LSAT Diary: Timing LSAT Practice Tests

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

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Rosemary's 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. I know 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 best-possible 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 LSAT 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.

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