I took PT 63- June 2011; and most recently PT 69- this past June. Both were at 12:30 PM, so a bit different than this time. My first take I just wasn't prepared. My second take I was prepared-- but not following some of the stuff below really hurt me.
For people that have taken the LSAT before: any last-minute tips in terms of what helped you, or what you wish you had done differently? Please add to this!
I've taken twice, some of the tips I'd give:
The week before the test:
-- Exercise. Don't stress. Don't overdo the PTing. Eat well. Avoid shit food. Take 10 minutes every night and/or day to meditate. Wake up early. Release anxiety and tension, in whatever way works. Find a balance: don't overdo the drinking, but don't hole up in your room either. Don't stay in all weekend, but don't party til 4 AM.
Another one: don't talk about the LSAT to others too much. I had such a one-track mind before the June test, and people knew it, and getting so many well-intentioned good luck calls the night before and morning of raised the pressure significantly for me. I woke up the morning of the test feeling so anxious and feeling nauseous (which I didn't realize was anxiety until after)- the pressure got to me, and I think it's possible to avoid that.
The day or two before the test:
--- Seriously, relax. I tried to on the day before my last take-- I went to a pool, but was looking over PT 68 then. And relax within close proximity to where you need to sleep/test the next day. Don't anxiously drive at 10:30 PM the night before trying to find the hotel you are staying at-- another mistake I made the night before.
The hour before the test:
--- Get there early.
--- Use the bathroom at the last minute. In my test center, there was a pretty big line that took about an hour to process everyone. Once you're inside the test center and checked in, you can't leave until the first section starts. I realized that when I was one person away from being checked in.... and left the line to go pee, which I'm so happy I did. Seriously, there's no need to sit in a seat for an hour or more watching people get checked in. (Granted, if everyone takes this advice nobody will go on line, but I am going to assume readers of TLS are less than 5% of each test center...
)The break during the test:
--- Don't talk to people during the break. You will be in the test center for half your day, and there is a singular goal- get a 180, or as close to it as possible. If anything detracts from this goal in even a tiny way- as talking to other people about the test might- skip it. It seriously can psyche you out. Having someone say "section 2 was easy!!" or more likely "section 2 was hell" only will hurt your own performance. There is no need to determine which section was experimental during the break- it's strictly against LSAC rules and really is useless until all 5 sections have been administered anyway.
LG during the test (but applies to LR and RC as well):
--- LOGIC GAMES. In my experience, and in the experience of some other posters on here, logic games for real can be substantially different than when PTing. When I'm PTing, I am relaxed, thinking of the right setup, taking time on questions to check answers and find inferences. When I took this for real last time, despite 0s and -1s very consistently on PT's, HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME BRUTE FORCE THIS SHIT THROUGH. This time, before each game-- even the standard linear one(s)-- I am going to take 20-30 seconds to really pause and think. This will cost me a minute or two total, but I'll save time on questions and the risk of what happened last time (-7 somehow) will be mitigated.
After the 5 sections:
-- This was a tip from WormFather, I think: write down, when starting your essay, how you think you did on each section (a range as well as a specific guess). Try to be accurate. This is the only time you will have a reasonable assessment until you see your score in 3-4 weeks. Remember to erase, and scribble something down for the essay.
After the test:
Get drunk.
And even if you think the test went poorly, or even if the test needed to be cancelled, for whatever reason, don't go right into studying. It will absolutely lead to burnout. Our brains are focused on October only right now. Take a week off.
What else?
