Relaxing The Day Before

[J.ReAnn]

Hello,

First, off if anyone reading this is trying to decide whether to take Powerscore for LSAT prep YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD! Their system is great and I'm so glad it was recommend to me.

I would like to discuss the idea of "relaxing" the day before the LSAT. I have listened to both "Test Mentality II" virtual modules and I have read a few Powerscore Blog posts regarding the best approach to the day before the test. While I find many of the tips helpful (I even think the affirmation tip is worth a shot despite it being considered kind of "new wave"), I am concerned that I won't be able to relax the day before if I don't do at least SOME prep. I feel that after I do a problem set, even if I miss some, I feel more confident after reviewing my work. Is there any amount, if any, or approach that could be considered beneficial the day before?

I have considered making two "Prep Packs" (from my best practice tests) with 10-15 LR questions, 2 Logic Games, and 2 Reading Comprehension passages. I would like to do one of them the day before and one the morning of. I know there have been warnings against "burn out" but I tend to need at least a bit of warm-up before a practice test to do my best.

I would love to hear any opinions on this! Thanks!!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi J.ReAnn,

First off, thanks for the shout-out! We can't get enough of those, so please - keep them coming

I'm glad you've reviewed our Test Mentality seminar and that you have also been following our blog. Clearly, you're well informed on the matter. But... let's get this straight: we are all different, and we relax in different ways. While I do believe that the majority of our students will benefit from relaxing the day before the test and doing absolutely nothing LSAT-related, not everyone feels that way. So, if you believe you'll get antsy or restless by not opening an LSAT book, by all means - do some prep work. I would discourage you from taking a full practice test, of course, for obvious reasons: potential burn-out right before the test, coupled with the possibility of bombing it and thereby ruining your confidence. However, some lightweight test prep won't hurt. Here's what you could do:

1. Tomorrow, review some of your mistakes from the last 10-15 practice tests you've taken. Set-up a few of the games that you remember giving you trouble, and maybe do 20-30 LR questions that you've struggled with in the past. Don't spend more than a couple of hours (at most) doing LSAT work.

2. The morning of the test, it's important to get your brain working at the right wavelength. So, do maybe 1 game (nothing too challenging - a Linear game, or a Defined Grouping would do just fine), a handful of LR questions (one with conditional reasoning, one with causal, and a few from the most common question types - MBT, Flaw, Weaken, Strengthen, Principle). The entire exercise shouldn't take more than 25-30 mins.

When it comes to test anxiety, the most important factor (I think) is adequate sleep the night before. So, do whatever it takes to tire yourself out tomorrow. Do a spinning class if you can, yoga, whatever. But you need to be in bed by 11

Good luck!