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Marijuana and Study

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 1:42 pm
by monadologist
Yo, so I've come across a very strange problem. I usually get it in and smoke weed everyday but yesterday morning I decided to do a PT without doing the normal routine of waking and baking. Two days ago while baked I did 0 RC, -2 LR1, -1 LR2 and -4 LG (173 scaled), but then yesterday I decided to change it up and just go into it after a short jog to the library and without vaping - got a 159! Totally fucked up every section, like even -7 in RC!

After review the main flaw I had was that I was over-thinking, especially in LR, and my accuracy went to shit because I actually circled TCR then switched to some bumblefuck shell game or some other stupid answer

Anyone in a similar situation?

Edit - My consistency is usually ~165-170 at the moment, with the lowest ever at 157 first time diagnostic (last month)

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 2:32 pm
by LSAT Blog
Do you normally exercise before taking a timed PT?

Maybe the jogging had something to do with it, if jogging is not part of your normal pre-test routine.

Could also just be a coincidence. You may need a larger sample to determine whether the failure to follow your normal waking and baking routine is a likely cause of the score drop.


Edit to add: you did a PT 2 days ago, and then you did another one yesterday. I generally advise against taking PTs on consecutive days precisely because it can lead to score drops / burnout.

Do you normally take PTs on consecutive days? If so, I'd recommend taking a day in between to do nothing, or relatively lighter studying.

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 2:47 pm
by objection_your_honor
If you are regularly high and sobriety is a freak occurrence or an alien state of mind, that isn't surprising.

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 3:08 pm
by lsatyolo
props

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 3:29 pm
by Young Marino
I'm in the same boat bro. I have to bake the day before I take a pt to get a really good night of sleep. I blazed yesterday around six, drank some tea around ten and slept like a baby and did pretty well on my pt this morning.. I've heard that if you're taking pts and studying in a specific state of mind and are doing as well as you want, to not change anything

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 4:45 pm
by monadologist
LSAT Blog wrote:Do you normally exercise before taking a timed PT?

Maybe the jogging had something to do with it, if jogging is not part of your normal pre-test routine.

Could also just be a coincidence. You may need a larger sample to determine whether the failure to follow your normal waking and baking routine is a likely cause of the score drop.


Edit to add: you did a PT 2 days ago, and then you did another one yesterday. I generally advise against taking PTs on consecutive days precisely because it can lead to score drops / burnout.

Do you normally take PTs on consecutive days? If so, I'd recommend taking a day in between to do nothing, or relatively lighter studying.
Wow, not to sound like a fanboy but are you the Steve Schwartz? If so, I bought your 3 month study plan back in April and have read pretty much all of your blog posts and I owe a lot of my success to you. ESPECIALLY your in-out method, which has totally replaced the MLG way I used to do it (logic chains and whatnot).

The one thing on your schedule that I didn't follow was the off-days and the on-off PTing thing; to be honest, I guess it was because I felt like that would make me complacent. I also was highly skeptical about the notion of 'burn-out' as just an excuse unmotivated people use for being tired and lazy. If you don't mind, can you clarify why 1 on, 1 off is better than PTing every day with review? I always denied that burn out is a real 'thing' (If it is, I swear that I am straight-up burned out, my PTs have actually been in slight decline lately). In other words, how would PTing every single day as opposed to every other day lead to score drops?

Thanks for the response. I really appreciate all that you do for us LSAT folks, as well as your pretty superhuman mastery of the material.

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 4:58 pm
by thefuturenow
lsatyolo wrote:props

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 4:59 pm
by loomstate
170

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 10:43 pm
by mephistopheles
loomstate wrote:170

generous

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 8:46 pm
by LSAT Blog
monadologist wrote:
LSAT Blog wrote:Do you normally exercise before taking a timed PT?

Maybe the jogging had something to do with it, if jogging is not part of your normal pre-test routine.

Could also just be a coincidence. You may need a larger sample to determine whether the failure to follow your normal waking and baking routine is a likely cause of the score drop.


Edit to add: you did a PT 2 days ago, and then you did another one yesterday. I generally advise against taking PTs on consecutive days precisely because it can lead to score drops / burnout.

Do you normally take PTs on consecutive days? If so, I'd recommend taking a day in between to do nothing, or relatively lighter studying.
Wow, not to sound like a fanboy but are you the Steve Schwartz? If so, I bought your 3 month study plan back in April and have read pretty much all of your blog posts and I owe a lot of my success to you. ESPECIALLY your in-out method, which has totally replaced the MLG way I used to do it (logic chains and whatnot).

The one thing on your schedule that I didn't follow was the off-days and the on-off PTing thing; to be honest, I guess it was because I felt like that would make me complacent. I also was highly skeptical about the notion of 'burn-out' as just an excuse unmotivated people use for being tired and lazy. If you don't mind, can you clarify why 1 on, 1 off is better than PTing every day with review? I always denied that burn out is a real 'thing' (If it is, I swear that I am straight-up burned out, my PTs have actually been in slight decline lately). In other words, how would PTing every single day as opposed to every other day lead to score drops?

Thanks for the response. I really appreciate all that you do for us LSAT folks, as well as your pretty superhuman mastery of the material.

I'm so glad to hear that you've enjoyed the blog and related resources!

The point of full-length timed tests is not to get through as many as possible. The point is to improving your pacing and endurance, while exposing yourself to the newest exams. You need time to engage in detailed review of the exams that you take. For almost everyone, there is not enough time to do this properly and completely on the same day that you take the exam.

Additionally, burnout is real, and it's not laziness. It results from doing too much work in too short a period of time (essentially, overtraining). I have seen it in many, many, students who try to PT every single day. You can only take so much before you become fatigued. If you search TLS, you'll see others posting about their experiences with burnout. To me, at least, it seems like a plausible explanation for your score drop.

In any case, I'm glad that you appreciate my work!

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 9:38 pm
by mindarmed
121

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 9:53 pm
by laxbrah420
vaping? are you 17? inhale your smoke like a man.

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 9:41 pm
by Young Marino
I'm soooo blazed right now... Just relaxing before tomorrow's prep test

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 9:45 pm
by Young Marino
I'm soooo blazed right now.. Gotta go through my usual ritual on the eve before another pt.. yeaa

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:23 pm
by lukertin
ALeal90 wrote:I'm soooo blazed right now... Just relaxing before tomorrow's prep test
ALeal90 wrote:I'm soooo blazed right now.. Gotta go through my usual ritual on the eve before another pt.. yeaa
Anyone else find it interesting he used the same number of o's in so, but couldn't use the same number of periods?

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:37 pm
by objection_your_honor
What league are you in on sc2?

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:40 pm
by Nova
Weed makes me slower and dumber.

It also lowers my ambition and makes me more socially awkward than usual.

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 11:02 pm
by lukertin
objection_your_honor wrote:What league are you in on sc2?
I used to be really high diamond, but I don't play as seriously or as frequently as I used to. Placement matched into plat.

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 2:31 am
by Drewkapper
I'd like to see someone make a thread titled "Bath Salts and Study."

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 2:52 am
by laxbrah420
Drewkapper wrote:I'd like to see someone make a thread titled "Bath Salts and Study."
that'd be so funny man you should totally do it

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 1:23 pm
by JazzOne
laxbrah420 wrote:vaping? are you 17? inhale your smoke like a man.
+1

Man up. Smoke a blunt in the car on the way to the exam. 174. Profit.

ETA: Works for the bar exam too!

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 2:52 pm
by monadologist
JazzOne wrote:
laxbrah420 wrote:vaping? are you 17? inhale your smoke like a man.
+1

Man up. Smoke a blunt in the car on the way to the exam. 174. Profit.

ETA: Works for the bar exam too!
I may be considered the ultimate girly-man when you find out that not only do i vape my pot, but i use e-cigarettes as well.
But w/e, I could still kick yo bitch asses!

Edit: FWIW - I was a pack a day smoker and heavy bong toker for years and years, by switching to vaping all of the above, I am healthier, can do much more physically,
and don't have the health worries that I did as a smoker

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 2:55 pm
by JazzOne
monadologist wrote:
JazzOne wrote:
laxbrah420 wrote:vaping? are you 17? inhale your smoke like a man.
+1

Man up. Smoke a blunt in the car on the way to the exam. 174. Profit.

ETA: Works for the bar exam too!
I may be considered the ultimate girly-man when you find out that not only do i vape my pot, but i use e-cigarettes as well.
But w/e, I could still kick yo bitch asses!

Edit: FWIW - I was a pack a day smoker and heavy bong toker for years and years, by switching to vaping all of the above, I am healthier, can do much more physically,
and don't have the health worries that I did as a smoker
Everything you just said is TTT.

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 3:00 pm
by Young Marino
JazzOne wrote:
monadologist wrote:
JazzOne wrote:
laxbrah420 wrote:vaping? are you 17? inhale your smoke like a man.
+1

Man up. Smoke a blunt in the car on the way to the exam. 174. Profit.

ETA: Works for the bar exam too!
I may be considered the ultimate girly-man when you find out that not only do i vape my pot, but i use e-cigarettes as well.
But w/e, I could still kick yo bitch asses!

Edit: FWIW - I was a pack a day smoker and heavy bong toker for years and years, by switching to vaping all of the above, I am healthier, can do much more physically,
and don't have the health worries that I did as a smoker
Everything you just said is TTT.
That may work for you but me, I'm a blunt blowin purple kush token, blazed all day, eyes not showin. And my score went up 2 points today. The blazing works..

Re: Marijuana and Study

Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 5:48 pm
by Squintz805
IMO, unless your gonna blaze before the actual test I think it is a horrible idea to blaze before a practice test. I notice I score better in the RC if I toked (mainly I feel because I'm more relaxed reading through the passage not over analyzing things) then if I didn't.

If there is no way your gonna give up smoking, I don't see too much of an issue blazing when reviewing your PT/Drilled Sections after your done for the day. (This is what I do)

If your gonna score better high. Take the test high and study high (story of my undergrad). adjusting when you do and dont smoke herb for the next few months of prep is worth the potential in maximizing your score.

I mean Jesus, next think you know everyone will be talking about what's better for the LSAT: Indicas or Sativas...lol