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Hey so we can only use analog watches at the test right?
Some books suggest that we rewind our watches to 12 before starting every section as to make it easier to see how much time we have left.
Good idea or waste of precious time?

If you do it "before starting" you aren't going to be wasting any time. It just makes it easier to see how much time has passed.

Some people also advocate winding it so that it ends at 12 (putting it at :25 after). Which makes it more of a countdown for you.

Absolutely a good idea. It will take you a couple of seconds, tops, to do this. Compared to the amount of time you would waste doing the math to figure out how much time you have left (or to remember at what time you actually started this section) that is nothing. I did the start at the top of the hour thing, though like iBeezy said, some people set it for :25 so that you end at top of the hour. (BTW, though I started the exam with it at noon, after that I didn't really care whether it was noon or just the top of the hour that I started at.)

At my testing center I was the only one with an analog watch (and I did wind to 12:00 to start). Everyone else brought digitals: the proctor didn't care - I wish I had known before the test day.

Buy a chronograph. It's much easier. There's a relatively inexpensive Timex one that I bought and was very happy with it. --LinkRemoved--

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I used an analog watch and set it to 12 before every section, it was very helpful, and only took about 2 seconds to do right before the start of every section, I definetly recommend it!

takingmytime wrote:At my testing center I was the only one with an analog watch (and I did wind to 12:00 to start). Everyone else brought digitals: the proctor didn't care - I wish I had known before the test day.

Your test mates got extremely lucky! At my center the proctors followed the rules to a T. One person had their analog watch taken because it had a digital date feature.

Take it back to 12 after every section. Trying to do the math in your head is going to drive you nuts, and waste valuable brain cells on math.

A chronograph seems like overkill to me. Setting your analog watch back to 12 before* each section should be sufficient for pacing.

*In my case I set my watch to 12:00 and left it disengaged until the proctor indicated that we should begin work, as soon as she said this I popped in the little knob and began working--it took away less than 2 seconds of time per section.

edcrane wrote:A chronograph seems like overkill to me. Setting your analog watch back to 12 before* each section should be sufficient for pacing.

*In my case I set my watch to 12:00 and left it disengaged until the proctor indicated that we should begin work, as soon as she said this I popped in the little knob and began working--it took away less than 2 seconds of time per section.

I agree, a little overkill if it is just for the LSAT.

I did the same this as edcrane, my watch would let it sit on 12 until I pushed the button back in when the proctor called time.

I said "after" each section because I assumed that you'd start at 12 on the first section, and then reset it back to 12 as soon as she called time, and then push the button when she said start. And like Mr. Crane said, it takes almost no time to do this.

YoungFogey wrote:

takingmytime wrote:At my testing center I was the only one with an analog watch (and I did wind to 12:00 to start). Everyone else brought digitals: the proctor didn't care - I wish I had known before the test day.

Your test mates got extremely lucky! At my center the proctors followed the rules to a T. One person had their analog watch taken because it had a digital date feature.

It's all wbout perspective. The other thing that happened at my test center was that before section 1 a girl asked to go to the bathroom. The proctor said yes and about 10 seconds after she left the room the proctor started the first section. As soon as people started opening their books I raised my hand and asked if we could wait for her. The proctor put it to a vote and an overwhelming majority said they would rather just start (ahh law school people).

My test center had very lax rules and I followed every rule - even those that it would have been beneficial to break (ex: digital watch, cell phone to call a ride when it was over). But at the end of the day I didn't get any advantage or disadvantage.

My suggestion is to take a digital AND an analog watch with you to the center. If the proctor won't care, use the digital. Otherwise the analog.

What's the rationale behind not allowing the use of digital? The potential for beeping?

Setting to 11:25 for each section and pushing the button when the proctor said "Start now" worked well for me. Now, if I could have just gotten more correct answers, everything would have been perfect. My watch was the least of my concerns.

That's why I invented my own countdown watch one week before the test and am now trying to sell it because it really does help. I put some on eBay too, under LSAT analog countdown timer"

You can send me a message and I'll send you details as well if you prefer.

Lol @ bumping a 2 year old thread to sell your product...

That countdown timer is a joke, right? I mean, it's just a regular watch with a different sticker over the numbers