What to do in the Final 24 Hours Before Taking the LSAT
The pressure of the official LSAT is real. I still vividly remember the emotions and stress I felt when sitting for my first LSAT. My mind felt like it was racing a million miles an hour, and I could hear every little sound that was happening around me in the test center.
Everyone tells you to treat the official test like any other practice test, but the official test inevitably feels different. While there is no magic trick to not feel the pressure of the official test, there are several things you can do the night before and the day of to best prepare yourself.
Get enough sleep the night before
Even though this advice sounds mundane, it is the most important piece of advice in this list. The LSAT is a test of how sharp and focused you are as a reader. There is extensive research demonstrating that if you don’t get enough sleep, your focus, reading comprehension ability, and working memory will be adversely affected.
Don't change your process
Many students go into test day thinking “This is going to be my best test ever.” While an admirable mindset, if it causes you to speed up or slow down from your normal cadence, it will likely be to the detriment of your score. Going faster than usual will lead to decreased accuracy, and going slower than usual will cause you to answer too few questions. Approach the official test with the same process you would a PT.
Consume the proper amount of food and drink
Again, this advice sounds simple but is extremely important. Have a healthy meal the night before and the morning of your official test. Stay hydrated, but don’t overdo it (cut to me in my first LSAT trying not to pee my pants). Bring a snack and a water bottle for the 10-minute intermission, especially if you are the type of person that gets hungry after a short period of time.
Additionally, make sure that you do not change your process with respect to food and drink. If you are not a coffee person, do not suddenly drink coffee the morning of your test to try and give yourself extra energy. Don’t take the test on Adderall or any other supplements that you are not accustomed to or have accommodations for. Just eat a healthy meal and do what you would on any other normal day.
Be fully prepared for all logistical tasks
You want to give your brain as little mental work as possible in the lead up to seeing your first LSAT question. This means that, to the extent you can, make sure you are fully prepared for all logistical steps on test day. Have your LSAT username and password memorized. Plan out the night before where your test center is and how early you need to leave your house. Lay out in advance a bag with snacks, water, your ID, and anything else you might need for test day. If you have been taking the test on a prep platform that uses a different interface than the official LSAT, make sure that you take a practice test using the official LSAT interface. The point of all this is not to be fastidious, but rather to take as much mental pressure off your brain on test day as possible.
Be OK with Taking the Test Again
This can be a massive source of stress relief. If you go into the test with the mindset that this is your one and only shot at a high score, you are subconsciously putting an enormous amount of pressure on yourself. However, if you know in the back of your mind that you are perfectly fine retaking the test if you do not get your desired score, it can take a lot of pressure off the current test attempt.
A Final Note: Every Point Matters
A lot of this advice seems commonsense, but it can make a big difference. If an extra two hours of sleep allows you to be just a bit more focused, maybe that allows you to get one extra question right. That one extra LSAT point can quite literally add tens of thousands of dollars to your scholarship calculations. Don't lose points from silly preparation mistakes- follow the advice above and maximize your score on test day.
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