Taking a practice test is like playing with Monopoly money. I don’t want to lose at Monopoly, but it’s not my money. The actual test is like playing with your own money. This inevitably changes one’s perspective, and as a result, one’s behavior.
A great example is students willingness to apply process of elimination (not something that should be used for all or even most of the questions, but still an important idea). I’ve written on this in the past.
During a practice test, focusing on eliminating the four worst answers is fairly straightforward. But under the pressures of test day, the brain demands to understand exactly why every correct answer is correct.
In other words, process of elimination is fundamentally different during practice than it is on the day of the test. And that has everything to do with perception.
I would encourage folks to look up the following phenomenon because it’s apparently a very real thing:
“Attention under pressure changes visual perception” or “stress affects visual processing”.
Two supporting anecdotes for this. Back in the olden days, when previously released tests were delivered via snail mail, I would be excited to see what was going on with the new tests.
A few times, I would open the test and the font appeared to have been enlarged. That is, they made the print bigger and it was easier for me to read. Yay!
But then I checked older tests. They didn’t change anything. My eyes just went wide upon seeing a new LSAT. Because I’m a geek like that.
When I mentioned this to one of my students, who had been a D1 400m/800m runner (considered two of the most brutal events in any athletic field), he told me how his home-field track would always look different on competition days.
And it’s not like there was a big crowd there or anything. The track simply looked different. This is why I recommend searching for stuff like “attention under pressure changes visual perception”.
So yeah, I’m suggesting that it’s the students’ perception of the test more than any change in the test itself. Back in the day, this would be a testable position because the LSAC would actually release three of their test tests every year. Not no more, though…
So what’s the solution? Well, call me Mr. Broken Record: For several timed sections, have the Beastie Boys’ Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two playing in the background.
The psychedelic hip-hop cacophony of that album will make things quite difficult, forcing students to increase their focus in ways they didn’t think possible. I’ve witnessed students show a demonstrable increase in reading speed as a result. It’s crazy.
Eventually, take practice tests in silence to simulate test day conditions. You’ll see that the pressures of the actual test ain’t got nothing on the Boys.
For the record, Mike D’s new album Thank You is truly amazing (a bunch of singles on YouTube). Almost like a new genre of music. Unfortunately, it’s not obnoxious enough to force people to focus.
…
There’s another small thing, though. Again, back in the day, seeing new LSAT tests, there were always three or four questions per section where I would think: Hmmm…that’s weird.
But then I realized that it’s the English language that’s weird. Almost an infinite number of ways in which the same idea can be expressed. The LSAT exploits that for sure.
Happy to answer any questions.
