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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.

Focus on your success (good scores there) and nothing else. Constantly tell yourself only that you "got this."

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

Doesn't the bolded suggest that it actually does matter how prepared you are and how many practice tests you have taken?

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.

This. 1+

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

mike123 wrote:

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.

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!

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!

This is the weirdest, lamest flame I've seen in a while.

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!

This is the weirdest, lamest flame I've seen in a while.[/quote]

I wish I would bomb my LSAT and score a 172.

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.