LSAT Diaries: Timing LSAT Practice Tests

In Rosemary's first LSAT Diary, she gave some tips on getting started with LSAT studying. In her second LSAT Diary, Rosemary dealt with the distraction of watching TV, found a study space, and visited her first-choice law school. In her third LSAT Diary, she balanced her final semester of college with LSAT studying and gave us some tips on making copies of Logic Games.

In this week's, she starts thinking about how to time her practice tests.

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Rosemary's 4th LSAT Diary:

Anyone else have battle scars after weathering finals? Seriously, I thought I 'd never make it through. It’s so nice to be on the other side and I can start devoting more time to my LSAT prep.

After my extended break, the first thing I did was take a practice test so I could evaluate where I currently stand and what I need to work on. Having previously taken the exam, I’m a big believer in “practice how you’ll play.” Your practice test sessions aren’t just about scoring higher. It’s also about implementing strategies to see what does and does not work.

First step, know your test center. If you haven’t already, you should check out LSAT test center reviews for your area. These have usually been left by previous test-takers to give future test-takers a little inside knowledge.

For instance, I know from the reviews posted that the other test site in my area uses a lecture hall with fixed seating and flip up desktops. Considering that you have a test booklet and an answer sheet this may be difficult or distracting on test day as you try to balance your booklet on your lap and the bubble sheet on the desk. There are very few things we can control on test day, so you can bet that I’m trying for the highest-rated test site. If your site uses flip-up desks, you should try to imitate this environment as close as possible during your practice tests.

Another key point for me that I didn’t realize until test day was the timing aspect. When I took practice tests at the test prep center, I came to rely on their digital clocks and the start and end times on the board to keep track of my time. On test day, the clock in the classroom was hard to read because it was very far away, and it was analog. Also the proctors did not write the start times on the wipe board at the front.

I had brought an analog watch with a large face to use as my own personal timer. I set the watch to 12:00 and planned to start the watch when the proctors started the test. Well with my adrenaline pumping I forgot to start my watch! Somewhere between 5-10 minutes I looked at my wrist and realized it still said 12:00! Panic set in and honestly I had no idea if I had 30 minutes left or 23 minutes left, which is a big difference on a 35 minute section.

Steve had some great posts on self-timing and I plan on trying out several different methods to find which one works for me and that is what I’ll use during my prep tests. So my motto for this entry is prep how you’ll test, the more you can recreate the actual test environment the better off you’ll be on actual test day.

Photo by 22933113@N07 / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0