Taking the LSAT out-of-city Forum

[KingsBench]

The June 2012 LSAT isn't offered in my city, but it is in two cities roughly 2 hours and 5 hours away. Does anyone have experience on taking the LSAT in cities and locations you're not familiar with? I'm planning to take a bus and stay in a hotel overnight, so I won't be worried about reaching the test center the morning of. I am worried, however, on my ability to scout out the test centre and get a feel for the environment, since I won't really know much about the area.

Does anyone have any tips on adapting to an unfamiliar environment and dealing with things like travel fatigue, etc. for their past LSATs?

[givemea170]

The June 2012 LSAT isn't offered in my city, but it is in two cities roughly 2 hours and 5 hours away. Does anyone have experience on taking the LSAT in cities and locations you're not familiar with? I'm planning to take a bus and stay in a hotel overnight, so I won't be worried about reaching the test center the morning of. I am worried, however, on my ability to scout out the test centre and get a feel for the environment, since I won't really know much about the area.

Does anyone have any tips on adapting to an unfamiliar environment and dealing with things like travel fatigue, etc. for their past LSATs?

I live in North Carolina but didn't feel like going to one of the weird locations near my town like in Boone or Charlotte so I drove to my undergraduate university in Knoxville which was a 4 hour drive the day before. I got there early, and checked into a hotel early. I would recommend trying to get a hotel within walking distance of the test center... I did that and it was good to not have to worry about finding free parking.

I scored a bit above all of my practice tests on the December LSAT with this method, so I thought I'd just tell you... I would recommend doing one good practice test the day before and then going to bed pretty early. Worked well for me, I felt great the day of the test.

[DreamsInDigital]

I'm from LA and drove down to San Diego to take the test. Definitely get there early the day before. I checked into my hotel and then went straight to the test center to make sure I knew where it was at, where the building was, and where I could park or lock my bike (hadn't decided how I was getting there). I got as much sleep as I could, got up a few hours before the test, and had a nice breakfast. I don't think it hurt my performance at all.

[aekea]

I took my test at a school I had never been to that was out of town. It was only about 1.5 hours away so I drove down the afternoon the day before (took a half day at work) checked into my hotel and then drove over to the school. It took me almost an hour just to find the school, which was only ten minutes from the hotel, and another hour walking around to locate the testing room. I probably would have missed the exam if I hadn't done that so definitely come up with a plan for how to get there, where you're going to park or how to get there if not by car, where you're going to get breakfast and so on.

I also brought a friend with me but I'd say whether or not that would help would definitely depend on your personality. I didn't want to sit in a hotel all alone for a half day panicking about the test so it was nice to have someone to hang out with to keep me calm and keep my mind off it all. As a result, I was pretty calm during my test and ended up scoring 8 points better than my best practice test.

Good luck!

[KingsBench]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Just another quick question, I want to see what opinion is on this too:

The two nearest test centres are both about 2 hours away via bus, and I'm fairly certain that I'll be doing the standard arrival the day before, checking into a hotel, etc. I have the choice, however, between taking the LSAT in a large city versus a small town. I'm leaning towards the smaller test centre, because I'm thinking that less people means less distractions and all that. Any anecdotal experiences with a similar problem from anyone?

[sparty99]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Just another quick question, I want to see what opinion is on this too:

The two nearest test centres are both about 2 hours away via bus, and I'm fairly certain that I'll be doing the standard arrival the day before, checking into a hotel, etc. I have the choice, however, between taking the LSAT in a large city versus a small town. I'm leaning towards the smaller test centre, because I'm thinking that less people means less distractions and all that. Any anecdotal experiences with a similar problem from anyone?

The small town doesn't necessarily matter because people who can't go to the test center at the large city, will have to delay taking the test or go to the small town. Thus, there can easily be a lot of people at the small town. You are probably over-thinking all of this, however. The best bet is to do a google search on both testing locations. There are sites that rate/give feedback on testing centers.

Personally, I took the test an hour and a half away from my house. I thought it was good because it allowed me to get away from my family and stay at a hotel the night before....Robin Singh of Testmasters once said a girl took her entire family with her for the test and she had done bad, and when she walked out of the testing center, they were all like, "Congratulations" and had balloons for her.

[aekea]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Just another quick question, I want to see what opinion is on this too:

The two nearest test centres are both about 2 hours away via bus, and I'm fairly certain that I'll be doing the standard arrival the day before, checking into a hotel, etc. I have the choice, however, between taking the LSAT in a large city versus a small town. I'm leaning towards the smaller test centre, because I'm thinking that less people means less distractions and all that. Any anecdotal experiences with a similar problem from anyone?

I think the more important thing would be what the conditions at the test center are. Try to figure out what sort of room you would be in. If it's in a lecture hall at a school there's a good chance you'll end up with those annoying flip-up desks that you can't even fit the test booklet on. If it's in some sort of run down building you might have issues with temperature and whatnot. Those things would be much more distracting to me than other test-takers. I went to a large test center and the main result there was that it took a long time to check everyone in and go through all the rules. It took longer to get everyone back from the break and so forth. I was at the test center till after 2:00pm. If you're worried about test-fatigue a smaller test center might be helpful cause you'll likely get through everything faster.

Edit: Took an October test so it started in the morning.