173+ scorers, did you take the day off before the test? Forum

[papajohns]

.

[PDX4343]

Yes

[Pancakes12]

Yea

[ForLawSchool]

yep. watched a really stupid/funny movie the night before as well.

[phillywc]

3-4 days actually, and that time between each PT. I didn't study a ton though.

[xylocarp]

Yes

eta: Add a poll maybe?

[Kronk]

3-4 days actually, and that time between each PT. I didn't study a ton though.

lol

[malleus discentium]

Yes, and I would advise against studying even that morning. At that point nothing is going to improve your score except keeping your nerves under control.

[ScottRiqui]

Yes, and I would advise against studying even that morning. At that point nothing is going to improve your score except keeping your nerves under control.

Agreed. I didn't "study" the morning of, but I did take along a couple of logic games that I'd done before and was comfortable with, just as a confidence boost and to "get in the mood" for the test.

ETA: This might be against the rules, depending on how broad your interpretation of "test center" is. No one even gave me a second glance either time, though.

[094320]

..

[mtn663]

No. Wish I had, though

[PDX4343]

To the studying the morning of point: It depends on the person, but I did maybe 10 LR questions and 2 Logic Games to wake my brain up. I think it helped a lot.

[bernaldiaz]

No

[Clearly]

yes.

[03152016]

No sir

[kcdc1]

I did a test-day simulation. Woke up at scheduled time, ate scheduled breakfast, etc. Was done "studying" by noon tho.

[oxie]

No, I did a couple full PTs the day before. But I also didn't do any full PTs until two days before the test, so I don't think my prep schedule is really one to emulate...

[xylocarp]

To the studying the morning of point: It depends on the person, but I did maybe 10 LR questions and 2 Logic Games to wake my brain up. I think it helped a lot.

I also did a morning-of warmup. Did it in my car in the parking lot. I did one easy logic game, one interesting reading passage, and a page of LR questions. It definitely helped me get into the groove of things after a much-needed day off, and oddly, the very-specific topic of my RC passage (think along the lines of "women's literature in the American Civil War") was also the subject of one of my RC passages on the actual test that day.

I did a test-day simulation. Woke up at scheduled time, ate scheduled breakfast, etc.

Did this the Saturday before, and I highly recommend it if you've never been to your test center. Made the morning just a little less stressful that I wasn't in a totally foreign place.

[wealtheow]

my memory of that day is a little hazy, but i'm fairly positive that i didn't do anything lsat-related the day before, although i think i meant to. i definitely didn't do anything the morning of, and i hardly did anything the entire week beforehand (i did some old RC sections, untimed, and one PT, maybe on Sunday or Monday). my car had broken down mid-week, and i caught the flu, so my priorities and strategy had to be re-arranged a bit. thankfully, taking the week off from any real studying turned out to be the way to go for me. i got lots and lots of rest, and felt very relaxed on test day. for what it's worth, i'd tried the warm up/studying all week the first time i took the test, and in retrospect i think that only served to get me even more wound up.

[sims1]

My second write I did a full timed PT and a couple of untimed sections over the day just to help ease my nerves/anxiety and maintain my routine. For others I can see the benefit of taking the day off, but I just couldn't see myself focusing on anything else but the LSAT.

The first time I wrote I did 2 full timed PT's the day before and did okay. This may have been a bit much, although I don't think it had a negative impact on me on test-day.

Anyway I think this thread title should say "people who performed well on test-day, did you take the day off before the test?". If you are averaging a 178 and scored a 173 on test-day, maybe you didn't have the best mental preparation. This is a pretty personal question that doesn't really have a right or wrong answer. Do what makes you the most comfortable.

[georgej]

I did two full sections of arguments in my car outside the testing center immediately before the test as a warm up. I went 100% on both of those and then missed 3 questions on each arguments section of the real test. As a result I did worse than my last 5 practice tests (178-180) on my real lsat. I also became violently ill on my way home and ended up stuck in bed with a stomach bug for three days. Would not recommend.

[jk148706]

.

[emkay625]

In my previous test (low 170s) I took a full PT the day before (Saturday). In all my PTs thus far, I did some kind of intensive studying the day before.

I feel like it's taking a toll on me at times.

For those of you who scored 173+ did you take the day before the actual test to simply rest? Is this the consensus on the best thing to do the day before?

I did 2 easy logic games the morning before. Did nothing the morning of.

[FuriousDuck]

...

[oxie]

No, I did a couple full PTs the day before. But I also didn't do any full PTs until two days before the test, so I don't think my prep schedule is really one to emulate...

She scored a 180 as well. Her LSN profile is a thing of beauty. To answer the thread question, yes, I didn't do anything the day before the test. I don't think it really matters all that much what you do the day before the test.

I feel like I've got my own hype man!

I never had problems with "endurance" on standardized tests and intensive studying right before exams usually served me well, so that's why I didn't stress about taking full PTs farther in advance. I wouldn't necessarily recommend my approach to others, but it worked OK for me!

Maybe my perspective is kind of skewed, but I think the "know thyself" adage applies to a lot of LSAT prep questions, including this one. I don't think there's a universal wrong or right answer, it's just a matter of figuring out what works best for you personally.