Burnout on test week Forum

[TheMashugunaMan]

I've been prepping for the December LSAT for a little over three months now, and although it's been working (diagnostic of 152, now a 168 average with a high of 170) it's now the week of the test and my scores have been dropping (167, 165, 165 respectively) until today where I just hit an abysmal score of 160. I'm pretty confident it's burnout, but my question is how do I deal with this with the test on Saturday? I know I've prepped enough and hit my personal potential, but I feel like now is not the time for a break. I had two more full pt's planned for the rest of the week, plus review, but obviously following through on that would be detrimental.

Any advice as to how to structure my game-plan (gameplan? game plan? I'm freaking out.) for the rest of the week would be greatly appreciated.

tl;dr Crazy score drop the week of the test. Steady decrease on last 4 pt's. I'm burnt out and freaking out. Wut do

[Platopus]

Take tomorrow off. Don't touch anything LSAT related, seriously. Grab a drink with friends, watch netflix, relax. The only thing you need to worry about from now until saturday is getting enough sleep. Do something light on Wednesday, maybe take a PT on Thursday, and then do something light on Friday. No need to do both PT's. The point isn't to "get through the material", but to make the most of the material. At this point cramming 2 more PT's and review is a mistake.

[Platopus]

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[UVA2B]

I'm incredibly far removed from LSAT test prep, but have you looked at where you're regressing? You'll definitely want to analyze that before test day. But definitely take at least a day off to clear your head.

[OakBrook2021]

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[april_ludgate]

Happened to me as well (though compounded by a stress injury). Like everyone has said, take a day off. You may even want to take two. Then I'd take a PT on Thursday, and some extremely light review on Friday.

[PWADatUNC]

I'll offer some unconventional wisdom: no more PT's until the actual thing. you're not going to get any revelations or make any breakthroughs this week. Do a timed section or two if you want to, but do not let yourself burn out. Before the September test I took my final PT the Friday a week before the test (8 days before), hit my median, and didn't take any more pratice tests. My median was 172, I got a 175 on test day. The day before the test I stayed in bed all day watching some of my favorite movies with my girlfriend, drank 2 beers in the afternoon, and relaxed. I used the whole week as a destresser and to let it all settle in. You're going to do fine, don't let yourself get too worked up. Use this week for smaller practices to keep sharp, but don't make yourself anxious by taking so many tests that you begin to bomb. You know how the test works, you know how the sections work, now trust yourself and take a deep breath. You're almost there

[BlueprintLSATXander]

I'll echo others in saying that relaxing is important. If you continue to practice and study and you see a decline in performance it's very likely you're experiencing burnout. I've seen it with many of my students. While the advice might sound paradoxical given that we're a few days out from the test, it would probably be in your best interest to take a day off. Relax and don't do much hard studying.

One thing you can do in your idle time is review simple things like the most common flaws, some diagramming rules, or just basic practice of some logic games to stay sharp. But giving your brain a bit of relaxation will likely do wonders for your performance on test day. Without it, you may go into the exam too stressed and unable to give it your best. I've told many of my students this same advice and in the past it has worked wonders.

Hope this helps

Xander

[HueyPWrong]

Same thing happened to me and im pretty sure it messed me up on the real test. I just get real compulsive and cannot refrain from persisting to study. I would say that its normal though