How to Be a Good Test Taker

People are like computers. We have varying levels of mental power at our disposal, and we need that power for tasks, exciting tasks like taking arguments apart. On your computer, you need that power to waste time on the internet.

Have you ever had a virus on your computer? Viruses take up a bunch of the computer’s power to execute malicious tasks under the radar. All you can see is that your computer is suddenly really slow. Your internet time wasting becomes way less efficient and it’s basically the worst thing that has ever happened. It’s taking like 30 whole seconds to load a Buzzfeed article.

Test anxiety is essentially a computer virus. It proliferates under the radar and monopolizes the mental power you need to perform your normal routine. You don’t have the power you need to take the test the way you’ve practiced and you don’t know why. Once one thing goes wrong, one of the panic reactions can start (cold sweat, racing heartbeat, shaky hands, nausea), which takes you even farther from your normal practice routine. Suddenly, it’s like you’ve never done this before. Which is correct. You have never done this before. This is why everything feels harder on the day of the test.

Why does pressure affect us like this? The human body undergoes a specific physical reaction to feeling like it needs something. This reaction is good for emergency fight-or-flight scenarios, but it isn’t well suited to taking standardized tests. It interferes with your attempts to access memory. There are two types of memory relevant to pressure.

Working memory is your mental notepad. You keep information here to intentionally call it up for later use. You perform a ton of important tasks using working memory during the test. Any time you’re intentionally thinking something through, you’re using your working memory capacity to do it.

Automatic memory is what you use to brush your teeth. You learned how to brush your teeth at some point, but I hope it’s been automatic for a while now. You don’t think about the skills you’re calling up with automatic memory. You don’t focus on fundamentals. You just do it. After all of your practice with Logical Reasoning, you use automatic memory to sense holes in arguments, unconsciously matching patterns from previous errors you’ve seen. The point of all your practice was to push those argument-critiquing impulses into automatic memory. Automatic memory is mystery magic.

Learning starts in working memory. This is where you build new skills. It takes effort and intention, the hallmark of working memory. After you’ve practiced a ton, skills are transferred into automatic memory. Your knowledge of how to brush your teeth started in working memory, but you’ve done it enough times that it’s automatic now, so the skill has moved to a different part of the brain.

How does pressure interfere with automatic memory? Imagine this scenario. You’re brushing your teeth in a high-stakes situation and have the following internal monologue:

“Wait, do I bring the brush forward again now? Do I need to go back over this tooth again? Oh my god! I need to do it right. I just need to focus. Is the right molar clean enough? I think I left some plaque on the top a minute ago. What’s the point of doing the right molar now? Come on! GET IT TOGETHER! I need to do well on this teeth brushing! My whole life depends on this stupid thing. I can’t be one of those failures that brushes their teeth twice. My family is going to be so disappointed. Ellen is going to be so disappointed.”

Do you think you would do a good job brushing your teeth with this mindset? Try it tonight and find out.

I love brushing my teeth (really), and I don’t think I would be able to do it in that kind of mental hornet’s nest. You could be the best teeth brusher in the world, but if you apply all that pressure and don’t control your reaction, you’ll probably just give up halfway through. The funny thing is that monologue is exactly how many people approach the LSAT on test day. For real.

All of the impulses in that monologue make you consciously think through the fundamentals of skills in automatic memory. Applying intention and micromanagement to automatic memory just doesn’t work. It’s understandable why the impulse to apply intention to automatic memory exists: You really want to do well, so you try to make sure you’re doing every single thing right. However, this intentional memory grabbing is suited to working memory, not automatic memory. You’re using the wrong tool, so the brain starts to glitch.

You can’t get to automatic memory skills when you over-think. Attempting to do so will lead to blanking. You’ll know the knowledge is in your head, but you won’t be able to get to it. Blanking leads to panic, which occupies a ton of space in working memory. You need that space for remembering what you read, so your performance suffers, which only makes you panic more. With all this neurological havoc, it’s no wonder so many people do worse than they did on their practice tests.

This is what happens when people “choke.” It’s not a character flaw or a weakness. It’s a physiological reaction that you can avoid if you put in the work. It’s going to take work on your part to build the confidence, resilience, and focus that will allow you to avoid falling into this memory trap. The good news is that the skills you build here are applicable to every test you face for the rest of your life, including 1L finals and the bar exam. If you actually do the things I recommend in this guide, you will be a good test taker for the rest of your life.

So how can I become a good test taker? You need to do two things: learn to control your actions and learn to control your thoughts. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. First, we’ll go through the steps you can take in your preparation to inoculate yourself against pressure. Next, we’ll talk through five quick panic fixes, just in case you need them. Finally, we’ll learn to control our thoughts to create a more pleasant, less crazy test-taking experience.

Fortune favors the prepared. By going into the test expecting things to be weird, you inoculate yourself against the surprise most people feel when things inevitably feel different than they did during practice.

We’re going to play the what if game to anticipate exactly how weird the LSAT could get. The what if game is your opportunity to really go deep on the catastrophizing. Together, we’re going to mentally explore all the different ways test day could go wrong and answer ourselves with what we’ll do.

What if I hit a passage I immediately can’t make sense of? You will complete the rest of the section before returning to the passage that’s stumping you. The test is not over because one passage is bad. You have plenty of other questions to do outside of this passage. That is where the battle will be won. Once you’ve finished all the other questions, give the passage your best effort. Movement is life; freezing is death.

What if the test center desks aren’t big enough? You will make your setup work and just roll with it. Scratch paper under the elbow, whatever it takes. You’ve practiced with small café tables to prepare for this.

What if the proctor doesn’t call five minutes? This is a pretty common occurrence. Practice a bunch of tests without the five-minute warning so this doesn’t bother you. Don’t expect them to call five minutes on later sections even if they do it on the early sections.

What if I’m way behind where I normally am on time? Don’t stop doing your normal routine, but make sure you aren’t lingering on questions more than normal because you “want to be sure.” You have to do the exact same thing you always do. You could just be slower because the difficulty was tilted into a different area of the section than normal. You’ll involuntarily keep in mind that time is an issue — I can’t stop you from doing that. But temper the obsession impulse with the knowledge that it’s better to guess on some questions than get the ones you actually attempt wrong. If you speed through and change your routine, you will likely miss doable questions.

What if I check the timer and panic at the number? Note the time once, make your call, and get back to the question in front of you. Do your normal routine and don’t focus on the time. Kindly reframe when you catch yourself thinking about it.

What if I bomb one of the sections? You will not give up on the rest of the test. You don’t know which section is experimental while you’re doing it. The section you bombed might not count. I have seen too many phenomenal students tank an entire test because they bombed the experimental, but thought it was real in the moment. They gave up on the rest of the test because of this experimental failure. Promise that you won’t do this to yourself. If thoughts of “I’ve already screwed up beyond repair” enter your head, respond with, “Only if I give up now. And I’ll never give up.”

What if I have three Logical Reasoning sections in a row? (or whatever section order scenario sounds the worst for you.) You will do the sections and play your game! Hopefully, you’ve been practicing your worst-case section order, so this won’t be the first time you’ve had to slay this beast.

What if the curve is bad? There’s no way you can know the curve on the day of the test, so don’t even consider it. Stick to the game plan! Focus on the challenge before you and what you can control.

What if it’s way harder than any test I did before? You will reframe the difficulty level by reminding yourself that this is the exact same test you’ve practiced countless times before. If it was hard for you, it was likely hard for everyone else too. You’ve met this challenge before. You can do it again.

Ask and answer three more what ifs of your own design. This is your chance to expect the unexpected. Write the what ifs down in your LSAT notebook and answer them yourself.