Practice Test when your sleepy

[rragepack]

Dear Powerscore,

I'm studying for the LSAT while also taking classes full time and doing extracurriculars, so I find myself a bit sleepy or tired sometimes when it's time to take a practice test. I try to take one every 3-4 days (test day- blind review day 1 - blind review day 2- test day). Today, in the middle of taking a practice test I noticed that I was pretty sleepy and couldn't concentrate as well. I finished the first section and stopped to just drill because i figured that finishing the test while being fairly sleepy would not be an accurate representation of where I'm at.

Is this a good thing to do or would you guys recommend that I still keep taking the test while fighting through sleep?

Thank you.

[Robert Carroll]

r,

I would suggest being at your best when taking a practice test. If you're at the point in your studying that you're taking PTs, you're trying to practice the act of taking an entire test at once - you're trying to practice what the real test will be like. If you don't intend to take the real test tired (and I hope you don't), you shouldn't be planning practice tests when you're too tired for them to do you any good. Schedule your PTs so that you are able to have enough energy to complete them, and practice doing that. Stopping in the middle of a PT just inculcates the habit of stopping in the middle of a test, something you can't do on the actual test. So, to the extent that your practice includes full PTs, you should finish them unless there are pressing reasons not to. If you're in too tired a physical condition to make that happen, you need to take them at more convenient times for your schedule.

Robert Carroll