I'm visiting my test center this Wednesday (UPDATED) Forum

[notaznguy]

As in, does any have any suggestions as to what I should ask people, what to look for, or what to be aware of?

I'm going to walk around for an hour or so and just try to get a general feel of the area. I want to make sure I know where to exit off the freeway, where I can park, and I might as an administrative person exactly WHAT ROOM the LSAT will be administered in during FEBRUARY. I'll also be sure to just be mindful of where the restrooms are at so I can be sure to have a place to run to before I enter the room for checkin.

UPDATE

So I just came back from my test center. I went in the afternoon and I guess school hasn't started yet because there weren't many students there and all classrooms were empty. The parking was free and the school is just one, small, 2 story building. I walked inside and first walked around the law library. I must admit, for a TTT, the library was pretty decent. Without asking permission, since I'm guessing they all thought I was a law student, I just walked upstairs to the 2nd floor and explored on my own. I found where all the restrooms were at and then even walked inside several classrooms, switched the light on, and sat down. The center had long desks and decent chairs. It seemed like a perfectly fine test center and I didn't appear to have to worry about the tiny desks in lecture halls that some schools have.

Afterward, I went back downstairs and asked an administrative lady if the LSAT in February was going to be hosted upstairs in the classrooms above. She said yes and then proceeded to give me a mini tour. I pretended I was ignorant and didn't know the place, even though I had just explored the place on my own without anyone knowing. She told me the exact room the LSAT was going to be administered (it's just one big room with like 200 seats). She also told me where to go to register and where people will be lining up and all. I didn't ask her this. All I told her was that I was taking the LSAT here and she just went all out on me. Very friendly woman.

Overall, I thought it was a great test center. The immediate area is very quiet and the school didn't have any ongoing construction and there are no sports at this university, so I won't have to worry about a football game or anything on Saturday. The only thing I can say is this was my first time ever visiting the inside of a law school. It was a TTT, and while it didn't look like People's College of Law in Los Angeles, it still reminded me, in theory, I would be doomed to a fate of going to this school or not going to law school at all if I didn't perform well on game day. Cheers.

[ryemanhattan]

you might be overthinking this. yes, go check it out if you think it will make you more comfortable on test day but you don't need a strategy for your visit. practice tests. good diet/sleep/exercise. inhale exhale.

[rbkl]

Try to actually sit in the room if you can and take note of the temperature -- if it is too warm or too cold for you.

[givemea170]

I don't mean this to be rude, but I would advise possibly getting on some anxiety medication before you take the test.

[KMaine]

My advice: calm the F down.

[dietcoke0]

Go the week before if anything, on Saturday when you would be leaving. There could be a whole new construction project by the time of your test you didn't know about. Hell, I could hardly get into my testing center at Penn. Took me 15 minutes to get into the building because I didn't know how to get in, because the street that you were supposed to go in on was completely tore up and blocked off from anyone. Then after that, ended up in the lobby of the GRE testing site.

[thelong]

It's pretty reasonable to expect that the administration will not know in which room, precisely, the test will be administered. When I took in June and October we actually met in one building, as indicated by the ticket, and then were escorted as a group to a completely different building for the test.

That being said, it's a good bet that if you're taking at a large university in a fairly densely populated area you will be in one of the larger lecture halls. Check out what kind of tables or desks are in the room. If you have space to spread out a little then that is great, but fairly often takers end up with those tiny desks that barely fit the test booklet, let alone the booklet opened up plus an answer sheet and a row of pencils. Plan accordingly.

Take note of where bathrooms are. If you're super anal you can time how fast you can get to the bathrooms, relieve yourself and get back in the room.

This will all feel a little different on test day, but for those of us who get anxious about this test it can go a long way towards abating some of that anxiety to have a plan for these things. Of course it could just stress you out more...

[bp shinners]

Go the week before if anything, on Saturday when you would be leaving. There could be a whole new construction project by the time of your test you didn't know about.

Definitely this. You want to go as close as possible to notice ongoing construction, and at the same time of the week so you're aware of traffic patterns.

[071816]

You may want to consider calming your balls.

[kerflux]

Find the exact room. Find the exact seat where you will most likely be sitting. Record the ambient temperature at the same time of day that your test will be administered. Check the weather report - are there going to be any major discrepancies in the weather preceding your test? If so, plan accordingly. Take your practice tests with the temperature within 1-2 degrees of what you previously recorded in the testing facility. Walk around the campus - any construction occurring nearby? If so, simulate that potential distraction for your next PT. Are there any steps, or perhaps a slight incline leading to the testing center? Be sure to note whether or not this will elevate your heartrate beyond normal.

Or pop a Xanax!

[Jeffort]

Find the exact room. Find the exact seat where you will most likely be sitting. Record the ambient temperature at the same time of day that your test will be administered. Check the weather report - are there going to be any major discrepancies in the weather preceding your test? If so, plan accordingly. Take your practice tests with the temperature within 1-2 degrees of what you previously recorded in the testing facility. Walk around the campus - any construction occurring nearby? If so, simulate that potential distraction for your next PT. Are there any steps, or perhaps a slight incline leading to the testing center? Be sure to note whether or not this will elevate your heartrate beyond normal.

Or pop a Xanax!

This really made me laugh!

Well done.

[notaznguy]

Haha what the hell? I thought it was well known advice on TLS to at least visit your test center at least once before you take the exam.

[D'Angelo]

not a month ahead!

[notaznguy]

Ohh! Okay, well to explain why I am doing it a month ahead is because the test center is near my home. Right now I'm on winter break from school and I have free time. When school starts, I'm not likely to go back home to just visit my test center. That's why I'm doing it now.

[imPatient285]

Ohh! Okay, well to explain why I am doing it a month ahead is because the test center is near my home. Right now I'm on winter break from school and I have free time. When school starts, I'm not likely to go back home to just visit my test center. That's why I'm doing it now.

I think the whole advice is just so that nothing really out of the ordinary comes up. Just go there to get an idea of where you'll be writing and such -- if you've made it there you're pretty much okay.

[MrAnon]

Hang around until they lock the building. Sleep on the floor overnight. You want to make sure you've breathed enough air in the room that your body is familiar with it and picks up on any allergens that may be present. You want to start building immunity now so that by test day you will be ready.

[MrAnon]

the truth is, if visiting the test center is your focus, you probably aren't going to do that well on the exam. the guy or gal who makes a 180 can do it parachuting out of a plane into any location.

[Errzii]

I took the LSAT twice at the same center and actually got two very different rooms. The first time I was one of the first to show up and got seated in a really big room with nice spacious desk/seats. The second time I came late and was closer to the end of the line. By the time I got in the nice rooms were all filled up and as a result I was put into a much smaller room. The desks and seats were complete shit (think high school style). If your testing center is like the one I went to, i.e., they seat the earlier people in the nicer rooms it might benefit you to show up early to avoid getting placed in the left over crappy rooms.

[ExcelBaller]

The truth: most schools will not reveal the room you will be in bc only the Lsac determines this. You'll be told to check in at a building and thats all you will know.

[ben4847]

This is so OCD. Just show up an hour early on test day.

[LexLeon]

I read several of the above comments (I disagree with many of them).

What you're planning on doing is an excellent idea. Knowing exactly what to expect when you get there is a huge advantage. Is there a better (practical) way to "simulate the day of the test", as LSAC advises, than to take tests in the room where yours will likely be administered?

Knowing where you can park, where the bathrooms(not just the one that everyone will know about, but the next closest one that won't have a line!) are, what the testing center is like and where you'll need to go throughout the process is going to take a lot of stress out of the whole experience. You'll feel more comfortable (and probably score higher) than the people that label you as obsessive or anxious. If you don't score higher it'll be because you've tied them (at 180).

To answer your question about tips, it seems like you and I have considered the most important details. I'll let you know if I think of anything else.

[notaznguy]

Just visited the place today. I updated with info on my first post.

[Geetar Man]

Just visited the place today. I updated with info on my first post.

Sounds like a good idea, actually. A little OCD but you have the right idea.

Btw, are you in AZ?

[romothesavior]

I try not to post in the LSAT forum, but sweet jesus this is stupid.

[afnaidel]

...maybe I'm the extreme case?

I took the test last October (canceled), so I know exactly where I'm gonna be at and what it's like to take LSAT there.
Also, it is in my UG college and I probably spent at least a quarter of my college life in that building.

However, for the February test, I've been practicing in that exact room every Saturday to make sure I feel comfortable.

I don't think over-comforting yourself is stupid. I think it's actually better than knowing vaguely or nothing about the test center.