You’re sitting at your desk, prep test in hand, waiting to take your very first LSAT on the road to scoring a 180! You glance at your watch, flip open the test, and begin answering a logical reasoning question about how dinosaurs were killed by a giant comet. About five minutes in, your roommate wanders into the kitchen to grab a Coke™ and a Pop-Tart™. You suddenly realize how much you could benefit from a Pop-Tart™. You note the time mentally and take a ten-minute break during which you have a Pop-Tart™, a bag of Fritos™, and a Hansen’s™ root beer. Surfeited on nutritionless food, you return to logical reasoning with approximately 28 minutes(?) remaining in the section, and begin the next question about male sage grouse…

The above scenario is one we hear occasionally from our Blueprint Prep students who take their practice LSATs at home. And while it’s a perfectly understandable scenario, it certainly won’t maximize your LSAT score. When taking practice LSATs, it’s important to simulate the testing environment as much as possible. Fortunately, we at Blueprint Prep have put together a handy guide for the best way to take your practice LSATs when you can’t or don’t take them as part of a prep class (like, say, a Blueprint LSAT course).

So without further ado, the Blueprint Prep guide to taking a practice LSAT at home:

1. Go to the library

Libraries are typically a) quiet but b) have muted sounds of sighing, breathing, talking, etc. that will best simulate your own test.

2. Sit in the type of seat you’ll be in during your exam

Once you sign up for the LSAT and a testing center, familiarize yourself with the site if possible. Some sites have desks while others have tables and chairs. In the former, you’ll want to sit in a desk during your practice LSAT. For the latter, cozy up to a table.

3. Time yourself rigorously. Have someone else do it if possible.

We at Blueprint Prep know how tantalizing it is to finish that laaaast question on a game even though your 35 minutes have expired. Force yourself to move on when your time is up. Or have someone else time you to be really strict.

4. 4. Do the whole test in one sitting.

We've found at Blueprint Prep that it’s easy to get sidetracked after a couple of sections but stopping and then starting won’t build up the stamina you need for the intense concentration this four hour test requires.

4. 5. Test appropriately

At Blueprint Prep, we’ve found it doesn’t help students to take tests before they know the methods. Be sure to figure out what you did wrong and learn from it.

So remember: simulate testing conditions as much as possible and stay away from the strawberry Pop-Tarts™. (Chocolate is much better). Happy testing from Blueprint LSAT Prep!

Article by Trent Teti and Jodi Triplett of Blueprint Prep. Blueprint offers LSAT prep courses in live class and online format. Blueprint Prep was founded in 2005.