Regarding Prep for 3rd time test taker Forum

[risktaker]

So, I have exhausted all the study tools. All I have left is 5 old LSAT's and the Kaplan 180 book. I cancelled in Sept, scored a 156 in Dec and gonna take it for the last time in Feb. I was PT'ing at 165+, but the Dec RC just kicked my butt. I was planning on just doing about 4 PT's before FEB test and reviewing them thoroughly. In between PT's, I just planned on going through the Kaplan 180 book. Is there any other good way for studying for RC? RC and LG are my weak sections.

[llawguru]

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For your LG. I just ordered this. I am also taking Feb LSAT. It has 30 exercises and there are 37 days till the Feb LSAT. ~1 exercise per day.

[3ThrowAway99]

If you dropped about 10 points from where you were hitting on your practices in the actual test, I question whether some of it was test anxiety (though I know that I had about a 10 point range on PTs, so perhaps you just hit the bottom of your range). If the 165+ was considerably above your average, then it may be unlikely you will hit that high on the test IMO, but obviously a possibility. If test anxiety is a factor, I think possibly doing hardly anything and going into Feb with an 'I don't care' attitude (if that were possible) may actually help your score. I'm not being sarcastic: the highest I scored on a fully-simulated (5 section) PT was a 170 and I showed up about 5 minutes after the first section started (it was in a prep class) with an attitude of "I really don't care how I score on this, because it's practice'. I hadn't even studied for a few weeks before taking it either, because I had become discouraged with studying. I almost wish I had taken the September test with this attitude instead of paying for a full prep course and taking in December (though who knows what would have happened in that case).

[flimflam16]

I sort of like the advice to go in there with an "I don't care" attitude. I don't know how much time you've been studying per day, but I was doing 3-4 hours per day before December's test (6-7 hours per day during Thanksgiving week), and on test day, my brain completely froze by the time I got to Section 5 (RC). I went from scoring in the 161-165 range on PTs to a 154.

In my case, it could have been test-taking anxiety, but I also know what burnout feels like. So now, I'm limiting my studying for the February test to 1-2 hours per day. I'm also doing few, if any, additional PTs until then. I normally do worst at LR, so I've been going slowly through the Logical Reasoning Bible. (I'm sure the Games Bible is also very good--I have it, but haven't used it yet.)

[risktaker]

Yeah, test anxiety was a big part of it. Totally had a panick attack on one section and got a -17 on it, which was the RC. I think I am gonna try to go into this test with a more of a I don't care attitude. Just focus on my weak areas and complete 4 PT's. Thanks for the responses.