test anxiety Forum
- sayruss11
- Posts: 87
- Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 5:47 pm
test anxiety
So Im starting to take 2 PTs a week and Im so happy that I am finally improving in every section. My Last 3 scores have been 172, 171, 173. I feel like I have a good hold on the concepts. My main issue is anxiety. When Im taking the PTs at the library Im totally cool calm and collected but the second I start pretending that the test I'm currently taking is the real thing, I get so nervous and lose my focus. I really have been trying to make my testing conditions as real as possible so that on the big day everything seems commonplace but how do I get beyond this anxiety? The weird thing is that I'm not normally an anxious person, this test just freaks me out.
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- Posts: 44
- Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:09 pm
Re: test anxiety
Focus on your success (good scores there) and nothing else. Constantly tell yourself only that you "got this."
- The Gentleman
- Posts: 670
- Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 12:25 am
Re: test anxiety
Me too. Up until today my nerves were a non factor during PTs. For the hell of it, I turned on the free LSAT Proctor Mp3 while doing today's PT and completely freaked. The pressure of the test got to me and I was neither able to concentrate nor comprehend the material. But it's better to get the hard knocks out of the way now than to have them unexpectedly surface on test day.
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- Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:30 pm
Re: test anxiety
Yeah, I tried doing my first timed complete PT with the free LSAT proctor and completely freaked out. The first thing I got was a game and I couldn't do it. >< eek...The Gentleman wrote:Me too. Up until today my nerves were a non factor during PTs. For the hell of it, I turned on the free LSAT Proctor Mp3 while doing today's PT and completely freaked. The pressure of the test got to me and I was neither able to concentrate nor comprehend the material. But it's better to get the hard knocks out of the way now than to have them unexpectedly surface on test day.
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- Posts: 1116
- Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:21 pm
Re: test anxiety
Test anxiety is definitely a real negative factor. I totally botched my first LSAT because of it, and many others have as well. I think the best way to deal with it is to keep taking PTs with the aim of making it a familiar/comfortable experience for yourself. Practice, practice, practice.
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- Posts: 2145
- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:41 am
Re: test anxiety
Meditation. Start meditating.
Learn ways that you can calm yourself down.
I get this to and I have something that I repeat to myself when I get anxious.
It really helps to be aware of what you are feeling.
Learn ways that you can calm yourself down.
I get this to and I have something that I repeat to myself when I get anxious.
It really helps to be aware of what you are feeling.
- Upton Sinclair
- Posts: 233
- Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:10 pm
Re: test anxiety
There's really no way to prepare for test day jitters. No matter how prepared you are or how many practice tests you take, anyone that is shooting for a certain score will be nervous. For me, I was completely fine even when the proctor was reading the last minute instructions. I had some personal stuff go south for me about 4 days before the test, and at that time I felt like I didn't even care what I got. Needless to say once she said go I still got really nervous.
Like I said, there's no way to prepare for it and no way to avoid it. After the first 5 minutes or so (and a couple of questions) you will naturally calm down. You'll realize this particular test is exactly like every practice test you've taken, and you'll settle in and do fine.
Fortunately for me, my first section was the experimental games section. I knew it was the experimental after I finished the section and realized I still had 16 minutes to spare.
Like I said, there's no way to prepare for it and no way to avoid it. After the first 5 minutes or so (and a couple of questions) you will naturally calm down. You'll realize this particular test is exactly like every practice test you've taken, and you'll settle in and do fine.
Fortunately for me, my first section was the experimental games section. I knew it was the experimental after I finished the section and realized I still had 16 minutes to spare.
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Re: test anxiety
Doesn't the bolded suggest that it actually does matter how prepared you are and how many practice tests you have taken?Upton Sinclair wrote:There's really no way to prepare for test day jitters. No matter how prepared you are or how many practice tests you take, anyone that is shooting for a certain score will be nervous. For me, I was completely fine even when the proctor was reading the last minute instructions. I had some personal stuff go south for me about 4 days before the test, and at that time I felt like I didn't even care what I got. Needless to say once she said go I still got really nervous.
Like I said, there's no way to prepare for it and no way to avoid it. After the first 5 minutes or so (and a couple of questions) you will naturally calm down. You'll realize this particular test is exactly like every practice test you've taken, and you'll settle in and do fine.
Fortunately for me, my first section was the experimental games section. I knew it was the experimental after I finished the section and realized I still had 16 minutes to spare.
- ArchRoark
- Posts: 1000
- Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2010 2:53 pm
Re: test anxiety
This. 1+jarofsoup wrote:Meditation. Start meditating.
Learn ways that you can calm yourself down.
I get this to and I have something that I repeat to myself when I get anxious.
It really helps to be aware of what you are feeling.
I meditate daily and never really have had a problem with test anxiety. Perhaps, they are unrelated and I am just not prone to test anxiety but it doesn't hurt to try.
Even if it just a 5-10min sit... it is beneficial to clear your mind. On the morning of the real LSAT, I just sat for a good hour on my couch. Seemed to help me.
That plus what someone else had mentioned, that the test is just like any other PT. When I took practice tests and I would try to trick myself into thinking it was the real one. Then on the real one, I just acted like it was just another PT.
Uptown- I dunno... I wasn't nervous at all on the real thing. The only thing that threw me off was the unusual 4 in a row answer choices on one of the LR sections. Even then, I just put it out of my mind till the end of the section and then went back to double check. I had seen 4 answers in a row a couple times before on previous tests but I knew it was rather rare.
It certainly does. I had gotten to the point where I felt that even if I studied for another 3months I wasn't going to get any better at it. Confidence I am sure plays a huge role in test anxiety.Burger in a can wrote: Doesn't the bolded suggest that it actually does matter how prepared you are and how many practice tests you have taken?
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Re: test anxiety
you should be worried, i got 180 twice on practice got to LSAT and bombed with a 172....i actually heard from my pre law advisor in college that october LSAT is going to be very hard because the LSAT needs to weed out the bottom feeders because there was a 2% increase in applicants. I am takin again in october!sayruss11 wrote:So Im starting to take 2 PTs a week and Im so happy that I am finally improving in every section. My Last 3 scores have been 172, 171, 173. I feel like I have a good hold on the concepts. My main issue is anxiety. When Im taking the PTs at the library Im totally cool calm and collected but the second I start pretending that the test I'm currently taking is the real thing, I get so nervous and lose my focus. I really have been trying to make my testing conditions as real as possible so that on the big day everything seems commonplace but how do I get beyond this anxiety? The weird thing is that I'm not normally an anxious person, this test just freaks me out.
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- Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:06 pm
Re: test anxiety
Huh?mike123 wrote:you should be worried, i got 180 twice on practice got to LSAT and bombed with a 172....i actually heard from my pre law advisor in college that october LSAT is going to be very hard because the LSAT needs to weed out the bottom feeders because there was a 2% increase in applicants. I am takin again in october!sayruss11 wrote:So Im starting to take 2 PTs a week and Im so happy that I am finally improving in every section. My Last 3 scores have been 172, 171, 173. I feel like I have a good hold on the concepts. My main issue is anxiety. When Im taking the PTs at the library Im totally cool calm and collected but the second I start pretending that the test I'm currently taking is the real thing, I get so nervous and lose my focus. I really have been trying to make my testing conditions as real as possible so that on the big day everything seems commonplace but how do I get beyond this anxiety? The weird thing is that I'm not normally an anxious person, this test just freaks me out.
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- Posts: 1116
- Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:21 pm
Re: test anxiety
This is the weirdest, lamest flame I've seen in a while.mike123 wrote:you should be worried, i got 180 twice on practice got to LSAT and bombed with a 172....i actually heard from my pre law advisor in college that october LSAT is going to be very hard because the LSAT needs to weed out the bottom feeders because there was a 2% increase in applicants. I am takin again in october!
Last edited by Burger in a can on Wed Aug 25, 2010 7:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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- Posts: 2508
- Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:15 pm
Re: test anxiety
This is the weirdest, lamest flame I've seen in a while.[/quote]Burger in a can wrote:you should be worried, i got 180 twice on practice got to LSAT and bombed with a 172....i actually heard from my pre law advisor in college that october LSAT is going to be very hard because the LSAT needs to weed out the bottom feeders because there was a 2% increase in applicants. I am takin again in october!
I wish I would bomb my LSAT and score a 172.
- sayruss11
- Posts: 87
- Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 5:47 pm
Re: test anxiety
haha I too wish "bombed" for me meant a 172
Thanks everyone for the advice! I was thinking about meditating, maybe I'll take that up.
Thanks everyone for the advice! I was thinking about meditating, maybe I'll take that up.
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