Proxy talks about the importance of strictly timing yourself when taking full-length timed LSAT practice exams as you approach Test Day.
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Proxy's LSAT Diary:
I'm 30 years old, married, employed full-time in the IT field, taking MBA courses part-time, and have been giving law school serious consideration for the better part of the past two years.
In the final weeks leading up to your exam (when you should devote at least 90% of your studying energy to full exams), it is absolutely ESSENTIAL to be realistic in your timing. This means holding yourself strictly to 35 minutes, literally not a single second more. I found that it is really easy to allow yourself 2 or 3 or 4 minutes and justify it leading right up to the exam.
Here's the problem: on test day, if you don't stop immediately when the proctor calls time you risk serious disciplinary action (not at all worth it). This means every single bubble must be filled whether you're guessing or not by the time the clock strikes 34:59. I really can't emphasize this enough...
I took the Feb exam and I was PT'ing around 173-175 going into the test. I was a bit inconsistent with timing on all 3 sections and with accuracy on RC/LR (anywhere from -1 to -6). Games, on the other hand, were my rock, -0 or -1 everytime. However, although sometimes I'd finish in as few as 25 minutes, I had a few LG sections in the last few weeks where I gave myself 2-5 extra minutes. I reasoned that I'd review them hard later (which I did) and that I'd be good by test day.
I was so confident on games that during the form-filling time before the test I was hoping for 2 LG sections. I opened section one to see games and was ecstatic. Then the first one took me about 10 minutes, and again another 10 or so for the second game, and then something about the third just threw me off. After spending a few minutes diagramming the third and not feeling great about it I went on to the fourth. It didn’t help. My stride (and my pride) were broken.
When they called 5 minutes, I literally froze. I couldn’t do anything over the next 3 minutes I was so full of panic. Luckily I had the presence of mind with about 2 minutes left to put down something for all the questions I had no answer (or even educated guess on). In the end, on the section where my worst score in the past 3 weeks was a -1, I bubbled in “D” for 8 questions.
I tried my best to regain my composure during the 15 seconds before the clock started on section two. I did so reasonably well but there is no question now that I didn’t perform anywhere near my potential for the rest of the day. And it was all because of timing.
Among those who prep for the test there is a lot of anecdotal evidence for a drop of a few points from your PT average to the real thing. I think this is the reason. In your final prep, DO NOT CUT YOURSELF ANY SLACK! There is no bending the time on the real thing so don’t fall into the alluring trap of giving yourself those few extra minutes or even seconds when you practice.
Good luck!
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I'm a retaker and did things a lot differently from the first time to the second time I took the test. For example, I decided the second time that it is OKAY TO SKIP QUESTIONS during logic games! By then I had done literally hundreds of games (each one several times), so I knew my pacing, which ones to skip, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlso, during prep study, immediate feedback is essential; I did timed tests a number of times, but most of the time I checked my answer after each game, each reading comp passage, and each section of reasoning questions.
My first score was in the low 160s, but I attribute that to the fact that I was working two full-time jobs at the time under extraordinarily stressful circumstances (e.g., I found out a few days before the test that I had been laid off). I took a break from LSAT studying for most of December and January. When I retook the test in February, I totally rocked it with a 172. I worked really hard for it!