Severe Recent Regression in Preptest Scores and Focus Forum

[bobbybird]

Hi all. First of all, thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this. If you want the TL;DR version: I am becoming highly anxious and lethargic heading into my final month of preparation and I'm looking for advice on how to combat it as best I can.

Anyway, I've been prepping for the past three months for the June LSAT. I've used a combination of Pithypike, TLS1776, and TheNoodleyOne's advice thus far mixed in with my own needs and I've seen massive gains as a result. My initial diagnostic was a 160 and as of last week I've been averaging a 167-170 over several properly timed, 5 section prep tests. I was also confident about my ability to improve since I had brought my two main focus sections (LG and RC) to a total of around -3 and was missing around 12 to 14 in LR, which I've slowly whittled down to around 7-8 wrong total since last week. I figured that as long as I stayed the course, I would continue to see slow but steady gains until the June examination. However, this past week has been a disaster.

I have been feeling anxious, lethargic, and generally unmotivated to take my most recent prep test. I knew a lot of this added stress is the feeling of entering the final month of my preparation so I took my stress into account and took a day off completely to try and combat it. I tried to take a preptest yesterday after the rest and it was a disaster. I missed 10 more problems than I had missed in the past ~20 days, and really fell apart in terms of timing. What's worse, I performed horribly in the RC section, which I had thought I had brought down to a hard 0-3 maximum wrong.

I'm not blind to the causes. I was still anxious and I was still not highly motivated going into the examination like I had been in previous administrations of preptests. However, my question is: what is the best way to combat this? Up until this point, my motivation has been excellent and my progress has been rocky but steady.

Once again, thanks for anyone taking the time to read this and/or offering advice.

[WaltGrace83]

This happens to me every once and a while.

Take DAYS off, like three to four or maybe even a week. During the time off, eat really well, get a lot of sleep, exercise, and I like doing some yoga. You won't regress by doing this and many people report actually having a huge breakthrough in their plateau following some rest.

[bobbybird]

This happens to me every once and a while.

Take DAYS off, like three to four or maybe even a week. During the time off, eat really well, get a lot of sleep, exercise, and I like doing some yoga. You won't regress by doing this and many people report actually having a huge breakthrough in their plateau following some rest.

Hey, first of all, thank you for your advice. I tried to just power through again today by taking another PT. I don't believe it went well. It's very hard to take your advice without feeling like I'm wasting a massive amount of time for potential improvement, but 'powering through' clearly is not working. I'm going to take the weekend off until Monday and try again.

The reality is that I am beginning to grow bored by the monotony of taking a PT every 2-3 days. LR stimuli are blurring together to the point where I'm glossing over words and interest in RC passages can hardly be forced. I'm hoping taking a few days off will counteract these effects.

[alexrodriguez]

Walt pretty much covered it.

You play golf? I'd suggest go play and drink a beer while you're at it.

[paayter]

you are burnt out...your brain needs rest. and meaningful rest, you cant keep thinkin about how much time you are "wasting." trust me on this..and others. if you dont take rest, you will do badly on your test..sorry.

[alexrodriguez]

Maybe watch a few episodes of Workaholics. That should do the trick.