The Importance of Practicing How You Test

Test day can be a lot. Part of what can make it feel stressful are the stakes, but a lot of the discomfort students feel has more to do with other stuff. Put simply, test day comes with lots of new rules and new weird circumstances. 

You can pre-empt a lot of that stress by making sure that neither the rules nor the circumstances feel new to you. Here’s how you can practice how you test:

1. Turn off your phone and lock it away in a different room

If I get a little overwhelmed (or, frankly, bored), I pull out my phone to check texts, email, and sports scores. When can you not do that? During the actual LSAT. 

It sounds silly, but being separated from your phone during the LSAT can cause added stress if it feels like a new unusual thing. The thing you’re able to access all day, every day is suddenly separated from you. Taking practice tests with your phone on airplane mode and in a different room can help acclimate you to this feeling. It’ll feel like no big deal to be phoneless on test day if you were phoneless during your practice exams. 

2. Don’t go crazy with the bathroom breaks

It’s tempting to use any section break during a practice test to run to the bathroom. Don’t! Forcing yourself to get on the official LSAT break schedule during your practice tests will make you feel much more comfortable with all the break rules that come with test day. 

3. Simulate the proctor experience

Students sometimes dislike the experience of having a proctor watch them when they take their tests. I certainly did when I took the test myself for the first time. But the proctor experience is replicable during PTs and that practice can make it feel much easier on game day. Try the 7Sage proctor app! Or, have a friend sit on Zoom with you while you take a PT—bonus points if you ask them to interrupt you once or twice. In a pinch, record yourself via Zoom so you can at least have the experience of testing with the green “record” light on.

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