Quick Tip: Don’t Forget LSAT Writing!

Since the LSAT writing sample isn’t scored, it’s easy to skip right over it in your eagerness to focus on the actual test. The problem is, this can lead to an unpleasant surprise when you remember you still have to write it! To help yourself feel confident and take the pressure off, try going over one or two sample prompts and writing out answers to them. In fact, 7Sage even offers a free LSAT Writing course which goes over exactly what to expect when the time comes – and even includes prompts with example answers! Check it out here: https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/32634

Discussion: The Importance of Your PT Environment

Have you ever heard that you should try to write your PTs in the same room as the one where you’re planning to sit the real LSAT? It may seem like a negligible detail, but it’s actually one of the best strategies out there to avoid the common score differential between PTs and the actual test! In fact, everything you can do to bring your practice and test environments closer together, from location to noise level to using physical scratch paper, helps you avoid a dip in your score on test day.

One of the reasons that simulating a test environment during practice matters lies in the surprising power of routine. Nerves can affect your test score pretty significantly, but it’s hard to get nervous about something so routine that it’s almost… boring. The more similar your PT days are to your test day, the easier it will be to slip into that routine and just let yourself do exactly what you trained for.

There’s more to it than just routine, though. Psychologists have identified a phenomenon called “state-dependent learning,” which fundamentally means that your ability to recall what you’ve learned is influenced by the context of both learning and recall. Long story short, if you practice in a simulated test environment, you begin to associate that environment with remembering everything you’ve studied, making it that much easier for you to perform on test day.

So next time you’re writing a PT, take the time to set up the room the same way you would for the real LSAT! The more you practice in that environment, the better, but even once or twice can make a big difference.