We posted this in Sept of 2013 a few days before the Oct. LSAT. Normally we do not repost blogs, but this is the exception. The feedback was so strong that this really helped put people at ease (and the facts should) that I will repost a few times a year until you tell me to stop. As in before, best of luck on the Dec 6th test — there is nothing out there you haven’t prepared for!
If you are reading this, there is strong likelihood that in a matter of a few days you will be making the LSAC sponsored, law school endorsed, ABA required quarterly pilgrimage to one of the many hundreds of testing centers to take the LSAT. If that alone doesn’t sound intimidating, LSAC and USNWR certainly makes it so. Bring this, not that. Wear this, and not that (does anyone know if the guy in the Spider Man suit was allowed to take the June test?) The NSA would pretty much not be able to sneak into a test site and, if they did, might melt under the atmospheric pressures that the prominence of USNWR rankings have placed on an LSAT score. *This seems like a big deal and, in some regards, it is. *But, I am here to tell you that you are fine. In fact, I’m not just here to tell you that, I am here to prove it. Here’s why:
**(1) Physiologically speaking, this is not a real “stress” but rather a responsibility. **
Just knowing this matters and is helpful. Why ? Well, there are two possible scenarios for game-day:
a. Your sympathetic system goes into overdrive releasing adrenaline, norepinephrine, and a bunch of other hormones neither of us have ever heard of. This is patently good if there is a bear in the test-center but not so good if you have to sit down and solve logic games, etc for nearly three hours. Research is pretty strong that this fight or flight state will hurt your reasoning skills and that the more you sweat and fidget, the worse off you are. This singular fact, incidentally, is the primary contributing reason why people more often test lower then they pre-test than higher on standardized tests. (But you won’t be in this group).
b. You are as cool as a cucumber. Or, at least, cooler than the 95% of people who have a strong sympathetic reaction because they have not read bullet points 2, 3, and 4 below. Their aprocrine glands are in overdrive and yours are mercifully tame. State dependent learning shows us that when you are as close to possible to the mental state you studied in, you will retain all that your learned while studying, and will do better on the test because of this. Why are you calmer? ….
(2) You have been competing since day 1 of your life.
If anything, you should look forward to this test! Every single day of your life has included some form of competition and this is no different except you are competing against the LSAT, the jerk psychometricians who designed the test, and most of all every single person taking the test on this day. Guess what? If you are reading this blog, odds are greatly in your favor that you have prepared more and taken more practice test than they have. You are being scored against people who are less ready for this test than you are. AND, unless there is an actual bear in the room, they are already disadvantaged because they are more panicky. I meant it when I tweeted it and I mean it now, YOU GOT THIS. How dare someone who studied 5 hours max even come close to your score? They won’t.
(3) The stakes are not as high as they seem.
I don’t know how many times I say this every single day but trust me, YOUR HIGH SCORE IS YOUR ONLY SCORE. Don’t like what LSAC gives back to you at the end of the Dec? Retake the test. Thousands of people get admitted to elite law schools based on Feb LSAT scores. Unless you are in a very small group where this is your last take for the cycle, this is either a great score or a practice test for you.
(4) This is 2014, not 2009 Lucky McLuckerson
Applications are way, way, way, down. You picked a great year to apply to law school. Indeed, because application are down so much I recently spoke to a dean of a law school for 2 hours about ways to measure applicant caliber beyond LSAT scores. Schools are making hard choices due to dwindling enrollment numbers and some of those choices are going to involve broadening the application criteria and how applications are read. All of those OTHER things you have been competing in and succeeding at the past four years, those are going to matter even more.
Let’s summarize. For starters, the overwhelming majority of individuals who took this test in the past — in the history of the LSAT — envy you today. They envy you because in the past LSAT scores were averaged, and they envy you because this is a really good year to take it in a diminished pool. Even more significantly,*** the DEC 6th LSAT can only help you.* It can not hurt you.** Even if this is the last time you can take it this cycle it can only help. All this test is, then, is an opportunity. There is zero percent chance for harm, so have at it! You are going to enter the test center with the same cool confidence you have towards anything you have prepared for and succeeded at in the past. And just like the person who I spoke to in hours before her LSAT and who subsequently told me she scored 5 points higher than her highest practice test, you may very well score higher than you have ever practiced at (and I will be blogging about you in Jan).
Good luck, let us know how it went!
-Mike Spivey
Want more motivation? We tweet it! https://twitter.com/spiveyconsult