This is only a test
by jtboofle | May 0900

The most important thing you can know about the LSAT is that it s just a standardized test. Your score (good or bad) is no reflection on you as a human being. It doesn t determine how smart you are, or even how good a lawyer you d be. It s just a test.

With that said, you have to figure out how to do as well as you can. Here are a couple suggestions that worked for me -- give em a shot.

Get the book of LSATs put out by the testing company and work through them. One of the big keys on the test is speed and, particularly for the "games" section, practice will really help.

Save one practice test and do a couple sections the day before the test. Don t grade them -- this is just sort of "limbering up" before the big event. The point is to work through them and say to yourself "yeah, I can do this." Pull out one page of each type of problem (reading, arguments, games) to do the morning of the test. Same thing -- don t grade them, just use them to wake yourself up.

Know how you re getting to the exam center and where you re going to park. Have a backup plan in mind. Decide before you head over whether you re willing to pay a parking ticket if you get one (making that decision takes a lot of the stress off finding a parking spot -- budgeting the $30 (or whatever) means you don t have to worry if the only space you can find is metered).

Try to get to the exam center early so you can work through your last set of exam problems and then relax. About 10 minutes before the exam, go outside and take a quick jog around the building. Seriously. It gets your heart rate up, gets the endorphins moving, takes your mind off the test for a couple minutes. Take another jog at the break.

I like to start at the back of each section and work towards the front. That way, I know exactly how many questions I have left to do. There s just something about it that feels relaxing -- knowing that I m not going to get stuck on question #1.

Above all, keep in mind that this isn t really your future, it s only a standardized test.