December retakers! How psyched are you!? Forum

[Anomaly]

Well guys, our last shot is less than two weeks away. Just kidding on the last shot, but how do you plan to spend these last two weeks? Anybody else been redoing old prep tests? Nothing falsely boosts my confidence more than seeing a string of 180s on Kaplan's SmartReports.

[merc280]

kinda worried since this will be my third time. Got a 149 twice before and now ive been trying to improve on rc and felt like Ive neglected logic games. i might be getting worse at those but since I haven't had much time devoted towards them I will have to go over set up techniques before taking my next practice test.

[aesis]

Pretty stoked to have my life back after 9 months of studying. I cold diag'd at 146 and now I've hit 180 a few times. It was pretty demoralizing, but not as demoralizing as my October test. HOLLA RETAKE!

[Anomaly]

Wow 9 months.... what's your studying like, now? Do you feel like you are still learning more about the LSAT, or have you pretty much maxxed out? I guess there's nothing else we can do except score perfectly on old exams and prey for no dinosaur-esque games.

[almostthereee]

Wow I feel ya aesis... though probably not as bad. I was JUST telling my gf this morning how I'm excited the test is only two weeks away... this test has been my life for 6 months. Even if I wanted to retake in Feb, I honestly don't think I can. I'm finding it very difficult to want to study anymore for this test than I already am... If the test date got pushed back 2 more weeks I think I'd go crazy... literally.

[Anomaly]

How are you studying these last 2 weeks? Ramping it up, toning it down?

[SchopenhauerFTW]

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[almostthereee]

For Oct, I was doing daily PTs and it really really burned me out. But in the end, I still think it was worth it because I feel the extra practice still helped. Though I did devote the WHOLE day to a PT pretty much... wake up and PT and then rest for a few hours and review thoroughly at night.

This time around, I space my PTs better so I don't mentally burn myself out that badly. I PT on Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat. I have work on Tues and Thurs so I review my PTs at work. I take Sunday off just to recharge (and football ) This time around though I'm more confident in my abilities so that's why I don't feel like I NEED to PT everyday like I did for Oct. Just do what your gut tells you to... back in Oct even when people told me to take an off day I just felt way too guilty. I felt like I needed to absorb more practice and I actually went crazy NOT PTing, but this time around my gut is just telling me something different. Like, hey you got a better grasp this time around. Give yourself a little more breathing room to keep you sane.

[xqhp82]

I can't wait til it's done!!! I studied really hard for my October test but not as much for December a bit worried now, although there's not much I can do, I don't feel as motivated anymore and I'm experiencing a slight burn-out...don't want it to get worse before test day. When I was preparing for Oct I spent a whole day for PT (PT in the morning, review in the afternoon), but now I'm taking a much longer time reviewing...not because it's any more in-depth but I just can't seem to concentrate anymore. Now I need to spare a whole day just for reviewing PT alone...

PT39, 42 and 61 are the only fresh PTs left for me, should I leave them all for next week or should I do 39+42 now and redo the more recent tests + PT61 next week?

[northwood]

pt 61 was the actual october test. You took it once allready, so its not brand new to you.

i never reviewed a full pt the day I took it. I would look at a few questions, games, or passages and re do them. but not in depth. Perhaps that is causing your burn out?

[rht82688]

I'm getting amped up for December 11. I burnt myself out last time taking pt's during the final week. This time I'm just going to relax, watch movies, and work out. I'll do some games everyday and read a little, but nothing too heavy. I want to save my energy for the only test that counts - the one given on the morning of December 11.

[xqhp82]

pt 61 was the actual october test. You took it once allready, so its not brand new to you.

i never reviewed a full pt the day I took it. I would look at a few questions, games, or passages and re do them. but not in depth. Perhaps that is causing your burn out?

I think I'm not pushing myself too much this time; I haven't done many PTs anyway (did 41, 42, 47, 53, 55, 58, and 60) and only have 39, 59 and 61 left. I think that's a reasonable amount of workload for the last week of prep? I ordered all the difficult problems bundle on Cambridge LSAT but havn't got time to even finish half of them!! Oh well. I guess there's no good to force it at this point. Too bad they don't do refund

Btw, is the test gonna be in the morning or afternoon for you guys? Mine is in the afternoon (in London), I normally take my PTs in the mornings, I wonder how different it is to sit the actual test in the afternoon?

[aesis]

Wow 9 months.... what's your studying like, now? Do you feel like you are still learning more about the LSAT, or have you pretty much maxxed out? I guess there's nothing else we can do except score perfectly on old exams and prey for no dinosaur-esque games.

How are you studying these last 2 weeks? Ramping it up, toning it down?

I think I've actually gotten a lot better at this. This time around I had no focus on theory accuracy -- my mistakes were mostly not reading the stem right, or missing a word. I also implemented two new things that I think were key:

1. Pacing. I've talked about this for weeks, but it's really made a big difference. Giving myself only 33/32 minutes a section has been fantastic for pacing without sacrificing accuracy. Internal timing has been a big deal in my performance as of late.

2. I use a new elimination technique that I didn't before. I cross out answers (the entire answer) with one cursive "l" on the first go round. If I have to look at it again and disqualify it I add an additional "l" (basically it looks like two loops through the answer). That way I can see what I have already DQ'd with confidence. That way I don't waste time.

As for studying this week, I kind of slacked because I wanted to finish an app or two. Now that that's done, I'm just sticking to my schedule as if it were a normal part of my life (because it has been :[[[). I just want to go into it thinking this is just another PT and I'll be fine.

I don't think I've maxed out completely since I could still whittle my -2 RC average to 0 and my -1/-2 LR average to 0. Somehow. Some way. But we'll see. I have a "low" October score so I'll be happy with anything above 172, even if I'm averaging 175+ right now.

[jwmalone87]

I've been studying heavily since March/April or so. I took the June test, then canceled my October score, and now this is my last try. I just want a score that I finally feel is representative of my skills, because I don't think that happened with either of those tests.

I try not to think about what's at stake (just freaks me out), but instead how much I've improved. I'm scoring consistently in the mid to high 160s and finally broke 170 last night. If I got a 166, I'd be ecstatic.

[lparker]

Very psyched--althought NOT looking forward to that whole waiting process again. I'm taking two more PTs this weekend. Next week, I'm mostly just doing sections and reviewing.

Good luck all!