday, but LG is always my best section. I am going to tentatively wright that low score off as a bad day. Just going to keep it in the back of my mind as a reminder that all it takes is a lack of focus and the test will over take you.
-5 to -0!
@LSATcantwin Awesome job! Always good to kick your confidence back up and it's reassuring to remind yourself that you're fundamentally sound. It really is crazy how one little thing can totally throw you. I'm taking the weekend off to reset but will hit the ground running using the tips I got on this thread to muscle through again on Monday.