how to bomb the LSAT Forum

[chilerelleno]

After I got my score I was so devastated I never thought I would look at this website again. Ashamed and afraid of my now ravaged future. I bombed it. For me, I failed, though my score is really not so bad compared to all testtakers and sincerely know that any numbers in this post are not meant to be arrogant. I know a lot of us on this board have extremely high standards for ourselves in regard to excellence in our futures. But I'm telling my story because I think it'll be therapeutic for me and hopefully some of you can find some solidarity in it if you bombed too, or if you're going to take the LSAT in the future and you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself to score high. I know we've all been through a big struggle. Serious, serious congratulations to all those with amazing scores. I hope you're beaming.

So... I got the score of my diagnostic (untimed) first practice test from July. I took 23 practice tests over 2-3 months. What I think my main points will be here:

HOW TO F IT UP.
1. Think that the LSAT (or a great score on the LSAT) is going to solve all your problems--money, career, life projection, relationships, personal struggle.
2. Use the LSAT to feel better about yourself or to validate some abstract idea of intelligence on paper for both your own pride on the inside and to the satisfaction, spite, and approval of/towards others
3. Let the LSAT control your life and to some extent make you forget who you are. (except you won't know it's happening until you get your score back unless you're brave to admit it before that)

For any of you who were on here waiting for scores you saw I was out of control and I knew it. I also was on edge for the whole time posting here, honestly--my attitude has been kinda loud and defensive. I was so anxious, and have been anxious for two months, that I think that speaks to my failure. Let me say I put my whole heart and soul into this test: in practice and in hopes. I dreamed about the LSAT and I obsessed over it. I thought that that was a good strategy. It backfired in a big way. Sometimes you put your whole self into something and it just doesn't work out.

When I walked out of the test I thought there was a 50% chance I'd score above or below 170 when my goal had always been 172. Even at my cockiest moments in the past few weeks I fantasized about a 175. Even though I knew I bombed the LG bus game, I thought my performance on the rest felt excellent. My practice test scores accurately spoke to these estimates. I figured, "i'll be upset if its 167... please GOD let it be at least 170" and figured "worst case scenario... f-ing 163 or something. OMG i would die." "What if i got a 160? Let us not speak of such things..."

My score exceeded my worst possible expectations. i'll just go ahead and say it. 160. I am shooting for t14. PAH!!!! what a f-ing joke. huge f-ing joke. I bombed so majestically for my personal performance level it's basically farce.

What were previously safety schools now will hardly consider me. The school I wanted to go to more than anything in the world averages the test scores so I now see that dream completely vanished. I'm going to retake in December, which is another story. I want to go to a great school because whatever I do in life I want to be one of the best. So to me, I set my standards so high that it was probable I could fall short. I made it so easy to fail by putting such immense pressure on myself. I didn't need a powerscore class or nagging parents to remind me to study--i studied everyday, and hard. I cried when I would bomb practice tests. When I got 173s I would be a good mood for days. I would come on this board and OBSESS. I lost sleep. I hoped and prayed so hard.

I thought that if I got a 172 then I will get into a top school and then I will have a laid-out, reliable plan for the next three years. I can move out of my state now (cliched "ticket out of my hometown")... I will work hard and do great in school and then get a top job handed to me when I graduate. I will make good money and be able to travel, buy nice clothes, have nice things, and help people by fighting for them. I will get to live in the same city as my boyfriend and we'll live happily ever after. Everyone who ever doubted me or thought they were better than me will know I am smart and strong when I say where I'm headed to law school. I will have avenged what happened to me a year ago that made me delay the LSAT for a year. Blah blah blah. Essentially I thought it would make or break my success in life and I equated that with a part of my self-worth. Just a part. But I still did. It ruined me.

After I got my score I was in a catatonic state for an hour. Devastation. Disbelief. I thought I was in the movie Orange County and someone else got my score and I got theirs. I refreshed thinking there must be some mistake. But now I'm handling it. I'm not devastated anymore. I'm fine, really. I will be fine. It's just a test. When people would say that I would laugh at them. "It's more than a stupid test. It will define my future." Well then look what I did.

I think it's hilarious to include that I actually forgot to fill in a bubble. I had at least three other straight-up bubbling errors--which, as you all know, is SCANDAL. I put ridiculous answers down for a few other questions because I must have been so strung out during the test I didn't know what I was doing or where I was. When I looked at my answers, I was like, "seriously????" I actually got the really hard questions right but missed super-random ones i didn't think twice about. I could never have anticipated the psychological effects of the experimental section. I almost had a panic attack during the test when I saw the correct answer right when the proctor called time. I misbubbled my whole RC section with five minutes to spare and had to redo it. Canceling never even crested my consciousness. I always thought those people were weird and knew I could never live with the unsatisfied curiosity of a canceled score. I'm glad I didn't cancel.

i might not go to law school anymore; I'm delaying my applications until december and we'll just have to see. Like i said: i go gold or I go home (which means i dont want to go to my state school). That's just the truth. I might become a pastry chef instead. Though I love baking I always thought it wouldn't speak to my abilities or wouldn't challenge me. But that's my whole problem. I was going to law school with the goal of realizing my potential in the attempt to validate how capable I am. The idea I might not be bound to a high-pressure profession for at LEAST the next five years is actually liberating. Bombing this test is kind of liberating.

So here's to disappointment and failure and something that is unarguably good for the soul. here's to reality checks. here's to: i'm still smart even though i effed up the most important test of my life. here's to good luck for you. i'm taking a couple more PTs before the next test in december and then MERRY f-ing CHRISTMAS my life is still beautiful.

[JJim1919]

Wow great post. I like you knew I bombed the games but was kind of cocky and figured I did well on the rest of the test so it would make up for it (arrogant I know, although it did seem easy).

The result was a sloppy preformance all around a score about 5-6 lower than my PT average and about 8 points short of my inflated goal.

The bottom line, I will retake. Second time's the charm.

[MTal]

You have a repulsive personality to boot.

[EyeBeeM]

*Hug*

You'll do better next time.

[neskerdoo]

You have a repulsive personality to boot.

haha

[tjb]

Let to me tell you that I think I understand how you feel more than anyone else who looks at these blogs!! I also have big dreams & thought I would do well & then while I was getting ready to go out, I received such a hideous score-- I was hysterical & shocked!

I graduated from an Ivy, have been working at a top law firm in NYC for over a year now, & thought that this test would allow me to continue my dreams of making it "big", especially since my family has come from nothing... I'm the first person in my family to graduate from college- my father didn't even graduate high school. I've excelled at everything I've ever tried & I cannot f-ing believe that I actually bombed this test considering all of my practice test scores were high 160s into 170s (maybe a 5-6 point difference at most).

The truth is I had the worst breakdown during the morning of my test-- I felt nauseous & vomited before heading out the door to take the test in NYC. I thought I had calmed my nerves, but once again, freaked the f out after seeing the first section of the test- LG. Usually I never get one question wrong, but I felt pressured for time & didn't get to one whole game (a first for me!). Even though I later found out that this section was experimental, it killed my confidence & throughout the next LR section, I kept contemplating if I should cancel. I should have listened to my gut-- that one LR section allowed dropped my score so low, I couldn't recover. Needless to say, the rest of my exam wasn't too shabby, so of course I have to take the December exam to prove to myself that I am not an idiot--I am in control once again! Just sad that my apps will be sent in so late (early January now)! Of course all of my friends are Ivy-Leaguers & received such perfect f-ing scores. It's disgusting that I am now the odd man out--being forced to study once again while my friends are enjoying their free time now that their apps are finished!

Well, here's to hoping that I won't f up again & I can continue my journey to bigger & better things.

[MrOrange]

I realize you put a lot into this post, but it basically amounts to a non sequitur.

"Don't let the LSAT control your life." <- - -> "I f---ed up the LSAT, can't get into a great school, therefore I might abandon my legal ambitions altogether and make pie for a living."

I know you're not asking for advice, but, just the same...I'd advise you to suck it up, practice every bit as hard for your retake as you did for your original, and *go to law school*. If you don't get into your ideal school this time around, then go to the best school you can, work your ass off, and f---ing transfer. I don't think you should allow yourself to think of rolling over and playing dead as liberating.

[savagedm]

Chilirelleno, very well constructed post with solid advice. However, most of us going to law school usually do it out of a personal drive for excellence (something even Aristotle spoke of in ancient times). People like us cant help it, we just have to be the best we can at whatever we do. A lot of us choose law school because it is the symbol of what our society is built on. Mastering the art of negotiation, research and diction only enables us to be successful in whatever career paths we chose thereafter. In choosing law school it does not necessarily mean you will be an attorney by any means. In fact, several prominent businessmen and women in the US have law degrees over MBAs.

I think in reading your post you honestly want law school because you know it is one of the best ways for you to verify for yourself that you have the capacity to be the best, and want to become the best. In desiring that, there is nothing wrong and in fact is quite commendable. Few people share those kinds of ambitions (I'd like to count myself in that pool ), and those that have them typically go on to go great things with their lives if they act on them.

So by all means, act and act well on it. If you get into an average t100 school, be the top in your class and you will be just as competitive as Ivies, though minus some contacts. In realizing that, you will attain the wisdom so many others tell us while we are in school but never believe: where you go doesnt mean nearly as much as how well you do.

Going to a top school only lands you that first job, it is up to you to fuck it up or soar with it, regardless of where you go.

[1004LSAT]

I'm really sorry to hear you didn't do as well as you hoped, Chile You were my partner in crime here the past few days and I was really rooting for you. But a bad score isn't the end of the world.

[allenfa]

I have no doubt that you have the ability to kick ass next time around should you decide to retake the test. Look, a lot of people bombed the test their first time around for many reasons, what's most important about this experience is how you react to it. I think if you're willing to give up this easily, then maybe you never really wanted to go to law school that badly to begin with. I hate to be really corny and this will be very mushy, but as that dead professor Randy Pausch said "The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough". For those us who didn't perform at the level we know we're capable of, it's time to re-double our efforts and address the reasons why we didn't perform at our peak level.

[kyle]

HOW TO FIT UP.
1. Think that the LSAT (or a great score on the LSAT) is going to solve all your problems--money, career, life projection, relationships, personal struggle.
2. Use the LSAT to feel better about yourself or to validate some abstract idea of intelligence on paper for both your own pride on the inside and to the satisfaction, spite, and approval of/towards others
3. Let the LSAT control your life and to some extent make you forget who you are. (except you won't know it's happening until you get your score back unless you're brave to admit it before that)

this is so true. my exact problem in June. Seriously just realize that YOU ARE SMART. you are, if you werent you wouldnt be taking this test to begin with. Getting all stressed out like you discribed is definitely going to hurt your score on game day.

[Legalgirl]

I too was devastated with my score, and have healed pretty quickly bc of the following:

1. Met a guy, got a 160 took again just got a 180! He's in my study group

2. He told me think of the studying for the second test as maintenance, and not that you're starting to study all over again.

3. Spoke to a girl who took it twice. She did much better the time around bc she did NOT kill herself. She relaxed, studied less, and knocked the second test right out of the park.

4. This morning, I woke up got right back on track, with a PT and got a 174! made me feel a million times better, and helped me gain more faith in myself.

If you'd like to join our study group, PM me!
G'luck to everyone,
and lets KICK ASS!!

[chilerelleno]

a couple may have misinterpreted me saying why i might not go to law school anymore; it's not that i'm giving up and letting the bad score control ME, but it's realizing that my life doesn't need follow one single, unwavering path. if i did become a pastry chef, that wouldn't make me any less of a person and the hierarchical way of thinking, that somehow making pies for a living is provincial, is f-ing pretentious. being a pastry chef would afford me a quiet, peaceful life doing something i love to do. the comment made by mrorange is what i think exactly is the problem. for me at least. i barely studied in college to get A's. this is the first test i've ever been anxious about. obviously studying hardcore didn't really help me and that's what i'm saying... academic performance has always been a natural thing for me, something that i just... do. that "studying my ass off" is something i thought would work but didn't for me because it just puts too much pressure on it.

i will retake though, and i will drive that f-ing test into the ground.
thanks so much for the encouragement from you all.

[Helena22]

You're not the only one in this boat.. and it's good to know that others have had a similar experience (I also did pretty shitty on the Oct test)

I thought I'd cry and have a meltdown, but instead I got hammered and devised a study plan and decided to crack down immediately., not much I can do now but suck it up and try again

[Cal92620]

Im sorry to hear you didnt do as well as you had wanted...Wish you the best and hope December turns out better for you

[fluffy]

Hey Chile,
I'm really glad you posted because during the pre-score release frenzy I related to your anxiety and your stellar memory really helped with the obsessing process. I was wondering how you did and it turns out my experience was almost identical to yours, numbers not withstanding: WAY over-hyped the study process and the test itself and fell flat with a 160. I am embarrassed for two reasons-- first, that my friends and family had to put up with my incessant insistence that study time was sacred and that anything below a 170 was worthless, especially since so many of my friends are super standardized test geniuses and I felt the need to measure up. They were all sympathetic and supportive, offered pep talks, and even paid for dinner when I was low on cash (since I quit my freaking job to prep for this stupid test). So I feel like an ass. I'm also embarrassed because I stupidly asked my friend to read me my score while at a party since I couldn't contain my anxiety til I got home. It all happened so fast, and for some ungodly reason this room of mostly strangers was suddenly entirely focused on our conversation (my friend: "It's pretty good, actually...a 160!" me: "What?! That's horrible!!") and they just looked at me with awkward sympathy and tried to make small talk about law schools "oh, where did you want to apply..." etc, while I awkwardly tried to hide my devastation.. ugh. Big mistake. (Oh, and guess what, the December score release date is my birthday. No birthday party this year!)

I've spent the last two days hungover and rethinking my prospects, dreams of early acceptance at a T-14 (same dream school as you, I believe), and dreams of law school altogether, but I have officially signed up to retake. I have friends at T-14 and some from lower-ranked schools, and they defy so much of the bullshit that it held true among TLSers: I know people in T-10 with low-160 LSATS, people in T-20 with lower than 160 (and no they are not URMs or poverty-stricken, etc.) I know graduates from lower-ranking who have prestigious clerkships or who are making a shit ton of money in NYC firms. I know someone at a T-10 who got a 153 first time around (official!) and applied the next year with 173... So many things are possible! The reason the LSAT is so important for many on TLS may be they lack interesting or unique "soft" factors and life experience. Or maybe they're shitty writers, who knows. Either way, I feel your pain, and am trying to remind myself that I am smart, well-educated, quite experienced in the field I want to go in to, and that I probably CAN do better on this thing.

I think you're absolutely right, Chile, that we have to change our attitudes. I was hoping we'd be classmates at NYU next year, and maybe all hope is not lost! Then again there's always New York Law School

[WestOfTheRest]

Then again, you guys could just retake and do awesome. I'm retaking in June and this time and going to make this test my bitch like you could not believe. You'll be fine.

[BiteyTLS]

HOW TO F IT UP.
1. Think that the LSAT (or a great score on the LSAT) is going to solve all your problems--money, career, life projection, relationships, personal struggle.
2. Use the LSAT to feel better about yourself or to validate some abstract idea of intelligence on paper for both your own pride on the inside and to the satisfaction, spite, and approval of/towards others
3. Let the LSAT control your life and to some extent make you forget who you are. (except you won't know it's happening until you get your score back unless you're brave to admit it before that)

Summarizes myself in a number of ways. And I have the exact same fears......

Anyway, good luck on the Dec LSAT, or other future endeavors.

[The Cold Blue]

You took that many practice preptests and... got a 160? Was the October LSAT the hardest LSAT to date or something? Everyone is bitching, everyone, about how horrible they did. I am taking like half the amount of practice tests and not even bother reading the bibles and I'm hoping just for an upper 150 on the test to get into my T3 law school. But hell, I read in the sticky thread about how people just took 8 or so preptests and received a damn high score.

[WestOfTheRest]

You took that many practice preptests and... got a 160? Was the October LSAT the hardest LSAT to date or something? Everyone is bitching, everyone, about how horrible they did. I am taking like half the amount of practice tests and not even bother reading the bibles and I'm hoping just for an upper 150 on the test to get into my T3 law school. But hell, I read in the sticky thread about how people just took 8 or so preptests and received a damn high score.

The issue is that people freak out when they get in the test room. No one really knows what it is like until they get into the room, and experience the actual thing. This test wasn't that hard, it had a difficult curve, but the actual test wasn't that bad.

[awesomepossum]

This thread made me want to eat a pastry. And so I did.



But wait.....




Is a cannoli a pastry?




Just goes to show, life is no easier in law school than before it.

[isaaca]

Hey Chile,
I'm really glad you posted because during the pre-score release frenzy I related to your anxiety and your stellar memory really helped with the obsessing process. I was wondering how you did and it turns out my experience was almost identical to yours, numbers not withstanding: WAY over-hyped the study process and the test itself and fell flat with a 160. I am embarrassed for two reasons-- first, that my friends and family had to put up with my incessant insistence that study time was sacred and that anything below a 170 was worthless, especially since so many of my friends are super standardized test geniuses and I felt the need to measure up. They were all sympathetic and supportive, offered pep talks, and even paid for dinner when I was low on cash (since I quit my freaking job to prep for this stupid test). So I feel like an ass. I'm also embarrassed because I stupidly asked my friend to read me my score while at a party since I couldn't contain my anxiety til I got home. It all happened so fast, and for some ungodly reason this room of mostly strangers was suddenly entirely focused on our conversation (my friend: "It's pretty good, actually...a 160!" me: "What?! That's horrible!!") and they just looked at me with awkward sympathy and tried to make small talk about law schools "oh, where did you want to apply..." etc, while I awkwardly tried to hide my devastation.. ugh. Big mistake. (Oh, and guess what, the December score release date is my birthday. No birthday party this year!)

I've spent the last two days hungover and rethinking my prospects, dreams of early acceptance at a T-14 (same dream school as you, I believe), and dreams of law school altogether, but I have officially signed up to retake. I have friends at T-14 and some from lower-ranked schools, and they defy so much of the bullshit that it held true among TLSers: I know people in T-10 with low-160 LSATS, people in T-20 with lower than 160 (and no they are not URMs or poverty-stricken, etc.) I know graduates from lower-ranking who have prestigious clerkships or who are making a shit ton of money in NYC firms. I know someone at a T-10 who got a 153 first time around (official!) and applied the next year with 173... So many things are possible! The reason the LSAT is so important for many on TLS may be they lack interesting or unique "soft" factors and life experience. Or maybe they're shitty writers, who knows. Either way, I feel your pain, and am trying to remind myself that I am smart, well-educated, quite experienced in the field I want to go in to, and that I probably CAN do better on this thing.

I think you're absolutely right, Chile, that we have to change our attitudes. I was hoping we'd be classmates at NYU next year, and maybe all hope is not lost! Then again there's always New York Law School

NYLS? F*ck NYLS. I study at "the tea spot" next to NYU Law School (literally across the street) and I see those guys standing outside laughing and shit. I feel like jumping in and laughing with them, but then again, I haven't earned laughter with the NYU Law Students yet...

[fluffy]

Again, maybe it's all about attitude. Maybe 2nd time really is a charm.

My score=160. Over the course of 3 months I did 15 full prep tests, took TWO prep classes (a 2 month TPR and a weekend Powerscore), read LG and RC Powerscore bibles, did about 90% of homework (extracted from real prep tests), went back and re-did about 60 games from my prep books in under 8min 45sec, and had 172 as my highest practice score (~166 average). I also went to a top T-14 UG, am not (to my knowledge) considered unintelligent. The test seemed hard, especially games, but not ridiculously so-- I only got 1 wrong on the "talkstory" passage which everyone went nuts over, but I clearly messed up somehow...

I don't know the answer.

As for New York Law School-- I say "fuck you" to no law school now.

[isaaca]

Well, I'm having a study session with a TLS girl by NYU LS this Wednesday if youd like to join. We'll be sharing concepts and strategies...

[fluffy]

Well, I'm having a study session with a TLS girl by NYU LS this Wednesday if youd like to join. We'll be sharing concepts and strategies...

Sounds sexy! Unfortunately I've moved out of the area, but thanks.