So you\’ve decided you want to go to law school. Congratulations. Many people find the law a challenging and rewarding career. However, if you have test anxiety, the LSAT may be causing you a great deal of stress. Yet, it is a requirement that you must satisfy in order to even apply to law school. Go ahead and take a deep breath, because what you find in this article can help you do well on your LSAT. As you likely already know, the LSAT does not test your use of a calculator, your extensive knowledge in biochemistry, or even your familiarity with the law. The LSAT is a measure of your reasoning skills. If you are stressed, worried, scared, or anxious, your reasoning ability flies right out the window. I cannot emphasize this enough, if you are to succeed on the LSAT, you MUST be calm. 1. Visualize SuccessVisualization is important for two reasons: rehearsal of success, and desensitization of worrisome situations.RehearsalJust like a professional athlete mentally rehearses their game or event to prepare their mind for a successful outcome, mentally envisioning your LSAT going well is just as beneficial to you. Rehearsal creates a blueprint for your mind to follow during the real event. **Be careful to only envision success, since you don\’t want your mind following a blueprint of anxiety or failure.** Enjoy this rehearsal by adding feelings of calm, confidence, and satisfaction. Picture receiving your goal score, and applying to your preferred law school(s). Create the most positive experience you can, and know that as you are envisioning success, you are indeed drawing it to you. DesensitizationPerhaps you have heard of systematic desensitization used for people with phobias. This process involves mentally exposing a person to a fearful situation in small steps while in a safe environment. Each small step begins to desensitize the person to the object or situation feared. By visualizing yourself taking the LSAT easily and calmly, you are actually taking the sting out of the real testing experience. In essence, you are crippling the anxiety by removing fear. Visualize Success, Visualize Success, Visualize Success2. Watch Your WordsMake sure your words aren\’t undoing the success blueprint you are creating with your visualization. For instance, look at the following two sentences, and determine who you believe will be making a higher LSAT score.Megan: \”When I get my 170 LSAT, I\’ll be applying to Georgetown Law.\” Todd: \”If I get a 170, I\’d like to go to Columbia.\”Both Megan and Todd are envisioning a fairly high score. Both are referring to law schools with good reputations. But their subconscious minds will go very different directions based on the words they have chosen. A. Megan\’s use of the word \”when\” and Todd\’s use of the word \”if,\” are leading their minds in different directions. B. Also, note that Megan is owning her 170 score with the word \”my.\” Todd has not claimed ownership of the 170 score.C. Furthermore, Megan has stated what she will be doing with her score. Todd has merely said what he would like to do. Based on their words, Megan is setting herself up for a higher score, and Todd is setting himself up for a lower score. Todd may even be more intelligent, have a greater passion for law, and a stronger desire to go to law school, but my money is on Megan. As a professional Consulting Hypnotist, I regularly work with people for test anxiety and have helped many people succeed in graduate school entrance exams, including the LSAT, as well as professional licensure exams of all sorts. My experience in this field tells me that visualization and word choice have a profound effect on your score.

Author Bio: Victor Pierce is a Consulting Hypnotist who works with people all over the U.S. by phone, and also in his office for people in the Albuquerque, NM area. Questions, curiosities, hypnotherapy? Victor can be reached at 505-804-6552 End Test Anxiety

Category: Education
Keywords: LSAT, improve my LSAT, test anxiety, help with LSAT