Motivation is Lost Forum

[whateverwhatever]

Longtime lurker here; got my LSAT score back yesterday and was extremely underwhelmed. I ended up with a 156, when I was PTing around 170-173. I knew I tanked on test day given some crazy test anxiety that I'd never experienced before coupled with the kid next to me having a truly horrific meltdown and getting up and down multiple times during every section -- the proctor even came over multiple times and had to talk him down during the test.

Excuses aside, this is on me obviously; I underprepared and paid for it. That being said, my motivation is lost. Any words of advice as to where to go from here and reinspire myself to study for September and/or December would be greatly appreciated.

Some background, I graduated two years ago from a top-20 public University. I have two years+ WE in IP (specifically at a firm that mostly handles patent prosecution). My UG GPA is 3.86. My parents are pressuring me to stop putting off law school; they wanted me to go right after undergrad, which is not what I wanted to do, obviously. My brother attends a T30 law school -- and my parents think he's the greatest gift to the world and no one can ever be better than him; so they pretty much told me I'm not smart enough for a T14, so why try. It's demotivating to say the least. I'm undecided on my career goals; so, I'd like to have as many options as possible.

[Barack O'Drama]

I know this is going to sound cliche, but it doesn't make it any less true--You have to worry about you my friend. I know it is probably hurtful to an extent that your parents are comparing you to your brother, who seems to be doing well for himself, and good for him! However, you seem to be gunning for a top 14 law school, which they might not understand is a completely different animal as far as acceptances go.

You have a great GPA and have nothing except this stupid test stopping you from achieving your dreams. And that is exactly how you have to think of them, as "Your Dreams." Do what you think is best and don't rush into anything. A 3.86 is an amazing GPA and shouldn't be wasted. You should absolutely retake if you are capable of scoring in the 170s! You know you can, you've done it.... It was just anxiety and a bad situation. Next time hopefully now that you know what to expect you'll be able to push through and get the score you deserve, that will also compliment your high GPA.

Stay motivated man...Inevitability is for raindrops. As humans, we can make choices. Make a choice to get into the T14 and take the LSAT again.

[mwells56]

Longtime lurker here; got my LSAT score back yesterday and was extremely underwhelmed. I ended up with a 156, when I was PTing around 170-173. I knew I tanked on test day given some crazy test anxiety that I'd never experienced before coupled with the kid next to me having a truly horrific meltdown and getting up and down multiple times during every section -- the proctor even came over multiple times and had to talk him down during the test.

Excuses aside, this is on me obviously; I underprepared and paid for it. That being said, my motivation is lost. Any words of advice as to where to go from here and reinspire myself to study for September and/or December would be greatly appreciated.

Some background, I graduated two years ago from a top-20 public University. I have two years+ WE in IP (specifically at a firm that mostly handles patent prosecution). My UG GPA is 3.86. My parents are pressuring me to stop putting off law school; they wanted me to go right after undergrad, which is not what I wanted to do, obviously. My brother attends a T30 law school -- and my parents think he's the greatest gift to the world and no one can ever be better than him; so they pretty much told me I'm not smart enough for a T14, so why try. It's demotivating to say the least. I'm undecided on my career goals; so, I'd like to have as many options as possible.

With your work experience, PT scores, and GPA, it would be a shame for you not to go to the T14. You're clearly smart enough.

Just as a personal anecdote, when I was in middle school I was a lazy little prick. My teachers always told me I was smart but that I was too lazy and they didn't recommend me for any of the honors classes in high school. My parents felt the same way. I always told them that I'd start trying once I hit high school because middle school didn't mean anything. They didn't believe me. My motivation was to prove them wrong. I ended up taking all honors and APs throughout all of high school, got in to awesome schools for undergrad, and am [hopefully] on my way to a top law school.

The moral of the story is: screw the haters. Be the best you that you can be and throw it back in their faces when you've shown them what's up. That's your motivation.

[Deardevil]

Man... Sorry to hear that.

Test anxiety can be a real pain.
BirdLawExpert happened to write up a post earlier today on how to conquer that.
Luckily, I have it saved as a DOC:

Don't meditate in the morning after just waking up. Meditate at a "busy" point in your day where you're actively solving problems.
Don't have your phone with you or within earshot. You need to be isolated as much as you can.
Don't meditate in the same room that you study in. Find a "neutral" location or a place in your house/apartment that you don't use very much. This seems counterintuitive but it's actually kind of important
Don't cut your time short if you're busy. That cheats you and kind of defeats the entire point of meditation. Make time for this.

Now that you've got your ground rules, here's what you're going to do. Grab that watch you use for timing sections on the test and set it to five minutes. Go sit on the floor in a neutral location facing an empty wall, and stare at that wall for five minutes. Do your best to think about nothing. Don't make plans, don't solve problems, don't think about what you're doing next, and don't think about existential nonsense or anything like that. Just sit there and stare at the wall and do your absolute best to avoid thinking of anything in particular. If you're like me, for the entire first week you do this you're going to be thinking "this is stupid, this is so stupid". That's fine. You'll get over it. Sit there for five minutes, not a second more or less. Do that for two weeks, which should be about how long it takes for you to get over the fact that you're sitting in a corner staring at a wall. Also, don't close your eyes, because hopefully you don't take tests with your eyes closed. If you do, we just solved your problem and you don't need to meditate.

After two weeks, you're going to sit there for fifteen minutes. You're going to feel like you're wasting even more of your time on this nonsense, but just do it. Don't think about your breathing or heart rate or anything like that. Just sit there for fifteen minutes and actively tell your brain to stop solving problems. If you have a train of thought, actively think about something else. Do this every day for not a second more or less than fifteen minutes. You're not going to succeed at first, you might not get anywhere close to succeeding, but keep doing it anyway. The entire point of this is to gain the ability to actively tell your brain to stop its surface-level problem solving processes for however long you may need it to. If you're getting through fifteen minutes pretty easily, then try thirty. If you're getting through thirty easily, you're probably good.

This isn't about becoming one with yourself or anything, this is about re-calibrating a mechanical issue in your thought process. The fundamental problem of most people who have issues with test taking is that when they sit down to test, they cannot control the pace at which they think. Thoughts fly in and out more quickly than normal, or not at all, and instead of taking a deep breath and being able to normalize their thought process like many people can, they have to take the test with their mind running at a thousand miles per hour or crawling at a snail's pace. That's just too mentally exhausting to deal with over a long test like the LSAT. By sitting down and forcing yourself to stop solving problems at a time when your mind is running at a high speed, you're essentially practicing that "calming" sensation that most test-takers have some innate knowledge of; you're crafting an on/off switch in your mind for problem solving. Meditation isn't good because it helps you find yourself, it's good because it's essentially the drilling equivalent of mentally preparing yourself to take a test.

Must be tough to have your parents on your back, but don't listen to them;
their definition of "smart enough" doesn't matter when you're the one who's really in control.
If you're PTing in the 170s, I'm certain that's what you'll achieve on your next outing. Trust yourself!
You could accomplish great things, but only if you put your mind to it.

[Mikey]

I am in the same position as you, so I know exactly how you feel. It does suck and although I was truly bummed out with my score after practice testing slightly less than you, I came to realize that there isn't anything I can do about that official June score anymore. But what WE can do is retake, study even harder, and tell LSAC to kiss our asses when we put their little test on its knees. Believe me, I was very very sad with my score, as you probably are too. But I registered for September, and began my prep again today because I don't want this test to prevent me from what I want to do, and you shouldn't either!

[180orDie]

I'll just say that I'd kill to be able to PT in the 170's, as would most people studying for the LSAT. Consider yourself very fortunate that you're able to, keep prepping, and re-take in September. Giving up now when you've come this far would be a travesty. You've already done the bulk of the work, just stay fresh until September and give it another shot.

[Deardevil]

I'll just say that I'd kill

QFT.
But let's not resort to anything of the murderous degree now... You're going to law school!

[Eternalsunshine]

Maybe give yourself a week or so to wallow and decompress. Then get back to studying and kill it in September - you obviously have the ability to do very, very well, and the potential for a great cycle. Best of luck!

[Good Guy Gaud]

Maybe give yourself a week or so to wallow and decompress.

This is really good advice. You've earned yourself a break, OP.

Life will come back together and one day you will look back on this and appreciate the lessons you'll learn. If you decide to retake, you'll crush it.

[whateverwhatever]

I know this is going to sound cliche, but it doesn't make it any less true--You have to worry about you my friend. I know it is probably hurtful to an extent that your parents are comparing you to your brother, who seems to be doing well for himself, and good for him! However, you seem to be gunning for a top 14 law school, which they might not understand is a completely different animal as far as acceptances go.

You have a great GPA and have nothing except this stupid test stopping you from achieving your dreams. And that is exactly how you have to think of them, as "Your Dreams." Do what you think is best and don't rush into anything. A 3.86 is an amazing GPA and shouldn't be wasted. You should absolutely retake if you are capable of scoring in the 170s! You know you can, you've done it.... It was just anxiety and a bad situation. Next time hopefully now that you know what to expect you'll be able to push through and get the score you deserve, that will also compliment your high GPA.

Stay motivated man...Inevitability is for raindrops. As humans, we can make choices. Make a choice to get into the T14 and take the LSAT again.

Thank you! I really appreciate it. It's nice to hear an outside opinion that's positive -- the validation is super motivating -- you don't know how much I appreciate it.

With your work experience, PT scores, and GPA, it would be a shame for you not to go to the T14. You're clearly smart enough.

Just as a personal anecdote, when I was in middle school I was a lazy little prick. My teachers always told me I was smart but that I was too lazy and they didn't recommend me for any of the honors classes in high school. My parents felt the same way. I always told them that I'd start trying once I hit high school because middle school didn't mean anything. They didn't believe me. My motivation was to prove them wrong. I ended up taking all honors and APs throughout all of high school, got in to awesome schools for undergrad, and am [hopefully] on my way to a top law school.

The moral of the story is: screw the haters. Be the best you that you can be and throw it back in their faces when you've shown them what's up. That's your motivation.

Hahaha trying to ignore the "haters" but it's difficult when it's your parents, and you know that they just want what's best for you. Trying to balance my respect for them with my blatant disregard for their opinions at this point. Thank you! Happy to hear everything worked out for you! Congrats on being on your way to a great law school!

Man... Sorry to hear that.

Test anxiety can be a real pain.
BirdLawExpert happened to write up a post earlier today on how to conquer that.
Luckily, I have it saved as a DOC:

Thanks for this! I will definitely give it a shot. I've never had test anxiety before, so I had no idea what to do.

Must be tough to have your parents on your back, but don't listen to them;
their definition of "smart enough" doesn't matter when you're the one who's really in control.
If you're PTing in the 170s, I'm certain that's what you'll achieve on your next outing. Trust yourself!
You could accomplish great things, but only if you put your mind to it.

Thanks!

Maybe give yourself a week or so to wallow and decompress.

This is really good advice. You've earned yourself a break, OP.

Life will come back together and one day you will look back on this and appreciate the lessons you'll learn. If you decide to retake, you'll crush it.

I will try to get back on track. Maybe let myself dissect what happened this weekend and then put it in my rearview mirror. And, you're 100% correct in saying that I have the control in the situation, and I have to do what's right for myself. Thank you!

I am in the same position as you, so I know exactly how you feel. It does suck and although I was truly bummed out with my score after practice testing slightly less than you, I came to realize that there isn't anything I can do about that official June score anymore. But what WE can do is retake, study even harder, and tell LSAC to kiss our asses when we put their little test on its knees. Believe me, I was very very sad with my score, as you probably are too. But I registered for September, and began my prep again today because I don't want this test to prevent me from what I want to do, and you shouldn't either!

Sorry to hear about your poor LSAT experience as well! I hope I can become as positive as you through the next few weeks. It really helped to hear I wasn't alone. Good luck on your retake as well! I'm sure you'll rock it!

I'll just say that I'd kill to be able to PT in the 170's, as would most people studying for the LSAT. Consider yourself very fortunate that you're able to, keep prepping, and re-take in September. Giving up now when you've come this far would be a travesty. You've already done the bulk of the work, just stay fresh until September and give it another shot.

Thank you for giving me some perspective. I think I was just caught up in my own disappointment that I was unable to see the bigger picture. Hoping to refocus and move forward.

Maybe give yourself a week or so to wallow and decompress.

This is really good advice. You've earned yourself a break, OP.

Life will come back together and one day you will look back on this and appreciate the lessons you'll learn. If you decide to retake, you'll crush it.

This is great advice! Thanks; I think I'll try to enjoy the long weekend and not think about the LSAT for a few days. Hopefully, I can just put it behind me and start with a clean slate.