Short answer:  You need to immediately remove “I’m a bad test taker” from your vocabulary. I don’t believe it’s true, and I know it’s counterproductive for you to keep saying it. So knock it off. Now.

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Every time scores come out, I get a few emails that sound something like this:

“Hi Nathan.  Scores just came out, and I got a 158.  Should I retake?”

The answer, as usual, is “it depends.” It depends primarily on whether that 158 is a good score, or a bad score, for you. And there are a couple other considerations as well.

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I’ve gotten this question at the beginning of every class I’ve ever taught. I’ve even had students who have said “since I always narrow it down to two and then pick the wrong one, I’ve started choosing the one I didn’t want to pick in the first place–and now I still pick the wrong one.” Ouch.

What’s going on here?  Well, you might not like my answer, but I’m not going to bullshit you. On the LSAT, if you think you always narrow it down to two answers and pick the wrong one, you’re simply fooling yourself.  You’re operating under an illusion. The sooner you understand this illusion, the sooner you’ll get down to the business of understanding your mistakes and picking more correct answers.

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Short answer:  Probably not.

Longer answer:  It depends… but probably not.

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Relax.

Test day is the culmination of weeks or months of hard work.  If you’re not prepared, there’s nothing you can do about it but redouble your efforts for next time.  But if you ARE prepared, like I know many of you are, then today is about rest and tomorrow is about kicking ass.  Here’s how you do those things:

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Sometimes students panic in the last few days leading up to the LSAT, fearing that they’re not as ready as they wish they were.  Since it’s too late to get a refund, students have to balance the money they’ve spent against the possibility of getting a bad score.  The options are 1)  Late withdrawal, with no refund, 2) Don’t withdraw, but don’t show up for the test, 3) Show up and take the test, with the intention of canceling your score, 4) Show up with the intention of keeping your score.  There’s definitely no “right” answer, but I have some thoughts about each road you could take.

Continue reading ‘The LSAT is in three days and I don’t think I’m ready… what do I do?’ »

With less than one week remaining until the LSAT, I get a lot of panicked questions.  Students want to know exactly what they should do, hour-by-precious-hour, with the time they have remaining before the big day.  Some of them are nicely prepared, and some of them are woefully unprepared.  No matter who’s asking, my answer is always the same.

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As I mentioned yesterday, most people should start studying for the LSAT as soon as possible.  A slightly different–but no less common–question is “When should I take the test?”  That’s a much tougher question.  I can’t really answer it offhand, but I can definitely give you some factors to consider.

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I get this one all the time.  “I’m taking the test next June… will you be offering a class next May?”

Sometimes this question arises from procrastination.  But LSAT students are usually a pretty diligent bunch.  So more often, this question comes from students who are concerned that if they take a class too soon they’ll forget what they’ve learned by the time their test rolls around.  Other times, students are concerned that they need to pre-prepare for their class in order to get the most out of it.  My answer is always the same.

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