Dear Trice,
I like to think of the state you describe as "LSAT lethargy". Life is demanding or troubling in the various ways it can be, the test is highly cerebral and doesn't seem connected to the things that matter most to you, some parts of it are (arguably) intentionally somewhat dull or confusing.
You know best what works for you in getting yourself focused and grounded, whatever the work or task may be. For me it involves getting enough rest and exercise, and remembering to laugh.
But for the test itself here are a few things to remember. Although I am not invested in defending the test at large as a measure of law school aptitude (we at PowerScore don't work for the Law School Admissions Council!), what I can say is that each of the skills you need to build in order to perform well on the LSAT mirrors something you will also need as a law student. Many statutes and judicial opinions (summaries of a case written by judges) will not be written in the most clear and straightforward manner, much like reading comp passages, and you will still need to be adept at making sense of them.
The Logical Reasoning section measures a host of skills that feed into your ability to argue, analyze, and make sense of a set of facts, and the analysis attached to them. Surprising as it may seem, the Logic Games are also related to a skill set lawyers frequently use -- namely, analyzing the inter-relationship between variables in order to determine what follows logically. For instance, a lawyer might be presented with a set of elements or factors which must apply in order for a legal claim to be viable, much like the rules in a game, and then must plug the facts into them in order to make the argument that something can be true or must be true.
So in breaking through your current "funk", what may be helpful is to focus on what most excites you about going to law school and learning to be a lawyer. The LSAT is not simply an obstacle you need to get past (though in truth, it is partly that), it is also an opportunity to begin to practice some of the basic skills you will need as a lawyer. Of course you may find that you're much more fired up about case law -- don't judge the study of law by the LSAT! But think about it like training for a marathon, for instance. There are a lot of stretching exercises and less exciting elements involved in preparing for the race, but if you put the time and labor in, you get to do something you really want.
And if it helps, you might mix standard LSAT prep with some early immersion in learning about law, for instance by reading a case or two in an area that interests you. Reading a case closely, you might note, will push you to really scrutinize and interpret text as you would on the LSAT, and may make the LSAT practice feel more relevant and sensible.
And of course, you can reward yourself. When I'm having a hard time writing for instance, the right coffeehouse environment, and a good decaf soy latte is my incentive!
I hope this is useful!
Beth
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