Your home for 4 hours

Before every test, I like to subtly update my advice for test-takers.

The week before

• Resolve any stresses to the extent that you can early in the week. Pay bills, vow not to go to bed mad, avoid aggravating frenemies
• Drive by your test site. You want to know exactly how to get there, how long it will take, and how you’ll find parking. If you’re on public transportation, figure out your route, and plan to take the bus/train before the absolute last one to get you there on time. If you can, go inside the test center and see what it’s like.
• Take practice tests the weekend before — 5 sections, starting at 8:30. You should have been doing this already, but if not, now is the time to practice early-morning endurance. Here’s how to make the most of a full practice exam.
• If your score goes down slightly, please do not freak out. I’ve seen many students meeting all their score goals, who drop a few points on a practice test the week before, and it totally throws them off.  Your actual LSAT score is not likely to match your very highest prep test, but if you’re trending up you should feel prepared.
• Practice waking up at the time you’ll need to be up on test day. Especially if you’re not a morning person, it’s time to start establishing this routine. When you get up, read the paper or some substantive blogs to get your mind going.

The Day Before

• Don’t plan on doing any LSAT prep the day before. It will only add stress, and if you haven’t internalized the right methodologies by now, no amount of cramming will help.
• See if you can take the afternoon off — see a movie, take a walk, etc. The last thing you want is a late night of work stress.
• And, of course, get plenty of sleep and avoid alcohol.
• Pack your snack — if chocolate will help reduce stress, go for it, but make sure to include something nutritious too.
• Make sure you have everything together before you go to bed. Pencils, highlighters, admissions ticket, snack, and analog watch.

The Day Of

• Important: the #1 thing that surprises students on test day is the wait. Depending on your test center you should expect to wait between 30 minutes and 2 hours from your report time to the start of your first question. It’s not unheard of to wait longer than that. This has really thrown students off of their game in the past. There’s nothing you can do about this – just be ready to wait.
• Dress in layers. Obvious but true — it will likely not be your ideal temperature at the test center and you want to be ready to adjust.
• When you arrive at the test center, have something to do to get your mind going. Many people recommend doing a logic game that you’ve done before — if that works for you, give it a try, but I suspect reading a newspaper or magazine article that will get your brain moving is just as good.
• As you are seated, if there is any problem whatsoever with your location, ask to change. As they say on reality TV, you aren’t there to make friends with the proctors. If you are under a vent, in the sunlight, in a corner that’s too dark, next to someone who smells bad, whatever — now is the time to change your seat.

Next Step Test Preparation provides complete courses of one-on-one tutoring with an LSAT expert for less than the price of a commercial prep course. Email us or call 888-530-NEXT (6398) for a complimentary consultation.

Ryan, a reader over at the LSAT Blog, has created an LSAT proctor app which is currently free to download via the iTunes store. The app prompts test-takers on when to start sections and end them, gives a five-minute warning and even builds in a break. Where this app differentiates itself from the stopwatch on your phone is its building in distractions so you can practice in test-day conditions in the comfort of your own home or a library. We wholeheartedly recommend this app to all of our students and anyone else planning to take the LSAT.

Download LSAT Proctor here.

[News via LSAT Blog photo via iTunes Store]

LSAT burnout is a serious disease with any combination of the following symptoms:

• Pure hatred of the test and everything associated with it
• Dropping preptest scores
• Practice that doesn’t seem to go anywhere — you don’t feel yourself improving, and there’s no upward movement in scores

It’s important to distinguish burnout from two other distinct phenomenon: plateauing and laziness. Every student has a natural ceiling past which no amount of studying will move his/her score. This is why the world isn’t full of 180 scorers that started in the 140′s. This is natural; if you’re feeling very good in practice and scores just aren’t going up, you may be reaching this point. Congratulations – reaching your maximum score on a regular basis is the goal of studying. Laziness is what it sounds like — you’re just not working hard enough.

Students who are suffering burnout are usually doing so because they are working on the LSAT too much. A past student of ours was working a demanding full-time job, coming home, exercising, working on the LSAT for several hours, and then going to bed, each and every night. However, he took Saturdays off, and did a full preptest on Sunday. His Sunday scores were significantly higher than any of his other tests. See the pattern?

The lesson is that each person only has so many high quality hours in the day. Burnout is hard to avoid if you are working on the LSAT during low-quality hours. Students that have full-time jobs should consider taking every few nights off.

This is also why it’s so critical to start studying early. Students that try to cram a complete course of studying into 6 weeks or less simply won’t have enough high-quality hours in the day to make it work.

Hear that, October test-takers?

Next Step Test Preparation provides complete courses of one-on-one tutoring with an LSAT expert for less than the price of a commercial prep course. Email us or call 888-530-NEXT (6398) for a complimentary consultation.

You're done! Don't panic.

For most LSAT takers, today should be a day to celebrate — the test is finally over! While we won’t know how everyone did until scores come back in a few weeks, at least we’ll get a score in the books.

However, there’s definitely a subset of students who consider cancelling their scores. This can be an agonizing decision, so I want to make it a bit easier: you almost certainly shouldn’t cancel your score.

First, score cancellation means that your test is not scored, so you never see the score, and admissions committees cannot see it either. They can, however, see that you cancelled a score. A single cancelled test will almost certainly not negatively impact your chances for admissions (though several cancellations would raise red flags). That said, it would be better to have a cancellation on your record than a very low score.

You should consider cancelling your score if:

• You were quite ill during the test, and you felt you were not doing close to your best
• You know for sure that you misbubbled a section or large portion of a section
• You were nervous to the extent that you didn’t get to large swaths of questions you normally would have.

That last one comes with important caveats. Many students do slightly worse on test day than they did on their best practice tests. If you reached 2 fewer questions than usual, you should not cancel. If you have a general feeling that you didn’t do as well as you wanted, you should not cancel.

Bottom line: unless you have a very specific reason to cancel your score, you should not do so.

Next Step Test Preparation provides complete courses of one-on-one tutoring with an LSAT expert for less than the price of a commercial prep course. Email us or call 888-530-NEXT (6398) for a complimentary consultation.

If you’re just beginning your LSAT preparation or have just joined us at Next Step Blog, here are the top 10 tips to increase your score on the LSAT.

1. Set goals and create a study plan. Here’s a 3-month study plan you can use as a jumping-off point.  Although everyone wants to maximize their score, goals are helpful for motivating students to push past plateaus.  You should also have an idea of what kind of time commitment you can make to the test.  Plan to work on the test at least 10-15 hours a week.

2. Take it early. The best time to take the LSAT is either February or June the year before you plan on entering law school (during/after Junior year for college students).  Many students make the mistake of taking the LSAT too late.  Law schools roll their admissions, meaning that they start evaluating applications as they come in.  Because of this, applicants at the beginning of the admissions cycle are competing for more seats.  Most law schools have an application deadline in February or later, but the very few spots left are for extraordinary applicants.  By taking the test in June, students have the advantage of having score in hand before applications are accepted so they can submit as soon as the admissions season begins.  February test-takers have the additional advantage that should they perform poorly, they can retake in June and still be on time.

3. Consider your prep options. Students can study on their own from books (or videos which, however well-edited, are pretty much the same as study books), take a class, or receive one-on-one tutoring. Here’s an overview of those options.

4. Understand logic games diagramming. Logic games give beginning test-takers the most difficulty.  The most important skill for games is to be able to quickly and accurately diagram the situation out.  A rule of thumb for diagramming is “if it’s in your head, write it down.”  The more you put on paper, the easier the game will get.

5. Master basic formal logic. Formal (or “symbolic”) logic is a critical skill for both logic games and logical reasoning.  You aren’t ready to take the LSAT if you’re not an old hand at diagramming statements out in formal logic, understanding common fallacies, and finding the contrapositive.  Any decent tutor, course, or LSAT book should teach you this skill, but many don’t spend enough time making sure you master these concepts.

6. Understand the basic structure of arguments. Arguments in logical reasoning are comprised of a premise(s), assumption(s), and conclusion.  Being able to identify these three components is critical to effectively solving 80% of questions on logical reasoning, so this skill should be at the center of your LSAT prep.

7. Predict answers. For many questions in logical reasoning (and some in reading comprehension), effective test-takers learn to predict the answer mentally before ever looking at the answer choices.

8. Get comfortable with process of elimination. Many harder questions in logical reasoning and reading comprehension can best be attacked by process of elimination.  Evaluate each answer choice — if it’s wrong, cross it out.  If it might be correct, it’s a “definite maybe.”  It’s ok to not be able to instantly identify the right answer; you’d much rather eliminate 3 possibilities than guess completely or skip a question.

9. Practice smart. After you complete a section or full test, it’s imperative to look back and understand why you missed what you missed.  Pure repetition will only help you improve so far; students must diagnose their weaknesses and address them in each study session.  Here’s how to get the most out of practice tests.

10. Prepare for test day. Test day is an incredibly high-stakes, nerve-wracking experience (as if you didn’t know that already).  Preparing yourself mentally and physically for the ordeal can mean the difference between putting all your training to good use and getting a disappointing score because you weren’t in the right frame of mind.  Here are some test day tips .

Feel free to post any questions in the comments or contact us at info@nextsteptestprep.com.

Next Step Test Preparation provides a complete package of one-on-one LSAT tutoring for the same price as a packed prep course.  Contact us at info@nextsteptestprep.com or call 888-530-NEXT

Image courtesy Sam_Churchill

Next Step will be sponsoring a free proctored LSAT on February 13 at Northeastern Illinois University, which is on the northwest side of Chicago.  Proctored tests are extremely valuable no matter where you are in the studying process, but it will be particularly valuable as a kick-off for students taking the June test.

This event is totally free but requires an RSVP.  Please email us or respond with contact info in the comments and I’ll add your name to the list as well as send location and time (it will be in the morning).

Here’s how to address a low PrepTest score near your test date.

Your home for 4 hours

Before every test, I like to subtly update my advice for test-takers.

The week before

• Resolve any stresses to the extent that you can early in the week. Pay bills, vow not to go to bed mad, avoid aggravating frenemies
• Drive by your test site. You want to know exactly how to get there, how long it will take, and how you’ll find parking. If you’re on public transportation, figure out your route, and plan to take the bus/train before the absolute last one to get you there on time. If you can, go inside the test center and see what it’s like.
• Take practice tests the weekend before — 5 sections, starting at 8:30. You should have been doing this already, but if not, now is the time to practice early-morning endurance. Here’s how to make the most of a full practice exam.
• If your score goes down slightly, please do not freak out. I’ve seen many students meeting all their score goals, who drop a few points on a practice test the week before, and it totally throws them off.  Your actual LSAT score is not likely to match your very highest prep test, but if you’re trending up you should feel prepared.
• Practice waking up at the time you’ll need to be up on test day. Especially if you’re not a morning person, it’s time to start establishing this routine. When you get up, read the paper or some substantive blogs to get your mind going.

The Day Before

• Don’t plan on doing any LSAT prep the day before. It will only add stress, and if you haven’t internalized the right methodologies by now, no amount of cramming will help.
• See if you can take the afternoon off — see a movie, take a walk, etc. The last thing you want is a late night of work stress.
• And, of course, get plenty of sleep and avoid alcohol.
• Pack your snack — if chocolate will help reduce stress, go for it, but make sure to include something nutritious too.
• Make sure you have everything together before you go to bed. Pencils, highlighters, admissions ticket, snack, and analog watch.

The Day Of

• Dress in layers. Obvious but true — it will likely not be your ideal temperature at the test center and you want to be ready to adjust.
• When you arrive at the test center, have something to do to get your mind going. Many people recommend doing a logic game that you’ve done before — if that works for you, give it a try, but I suspect reading a newspaper or magazine article that will get your brain moving is just as good.
• As you are seated, if there is any problem whatsoever with your location, ask to change. As they say on reality TV, you aren’t there to make friends with the proctors. If you are under a vent, in the sunlight, in a corner that’s too dark, next to someone who smells bad, whatever — now is the time to change your seat.

Next Step Test Preparation provides complete courses of one-on-one tutoring with an LSAT expert for less than the price of a commercial prep course. Email us or call 888-530-NEXT (6398) for a complimentary consultation.

Next Step tutor Andrew offers some words of wisdom on dealing with test day anxiety

With all the pressure it’s no surprise that the LSAT conjures feelings of fear, despair and loathing in many of the people who have, or are preparing to take it. In other words, test anxiety. Preparing for, and dealing with, potential anxiety should be part of any LSAT preparation regimen.

Everybody copes with stress and anxiety differently; therefore the best strategy will depend on your personality. Pick and choose as appropriate for yourself.

- Simulate realistic test conditions when you prepare. Take timed tests on Saturday mornings.

- Your test day starts on Friday night. Don’t go to the bar, and don’t try to cram for the LSAT. Make sure that your zip lock bag of test supplies is packed and then just stay home. Read a book, watch a movie, get a nice dinner – just take it easy and get to bed early.

- On the morning of the test get up early and take a shower (it helps you wake up). Go get a good healthy breakfast (fruit, not pancakes), grab a coffee and go to the test center. Leave yourself plenty of time so that you’re not rushing to get to the test or find parking.

- When you get into the test center make yourself comfortable. Do some meditation or deep breathing exercises if that’s your thing. Stare at the wall if you’d rather. Generally it takes a while to get everybody in, tests passed out, and through the general instructions  so this can be a time of high anxiety. Just remember that the test is printed already and sitting on the proctors table – nothing you do now will change it. You did all your preparation and you’re ready to go.

Next Step Test Preparation provides one-on-one tutoring for the LSAT in Chicago and online.