LSATexperience--foryoutosavor

following is the LSAT experience of someone. not much of help for your LSAT per se, yet is reminds you of some seemly peripherical and commonly negligible¹ issues.

my LSAT advice

first, some day before advice: relax, do something fun. and tiring, so you can fall asleep the night of. my sister took me out for a day of girl stuff² (got manicures/pedicures, went shopping for hours for graduation dresses, etc.)

NOT the day of: take a ziploc bag and put all your materials in it - pencils, erasers, one or two pens, your admission³ ticket, your ID (drivers license⁴ or passport; check your admission ticket for what other forms are acceptable), your timer, extra batteries for your timer, kleenex, your headache medicine of choice (i recommend excedrin tension⁶ headache for those headaches caused by stress), some little snacks (like candy bars and tic tacs). set aside a bottle of water too; my proctors said we could drink water as long as they didn't see us drinking it. dress in layers so you're prepared for any room temperature. i wore drawstring pants since it can get uncomfy sitting in jeans for a long period of time. if you're a girl, take whatever products might be required at that time of the month, along with some midol.

if you're not familiar with the test site, do a practice drive over there the day before.

all this week, get in the habit of waking up at whatever time you need to wake up on saturday, and go to sleep early. i require 8-9 hours of sleep, so that's how much i slept for about two weeks leading up to the test. also get in the habit of eating at breakfast, if you don't already.

allow enough time on saturday morning to eat breakfast and get ready and everything without rushing. i would get to the test center SUPER early (like, an hour early) and sit in the car while you're waiting and do some practice questions (more on this in the next paragraph) and then just relax.

practice questions: i found that when i took a test first thing in the morning, my first section was the worst because i was still warming up my brain. so then i started doing a page or so of practice LR questions just to warm up, and my score instantly⁷ shot up to what it was when i took evening practice tests. the day of the real test, i took a games section at home before leaving. games were my best and favorite section, and i did the one from the blind diagnostic. i got a perfect score, so it pumped up my confidence. i drove to the test site and did some LR questions in the car, ones that i had already seen but i covered up the answer choice letters and ran through reasoning in my head.

what i wish i had done: one or two reading comp passages. since i hadn't done reading comp in two days at that point, it would have helped me pace better. what i suggest: do one or two reading comp passages that you haven't already done, BUT don't look at the correct answers afterwards. if you get some wrong, you might get frustrated⁸ and go in with lower confidence. and you probably won't learn anything new at that point. just get your mind back in the 8:45 reading comp track. if i had done that, i think my score could have been 1 or 2 points higher. my first section was reading comp, and part of my problem was that i didn't pace myself well and finished just in time, whereas⁹ i had usually been finishing with several minutes to spare, which i used to review my answers once more.

when you leave your car to go into the room, leave your materials behind. your prep is over, you've done all that you can do. take a deep breath and walk in with confidence. and kick LSAT ass⁵!