Am I Burnt Out? Forum

[dooritos23]

I have been studying almost every day for two months, about 8 hours each day. Two months later I was consistently scoring -4 on LR (including both sections) -2 on LG, and -1/-2 on RC.

However, I recently took PT69 and went -10 LR, -4 RC, and -5 LG. I was pretty alarmed at my LR score, which better reflected my abilities at the beginning of my prep than what recent trends indicated. Since then, I haven't been able to score less than -6 on any of the five individual LR sections I took thereafter. On my reviews, I see that I often make stupid mistakes (getting easy questions wrong in the first set of 10, misreading the question stem, etc).

Am I burnt out? Am I psyching myself out after my poor performance on PT69? I'm thinking that taking a break from studying would be the best remedy for both. Any thoughts on the optimal amount of time one should spend on a break in order to maximize its benefits and reduce the risk of falling out of practice?

PS- I know some folks experience a score drop when transitioning from the earlier tests to the later ones, but I have only taken full length tests in the 60s.

Thanks a bunch for any insight. I'm sure burnout is pretty topical for those who have been preparing for the October exam.

[shump92]

I

You are burnt out.

You are psyching yourself out after your poor performance on PT69.

Taking a break from studying would be the best remedy for both.

Studying a lot is great, but the LSAT is way too much to keep doing the hours you described. Instead of studying that much, try to internalize the test logic into your daily life.

I
Any thoughts on the optimal amount of time one should spend on a break in order to maximize its benefits and reduce the risk of falling out of practice?

I think you need to relax a bit. You have a really good foundation for the October test, which is still 2 months away.That's great! Don't worry about how long of a break you need, just study when you feel like it won't stress you out again. And for each day of studying, follow that rule of thumb.

Hitting the right balance for this test is key. The format really sucks, just like any other standardized test. As soon as your performance starts giving you anxiety, the test is winning. You should be able to "have fun" with studying and the test as much as possible. Sticking it to the man or whatever. That means you are winning. I think if you chill a bit more you'll hit a 170s score in October. Good luck!

[Lying Lawyer]

If you've been studying everyday for 8 hours a day, you are not going to forget what you've been practicing everyday. This is a very difficult test to study for and the it's funny how you can be taking a test and not really know you're burned out. More than likely that's what it is. Take a couple of days off. Surely there are things you are neglecting with all the studying. Go out with some friends(watch the alcohol consumption) or have dinner with your parents. Get your mind off the test for a little while. I coach football and it's amazing what a couple of hours with the kids can do for me.

[togoornottogo]

I think you need a long break. I had a similar problem where my score dropped suddenly 6 points, and I was and I took an indefinite break until I looked forward to looking at questions again. It lasted 4 days and it was glorious. My studying was re-energized, I was no longer fatigued and my score jumped up past where it had been before.

[dooritos23]

Thanks you all for the advice. I'm going to take a few days off to catch up on my reading, spend time with my girlfriend, etc.

Shump, can you elaborate on what you mean by incorporating LSAT logic into everyday life?

[shump92]

Thanks you all for the advice. I'm going to take a few days off to catch up on my reading, spend time with my girlfriend, etc.

Shump, can you elaborate on what you mean by incorporating LSAT logic into everyday life?

Sure. Let's say you are arguing with a friend about something you saw on TV. You could ask yourself whether you are disagreeing with what they are mainly saying, why they are saying it, or both. You could think about any bias that you or they might have.

If you have to organize a party, you could think about restrictions on where you could have it and who could come based on the preferences of the person being celebrated.

You could read everything you normally read as if it were a RC passage. What is coming next? What would the author say if I asked her certain questions. Etc.

Does that make more sense?

[PoopNpants]

I think you need a long break. I had a similar problem where my score dropped suddenly 6 points, and I was and I took an indefinite break until I looked forward to looking at questions again. It lasted 4 days and it was glorious. My studying was re-energized, I was no longer fatigued and my score jumped up past where it had been before.

THIS. After taking a break I felt so much better it's not like you will lose anything seriously

[Bubbles 4 Life]

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[basedvulpes]

Post removed.

[salander]

I think you need a long break. I had a similar problem where my score dropped suddenly 6 points, and I was and I took an indefinite break until I looked forward to looking at questions again. It lasted 4 days and it was glorious. My studying was re-energized, I was no longer fatigued and my score jumped up past where it had been before.

THIS. After taking a break I felt so much better it's not like you will lose anything seriously

+2 for long breaks

[BlueprintJason]

Sounds like burnout, and I don't recommend that much time studying on a consistent daily basis anyways. You might be spending all that time, but you may not be spending it efficiently. Time spent =/= quality study time.

When students ask me about study time I usually tell them to try and study two sessions of two hours with a 15 minute break in between at the time of the day when you are going to take the exam (if this is possible). Then, I recommend doing other things with yourself for at least a little while. If you want to do more studying than that, I would only do it in 45 minute chunks.

Couple reasons why I do this:

1) The brain is not good at focusing for more than 45 minutes (according to neuroscience research, some say even as low as 20 minutes). This is one of the things that makes the LSAT hard. So, it makes sense to try and practice focusing for 2 hours at at time, because this is a little more than you will have to go on test day before you hit the break (1:45).

2) The other thing that is hard is having to come back and focus again for a long time after only a 15 minute rest. You actually only have to go for 1:10 after the break before the writing section (wgaf about that?), so, you can ease into that approach by aiming for 1:00, 1:30, 1:45, 2:00 and progress up to 2:00-:15-2:00.

3) Focus. Casually studying is not nearly as helpful as working at maximum focus and intensity. Spending too much time can actually be counterproductive.

4) Once you've done 4 hours of intensely focused LSAT for the day, you are then going into overtraining mode. You won't have to be focused for that many hours on test day, so doing any more than that has diminishing returns (especially if you can't work at full out intensity for that extra time).

5) Those 45 minute blocks of studying beyond that are just a bit longer than a section. The test is a bunch of sprints that add up to a marathon. If you can do 45 minutes all out intensity, even after 4 hours of studying before that, focusing for a 35 minute section is much easier.

In terms of total hours spent per day, I would challenge yourself to limit the amount of time to 4 hours for a few days (once you've had some time off as others have mentioned). See if you can work harder and more intensely than normal for these 4 hours and se how much you can accomplish. You might be surprised that you may be able to achieve more in less time when you are focused on trying to get in game day intensity mode.

HTH and good luck!

[IWantToBeAFarmer]

I have been studying almost every day for two months, about 8 hours each day. Two months later I was consistently scoring -4 on LR (including both sections) -2 on LG, and -1/-2 on RC.

However, I recently took PT69 and went -10 LR, -4 RC, and -5 LG. I was pretty alarmed at my LR score, which better reflected my abilities at the beginning of my prep than what recent trends indicated. Since then, I haven't been able to score less than -6 on any of the five individual LR sections I took thereafter. On my reviews, I see that I often make stupid mistakes (getting easy questions wrong in the first set of 10, misreading the question stem, etc).

Am I burnt out? Am I psyching myself out after my poor performance on PT69? I'm thinking that taking a break from studying would be the best remedy for both. Any thoughts on the optimal amount of time one should spend on a break in order to maximize its benefits and reduce the risk of falling out of practice?

PS- I know some folks experience a score drop when transitioning from the earlier tests to the later ones, but I have only taken full length tests in the 60s.

Thanks a bunch for any insight. I'm sure burnout is pretty topical for those who have been preparing for the October exam.

My advice: Listen to Jason.

Disclaimer: I did only a little better than average on my 1st LSAT attempt.

[dooritos23]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm currently on my fourth day of LSAT vacation, and I intend to start studying again tomorrow. Jason, your "less is more" strategy seems effective. Does this rule apply for practice test days as well? I try to review my mistakes as thoroughly as possible (typing out the question and answers, evaluating each answer choice, writing down commitments for how to avoid repeating the mistake I made on each question). Will waiting a day to review my mistakes after a pretest compromise my ability to remember them?

I also find the discussion on how to view the LSAT to be interesting. A friend of mine once compared the LSAT to "an annoying little brother" presumably to help her feel less intimidated by fostering a sense of mastery. Personally, i like to think of the LSAT as the first stage of my legal education. Every lawyer I have talked to has said that the LSAT does a very fine job of testing the mental muscles they use on an everyday basis, so it's nice to see that the skills we are developing won't go to waste.

[Dcc617]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm currently on my fourth day of LSAT vacation, and I intend to start studying again tomorrow. Jason, your "less is more" strategy seems effective. Does this rule apply for practice test days as well? I try to review my mistakes as thoroughly as possible (typing out the question and answers, evaluating each answer choice, writing down commitments for how to avoid repeating the mistake I made on each question). Will waiting a day to review my mistakes after a pretest compromise my ability to remember them?

I also find the discussion on how to view the LSAT to be interesting. A friend of mine once compared the LSAT to "an annoying little brother" presumably to help her feel less intimidated by fostering a sense of mastery. Personally, i like to think of the LSAT as the first stage of my legal education. Every lawyer I have talked to has said that the LSAT does a very fine job of testing the mental muscles they use on an everyday basis, so it's nice to see that the skills we are developing won't go to waste.

I personally would not recommend taking a whole day off before reviewing. When I was studying I would usually do a little lap around the house, get some water, rest, etc, but I think there's value in reviewing while it's still fresh. Sometimes if you wait too long you forget what you were thinking on wrong answers, so you lose the insight into the mistakes in your reasoning. For me, at least, that is how I approached it.

[dooritos23]

Update: after I got back from my break, I took PT40 and went -1, -0 on logical reasoning, with a total score of 177. Thanks for the help everyone; it looks like a break is exactly what I needed!

[Lying Lawyer]

Don't forget to take repeated breaks in your studies. If you feel your making dumb mistakes. Take a couple of days off. I plan to not do anything the 2 days before the test.