LSAT Prep: What NOT to do... Forum

[LSAT Blog]

+1 on all the advice from Dr. Strangelove, mst, and goawaybee.

goawaybee, thanks for the shout-out. It really means a lot.


I really want to emphasize this:

Don't waste your time taking a PT if you are having an off day or at the very least don't get down on yourself if you perform shitty.

I often see people get themselves down over a low PT score after a long day of work or after a late night out while hungover, etc.

I can't stress enough how important it is to take your PTs (both practice ones and the big one on Test Day itself) under the best circumstances possible. Not hungover, not tired, etc. Otherwise, you're deflating your PT scores and your morale along with it.

This might require minimal partying in the final month or so before the exam date, but it's a small price to pay.

-Steve

[balzern]

Do not get over-confident with good PTs.

[mges]

Why the harsh words about Kaplan? They did wonders for me

How so?

I have been able to increase my score from my diagnostic to my most recent prep tests by 15 points.

[mz253]

don't go through PT too much. I exhausted them very fast, which is no good. carefully analyze every question before you achieve a good understanding of different types of questions, especially for LR.

LG is O.K. they are sort of competitive, just keep repeating.

[rBoogie81]

This is awesome. Excellent advice LSAT Blog, goawaybee, mst, Dr. Strangelove and everyone else who had input on this topic. This is really helping me deal with the anxiety issues and in particular, goawaybee's advice hit home in regards to some of the personal issues that arise in these types of situations. It's been a bit of a reality check for me.

don't go through PT too much. I exhausted them very fast, which is no good. carefully analyze every question before you achieve a good understanding of different types of questions, especially for LR.

LG is O.K. they are sort of competitive, just keep repeating.

That's what I was doing during the 2 weeks I mentioned; I was taking one too many PT's and didn't analyze thoroughly all the mistakes I made. I was also feeling burned out too. As for the PT's, I can solve the LG's -there are some game types I'm better at than others. Linear games tend to be the easiest for me. Games with more rules are too. I didn't carefully analyze my LR wrong choices. Now that I've taken plenty of PT's in a 2 week time period, I think for the next two weeks I'm going to hold off on PT'ing to analyze wrong choices and to go through the PS Bibles again. I should probably be making a thorough assessment if I want to improve.

ohh u left them blank... how could u not at least guess.. i kno ur not allowed to write in a section after its overrrrr.. butttt heh

lol! I just wanted to play by the rules -that's all.

Great advice everyone! I hope I can join the 150'ish (diagnostic) group of people who made it to the 170's. Regardless, the general advice I'm receiving from all the posts taken together says to me, "forget about it". I think that's the attitude I'm going to take. This post has really helped me to assess what I'm doing wrong. Thanks again everyone and let's keep it coming.

[NonTradHealthLaw]

You've been given some excellent advice already, but here are a few more odd-ball observations from my preparation

DO: Recognize your learning style. If you're a visual learner, don't be afraid to get creative and commandeer a lecture hall's wipe board to diagram like crazy. If you're an interactive learner, watch a lot of news and read editorials to find flaws in their arguments. DON'T let your friends know when you've found flaws in theirs.

DON'T: If applicable, ostracize your spouse or significant other. Involve them in the process, as they will be integral to your success in law school.

DON'T: Ignore your strongest section. I fortunately tanked a LG (-11 on PT #58) after having not missed one since my diagnostic. This forced me to rethink some principles that I'd been taking for granted.

DO: Consider talking to your physician about prescription sleep aids. I've said this in a few other posts, and I'm not associated with a pharma company, but as a chronic obsessor, I would have sucked without them.

DO: Consider taking other medications as pre-test prophylaxis. Of course, prep with these, but ibuprofin, non-drowsy allergy meds and antacids all have a long enough half-life to maintain effectiveness throughout the test.

DO: Keep yourself accountable during studying. Facebook and TLS are not studying. As someone else said, studying isn't about months, it's about productive hours.