Hey David,
No problem at all--answering questions and helping LSAT students prepare for the test is what we are here for. I'm glad its helping you so far!
I'm very familiar with this warm-up strategy, as it is one we advocate at times. Why only "at times"? Because it depends on the person.
When first starting out, we recommend that you take practice tests cold, without any warmup. Certainly you want to think about performing well and how to efficiently solve questions prior to starting the exam, but because your mental energy is so precious, you want to conserve it all for the questions that count. However, some people are naturally slow starters, and after taking several practice tests they notice that in the first section their performance is lower than on the remainder of the LSAT. This type of student is a perfect candidate to use the warm-up strategy.
When first implementing this strategy, don't start with a large number of questions. Doing a full game, a full passage, and 5-10 LR questions is a lot of mental energy being expended. So, we recommend starting small: 2-3 LR questions and maybe one game (or passage if that's your weakness). See if that is enough to get your mental engine started. If not, then add a few more questions in until you reach a point where you can start the test at full power.
Warming up sounds pretty beneficial, and we know it is a integral component of athletic performances, so why isn't it that everyone needs to warm-up before the LSAT? Well, most obviously is that your mental muscles are different from your physical muscles. But, the real reason is that many people already walk into the LSAT jacked up and ready to go, and warming up then burns off useful energy. Pressure-packed events tends to get the mental juices flowing for many people, and by the time they arrive at the test center, they are already prepared to hit the ground running. That leads me to my final point: if you find that you arrive at the event
too jacked up, then doing a few practice questions can help calm you down and get you in the flow.
So, the bottom line is that warming up is helpful for some test takers, but not others. If you are a low starter, or if you are prone to high excitement, maybe try a few warm up questions and see if it helps stabilize your performance. And if you do find it helps, practice a few times with it to find the right number of pre-test questions to take.
Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!
