How to take a practice test. Forum

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jbp15860

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How to take a practice test.

Post by jbp15860 » Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:53 am

So, I've taken one practice test that I basically used as my diagnostic. I took it what I'd call, lukewarm... I studied nothing about LR, RC, and just briefly looked at the LG bible's sections about linear games and a bit about the diagramming.

After I took the test I started looking around and there's all these apps and websites about getting a virtual proctor for the test. What I"m wondering, is, why is this necessary? I just timed each section for 35 minutes with my phone and didn't take any breaks. Am I missing something? Is this not an adequate way to do it? I also took it in a public library on a Saturday morning with a bunch of kids in it. It wasn't super noisy, but there was definitely not peace and quiet.

Anyway, any tips on how to go about doing it would help. Can you wear a watch in the test?

Thanks.

Law 202x

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Re: How to take a practice test.

Post by Law 202x » Sun Feb 18, 2018 4:47 am

Take it in a quiet place, on a university campus if you can. If you can, try to take it around 9 am, unless time doesn’t affect you all that much. It doesn’t me, as long as I’ve got plenty of sleep. You can use your phone and time 35 minutes and you can take a break after the third section if you want but you don’t have top.

Nicolena.

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Re: How to take a practice test.

Post by Nicolena. » Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:43 am

Law 202x wrote:Take it in a quiet place, on a university campus if you can. If you can, try to take it around 9 am, unless time doesn’t affect you all that much. It doesn’t me, as long as I’ve got plenty of sleep. You can use your phone and time 35 minutes and you can take a break after the third section if you want but you don’t have top.
This is random, but how do you PM someone. I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Steveholt

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Re: How to take a practice test.

Post by Steveholt » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:50 pm

IMO you should take practice tests under a number of conditions, for different reasons. Early in your study, it's not that important whether you do it for time, since you're still familiarizing yourself with the setup of the test. As you get into your program, though, you should start doing at least one PT per week under test conditions (meaning for time in a focused environment, with a pencil and using a bubble sheet). These weekly (and more frequently as you get closer) PTs are going to be your best gauge of your progress. But I am also a strong believer in taking many practice tests under "less than ideal" conditions--in coffee shops, libraries, before/after work, with the TV on, etc. It's like a sport; you never want to train under ideal conditions all the time, because the actual competition is never going to go perfectly. When I realized that I could totally zone out a bad first date conversation going on behind me in a coffee shop and go -0 on an RC passage, it gave me complete confidence in my prep. And this paid off in the test--a construction crew with hammers no kidding started working on the roof over the room while I was in the LSAT, and while everyone else was freaking out I was calmly bubbling in answers.

Don't worry about an online proctor, LSAT watch, or any of that. Yes, you can bring an analog watch into the test. DO practice with your analog watch. DO take practice tests without scratch paper, as in the test you will only be able to write on your test booklet. Writing in larger spaces can help while you're drilling, but the lack of space in the test can be a shock if you're not used to it, especially on LG. And DO take more than 4 sections at a time; take at least one additional section to practice for the added experimental section, and play around with doing more than that (or even two PTs back to back) to build up your mental stamina.

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