I think I go catatonic once it comes time for the actual test Forum

[Op_Diom]

Okay, I just took the Oct. LSAT, and have been studying for awhile, while steadily improving on my practice tests and individual sections. I average like a ~170; therefore I consider anything below a 168 a bad day, normally. However, I was to say the least shocked to find that I received a 160 on this past test. I looked back over my misses and was astounded at how many that I originally felt nearly 100 percent confident in, but obviously to no avail. Has anyone else experienced this? I mean I am very anxious and high-strung by nature but a ~10-11 point drop is just unheard of. How should I go about studying for December now? If anyone has any advice on how to deal with this kind of issue, please let me know.

[PrayFor170]

Go to a therapist?

I just went to a free practice test offered by Princeton Review. I find being exposed frequently to the classroom settings help immensely, although few of the testprep companies would do it for free.

[Cubank]

On same boat, my sincerest condolences. Seriously considering the therapist thing and this is from a guy that has never had test-taking issues before.

[libertttarian]

Pretty sure I remember seeing you on the June waiter's forum. Sorry to hear the news man I hope you bounce back and kill it in December.

[appind]

Okay, I just took the Oct. LSAT, and have been studying for awhile, while steadily improving on my practice tests and individual sections. I average like a ~170; therefore I consider anything below a 168 a bad day, normally. However, I was to say the least shocked to find that I received a 160 on this past test. I looked back over my misses and was astounded at how many that I originally felt nearly 100 percent confident in, but obviously to no avail. Has anyone else experienced this? I mean I am very anxious and high-strung by nature but a ~10-11 point drop is just unheard of. How should I go about studying for December now? If anyone has any advice on how to deal with this kind of issue, please let me know.

i had the same experience during my last real test administration. felt very anxious during initial two sections and had a similar drop. how was your section breakdown, misses?

[maracuya]

This happened to me in June and I scored higher than I could have ever dreamed during the October administration. I am also high-strung and anxious and the pressure of the test really got to me in June. I couldn't sleep the night before and I was in my head about how I was messing everything up throughout the entirety of that test.

I overcame this by spending the time before the October test really working on making the real test day go as smoothly as possible. I made myself always take practice tests under the worst conditions (sleep deprived, hungry, with a headache, etc.). No matter what I do, I have a really hard time sleeping before big life-changing events, so I got used to taking the test while tired. I can't explain how incredibly calming it was the night before the test, knowing that it wouldn't even matter if I only got a few hours of sleep because I was already consistently scoring in my desired range while exhausted. I was ready to take on the test no matter what my personal state was. Incidentally, I got a solid 7 hours of sleep that night.

I think you need to figure out what it is that makes you anxious and address it head on. You should go into that test confident of what your score will be. It should feel no different than a PT. I felt that even having done it once before took a lot of the edge off. You can definitely raise your real score to your practice scores, it will just take something more than studying.