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Hey everyone, I've been following the threads in this forum for a while now, but never took the time to create an account and post my ideas. I've used some of the strategies shared by members of the community for crushing the LSAT. Now that the results from October's LSAT have come in, I can safely say "thanks," to the entire TLS community. The massive amount of invaluable hints and tips from managing test anxiety to strategies in LR (as a side note, 15 questions in 15 mins was difficult as hell to overcome) were at least, in part, the reason I was able to score in the 99th percentile.

As a way to give back to the forum I thought I outta contribute something. I wanted this post to create some added value to the forum, however, whether I was successful at it will have to be seen from the comments.

I've read some postings from people saying they've bought a $12 watch with a rotating bezel from Target. And all they had to do was to turn the bezel before every section. I'm sure that worked for them, but I'm a perfectionist who over-thinks and over-worries everything, so this wasn't going to work for me.

Several hours worth of google searching, TLS reading and some suggestions from a few classmates at the powerscore class I was attending (which btw, I never finished attending because I thought I could do better alone, and I did) and I finally got it right.

It came down two products: http://lsatwatch.webs.com & http://lsattimer.com. So I ordered both.

Verdict? The winner, hands down, was LSATTimer.com



Price: LSATTimer was a few bucks cheaper. ($19.99) Apparently they have discounts running at all times and I was able to snatch a 15% off coupon which helped with the price.



Comfort & Usefulness: LSATTimer.

The LSATTimer was twice, if not more, the size of Lsat watch. The watch display, the numbers and the colors were all better on the LSATTimer.

Also, the watch pops up which made it a lot easier to reset the watch. The crown was larger as well. I found that with the Lsat watch I had to dig my nail under the crown to pull it out and reset it. Because the crown was larger and more accessible, the LSATTimer was plenty easier to reset and work with.



I took a lot of time to put this together. I really hope this helps. And as a final word, thank you TLS for everything!!

Thanks for posting this! So helpful

Instead of wasting $$ on a watch that only has 1 purpose, why not take any regular old manual watch, wind it back to exactly 12:00, and let it go to 12:35? And when the section ends, just wind it back to 12. Thats what I did, and I had it times almost to the second.

LSAT Watch is the same brand and model as I wear every day (unmodified of course).

Interesting, but there is one minor flaw with these watches (which may or may not be a flaw depending upon if what I'm about to type matters to you)--the seconds hand does NOT reset to zero.

Bezel watches are very imprecise have this issue as well. Basic watches (those watches with just a second, minute and hour hands) are just as imprecise because lining up the minute hand to the 12 isn't always going to be 100% accurate.

Personally, I like to know exactly where in the minute I am. So, for instance, I find it helpful to know if it is just 30:01 or 30:59. This tends to provide me with some idea of what I can do with my remaining time. You can only do that with stopwatches (which are NOT allowed) and chronographs (which ARE allowed)

I would personally recommend getting a chronograph...yeah, yeah I know they're not the least expensive watches out there but if you can afford it (the cheapest ones by Fossil and Timex go for $70-$80 for men) it is worth getting since these watches reset a separate second hand back to zero at a push of a button and add up the minutes.

I guess the most important thing is to develop your own internal clock and not glance over at the watch too often. I usually look at my watch for two reasons:

1) To occasionally glance over to ensure I'm going toe to toe with the 15 questions and 15 minutes goal; and
2) To see if I'm close to the 30 minutes mark, which is where I usually start bubbling in the remaining answers.

Just my 2 cents. Do whatever works for you.

Don't necessarily mean to plug for the 180 watch. But it's awesome. It's extremely accurrate, and I know exactly which minute and second (give or take 1 second) where I am with a glance.

kaiser wrote:Instead of wasting $$ on a watch that only has 1 purpose, why not take any regular old manual watch, wind it back to exactly 12:00, and let it go to 12:35? And when the section ends, just wind it back to 12. Thats what I did, and I had it times almost to the second.

I did that, worked well for me for the first 4 sections, but going into my 5th section (RC, not that it really matters) I suddenly couldn't get it back to noon, and it cost me ~30 seconds and I ended up starting with my watch at like 12:07. Ah well, I still only got -4 on that section.

iamrobk wrote:

kaiser wrote:Instead of wasting $$ on a watch that only has 1 purpose, why not take any regular old manual watch, wind it back to exactly 12:00, and let it go to 12:35? And when the section ends, just wind it back to 12. Thats what I did, and I had it times almost to the second.

I did that, worked well for me for the first 4 sections, but going into my 5th section (RC, not that it really matters) I suddenly couldn't get it back to noon, and it cost me ~30 seconds and I ended up starting with my watch at like 12:07. Ah well, I still only got -4 on that section.

I wanted to do this back in february, but I totally forgot because I was too flustered and highstrung during the test. I ended up cancelling because I couldn't finish the games.

In June I made sure to sit in the first row with the huge proctor's clock in my face. That helped.

Moral of the story: something like this can definitely be useful.

tehrocstar wrote:Don't necessarily mean to plug for the 180 watch. But it's awesome. It's extremely accurrate, and I know exactly which minute and second (give or take 1 second) where I am with a glance.

+1

I've used both the 180 watch and the lsattimer watch. I can honestly say that the 10-15 dollar difference is totally worth it for the 180 watch. I had a really tough time resetting the time to precisely 12:00 - it's a bit nerve-wracking not knowing whether or not my watch it set to 35 minutes +/- a minute. Also, at least with mine, the minute hand would flop around when the crown was out (it wouldn't do this when the crown was in). But this was problematic because if I twitched my hand slightly when trying to reset the watch back to 12:00 (and when i punched the crown back in place to start the timer), the minute hand could jump as far as 5 minutes less or 5 minutes more.

I also realized that it was highly beneficial to know the precise time down to the second - you can't do this with the crown adjustable watches because they don't reset the second hand, just the minute. Fifty-nine seconds can be an entire question on the LSAT; it can be the exact amount of time that you need to bubble an entire section.

I'm a firm believer that you need to purchase a chronograph or the 180. I mean, when bubbling and getting a single question right on the LSAT means so much to most people, why would you skimp on something that's only 10-15 dollars more and could possibly give you that extra point.

iamrobk wrote:

kaiser wrote:Instead of wasting $$ on a watch that only has 1 purpose, why not take any regular old manual watch, wind it back to exactly 12:00, and let it go to 12:35? And when the section ends, just wind it back to 12. Thats what I did, and I had it times almost to the second.

I did that, worked well for me for the first 4 sections, but going into my 5th section (RC, not that it really matters) I suddenly couldn't get it back to noon, and it cost me ~30 seconds and I ended up starting with my watch at like 12:07. Ah well, I still only got -4 on that section.

This is what I did as well, and I credit it for my score.

......

$10 watch with big numbers... rest to 12:00 when they are reading directions... Mark the different sections on side (change of color on those) with a sharpie

So people stop reporting this:

I'm letting this go on. I have some reason to believe it is not spam, and even if it is, it does actually appear to pass along useful and novel information (to the highly neurotic...).

New solution; don't use a watch. Better for the nerves, will actually save you time.

I just took an old dinged up fossil, marked the 35 and 20 minute markers with a sharpie, then reset it between sections.

I practiced with that watch, and backed it up with an audible digital timer that I kept out of sight.

dailygrind wrote:
...it does actually appear to pass along useful and novel information (to the highly neurotic...).

Yes, I agree.

This post is mainly directed to those accurately described by the bold ^

TO: People obsessed about keeping track of the precise amount of time remaining in sections in such excruciating detail as described in posts in this thread and other similar threads.

For the sake of your test day performance/resulting score, calm down, get a grip, and think about this logically and methodically.

Every moment spent during a timed section thinking about how much time remains by repeatedly checking the clock and doing mental calculations about it are wasted moments not spent analyzing the material on the page in order to answer more questions correctly.

Moments of distracted attention checking the clock subtract from the time you have available to concentrate on/analyze the question content and answer choices in order to hopefully select the credited answer choice. People generally perform better when their attention is focused solely on analyzing the materials on the page to figure out which answer choice to bubble in.

Many students waste significant amounts of the allotted time-per-section as well as mental energy by obsessing multiple times per section about how much time remains while taking the test. That type of behavior typically causes increased anxiety and leads to a lower score than the student is capable of had he/she just focused mainly on working the questions rather than obsessing about time every step of the way.

With a good prep foundation, understanding, familiarity of and proficiency with (through quality prep, practice, study and review) the logic/concepts/question types/structure-format/good logical strategies/techniques, etc., prepared test-takers should not have to think much about or put effort into keeping track of time remaining per section.

Once one has the skills pretty well practiced and hopefully has mastered the test to the best of their ability, timing should fall into place naturally and not require much thought on test day or depend on timing reminders other than the status check/verification five minute warning. Something akin to where the five minute warning hopefully matches up to your internal clock/pacing to verify where you are at and/or gives you the 'oh crap, bubble in guess answers for the remaining questions and/or review and maybe change uncertain AC's before time is called' alert that is helpful if you are running behind in the section or want to review a previous question/AC selection.

People that end up being chased around by the clock in a mental way similar to the image below typically have not prepped/studied/reviewed sufficiently and/or have not practiced properly under simulated test-day conditions HONESTLY when taking timed practice tests to gauge/predict potential score range. The churn-and-burn, spend most prep time mainly taking lots of timed practice tests mentality/prep method many students foolishly go with is a cause of significant practice test range to reported score discrepancies.

Some of this is probably why there are tons of threads/post on the forums with people complaining about reported scores significantly lower than their practice test score(s)/range.



I hope this post where I meandered into tangents off the main thread topic helps some people that are preparing to take the LSAT soon.

To put it more concisely, there is no instrument other than your well trained brain that will significantly boost the LSAT score you achieve on test day.
.

Thank you for everyone's reply. I'm now waiting to hear my acceptance to a law school.
I'm sorry if I offended anyone, just wanted to help out.

TLS you're the best!

Jeffort wrote:
To put it more concisely, there is no instrument other than your well trained brain that will significantly boost the LSAT score you achieve on test day.
.

False. Time machine.

lol I'm sure that if there was a way to cheat on the LSAT, that would help. But since there isn't...a trained brain is certainly number 2, behind a sharpened pencil!

Shawn.Khait wrote:lol I'm sure that if there was a way to cheat on the LSAT, that would help. But since there isn't...a trained brain is certainly number 2, behind a sharpened pencil!

Nah, bringing in a well trained brain is priority number one, remembering to bring three #2/HB pencils is priority number two.
Somebody in the check-in line will probably have a spare pencil they are willing to give away/sell to a -failed to bring a pencil- person. Remembering to bring both on test-day is necessary to do well.

If you don't prepare properly and fail to show up with both on test day, it's likely to lead to game over for admission chances upon release of the scores.

BTW, it's much easier to bubble in the ovals fast with a dull pencil than with a sharp one.
Plus, really sharp pencils tend to tear and puncture the flimsy recycled paper the test booklets are printed on if you press too hard because of test-day stress.

Jeffort wrote:
BTW, it's much easier to bubble in the ovals fast with a dull pencil than with a sharp one.
Plus, really sharp pencils tend to tear and puncture the flimsy recycled paper the test booklets are printed on if you press too hard because of test-day stress.

Test day:

Logic games first... start to write my 1st letter for 1st diagram / first thing I did on test

And the recycled paper completely rips on contact with pencil, I had mini-freak out that I wouldn't be able to write on test whole time lol... had no problem rest of way, but if there was a picture of my face upon the rip in paper .5 seconds into the test it probably would have been lolz worthy

Personally I like the LSATWatch better because it divides the time into 4 equal sections, which is very helpful for LG and RC. Just my two cents.

I guess this is useful information.

Caveat: please don't think that spending more money on a better watch will improve your LSAT score, folks. It's a waste of money if you ain't got the mind.

I quite happily used a 10 buck mechanical watch from wal-mart I purchased two years ago. Sure it was a bit inaccurate, but I really didn't care. Dialing it in took maybe five seconds. I don't care exactly what second I'm in because each LSAT test is different, and you can't really prepare for the exact amount of time to distribute between sections. Trying to seems like an excellent way to freak out, imho. I scored a 164, which was about my preptest average.

Don't buy a watch/timer just because you think it'll make you do better if you track time better, folks.

Dear Lord, this is the nerdiest thread I've ever seen.

Anyone want to sell their 180 watch?