From personal experience, have you found coffee to help or hinder your performance? Forum

[OlegPerry97]

I'm asking because I've found a lot of information online that says to avoid caffeine prior to the exam. I've experimented with numerous approaches to what I do before a PT, whether that be exercising or reading or a book. The only correlation I've found is that when I drink coffee, the higher my PT scores are regardless of other factors. I've found with minimal to no caffeine I have a difficult time on LR and RC because I have a tendency to hang onto every word and not read for critical elements like conditional statements or the premise-conclusion. I guess what I'm asking isn't so much relevant to the lSAT as it is myself, could this be a minor form of ADD or ADHD? I'm not an expert or knowledgable at all on the subject but how would caffeine impact a potential lSAT taker who has some form of attention deficit?

[Mikey]

I get bad headaches if I don't have coffee, so I make sure I have some earlier on before a PT.

I've taken a PT when I had no coffee and my headache from no coffee got worse because of the PT, which in turn hurt my score. So I'd say it helps me, lol.

[MediocreAtBest]

If you drink coffee regularly I'm sure a lack of coffee would affect you negatively. So drink coffee.

[pricon]

Depends: in what order is drinking coffee, starting my test, and using the bathroom?

[creed]

I think it varies from person to person. The one universal issue is that you really don't want to have to use the restroom before the 10-15 minute break after Section III. I have a friend who forgot about this possibility and had to use the restroom in the middle of a section. So that's worth considering.

Personally, I'd recommend 10-15 minutes of meditation. Apps like Headspace can walk you through it if you're inexperienced. After a brief session, I find that I've obtained the focus that coffee would give me without the side effect of being a little too jittery. But to each his own-- I know some folks who swear by coffee as an LSAT enhancer and some who would never go near it before a test.

[Future Ex-Engineer]

I typically drink a soft drink once every other day (no other caffeine intake), and I found that on the days where I drank a soft drink before a PT I performed worse than on days where I just drank a bunch of water.

Anecdotal, but I am against using caffeine as a stim/boost for PTs as it had the effect of causing me to make silly mistakes/not think as accurately even though it increased my speed slightly.

[pricon]

I think it varies from person to person. The one universal issue is that you really don't want to have to use the restroom before the 10-15 minute break after Section III. I have a friend who forgot about this possibility and had to use the restroom in the middle of a section. So that's worth considering.

tbf their problem was not coffee but a lack of simulating test-day conditions. I say this because regular coffee use correlates strongly with regular bathroom use, and with proper simulation of test-day conditions, the timing of urge to use the bathroom on test day should be almost completely predictable.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I think it varies from person to person. The one universal issue is that you really don't want to have to use the restroom before the 10-15 minute break after Section III. I have a friend who forgot about this possibility and had to use the restroom in the middle of a section. So that's worth considering.

tbf their problem was not coffee but a lack of simulating test-day conditions. I say this because regular coffee use correlates strongly with regular bathroom use, and with proper simulation of test-day conditions, the timing of urge to use the bathroom on test day should be almost completely predictable.

1.) yes to drinking coffee. It keeps you alert and on edge. Unless you are super sensitive to caffeine and this makes you umconfortable id argue its a good thing. Just make sure you start drinking caffeine before test day.

2.) Just take an Imodium right before you leave your house to go to the test (Hopefully you were able to go before you took it) and that should solve any negative externality potentially faced.

[pricon]

But WebMD says Immodium is not recommended for those who have blood in their stool?

[creed]

I think it varies from person to person. The one universal issue is that you really don't want to have to use the restroom before the 10-15 minute break after Section III. I have a friend who forgot about this possibility and had to use the restroom in the middle of a section. So that's worth considering.

tbf their problem was not coffee but a lack of simulating test-day conditions. I say this because regular coffee use correlates strongly with regular bathroom use, and with proper simulation of test-day conditions, the timing of urge to use the bathroom on test day should be almost completely predictable.

this is true

[LesPaul1995]

Coffee has nootropics as does green tea, and I go with tea since it isn't so heavy on the caffeine as I'm sensitive to it.

[AvatarMeelo]

I made a life choice recently to give up coffee altogether and eventually anything with caffeine. Was hoping it would help me sleep better but alas stress causes my insomnia. I do think that my endurance has gotten stronger and I can think more clearly for longer periods of time. With coffee, I tended to go longer and my thinking was all over the place and I always, always crashed at the end of the day or week. Could be a variety of factors, but I'd say if you're planning on making a change then do it with enough time to let your body adjust before the exam!