Self-study
Hi everyone, I am looking for guidance after receiving my score from the June LSAT. I got a 168 on the real test but I had been scoring in the 170s on every PT I've taken for the past 2 months. I had not gotten below a 171 since April, and I scored a 175 on both PT 158 and PT 159 (the last ones I took before the real test). I had also been practicing in environments similar to test day conditions to make sure that the testing center didn't throw me off since I took it in-person. This in combination with hitting my goal scores repeatedly on PTs made me feel relatively confident going into the real thing, but I ended up scoring around 5-7 points below what I had been scoring on PTS. This was the first time I had ever taken the real thing, so I'm wondering if it could have been test day nerves due to having never experienced the real environment before or if there is some kind of disconnect in my understanding/thought processes. Another issue is that I have been studying since late January and do not have any fully fresh PTs or sections left. Any advice on what I can do in the meantime between now and my retake in August to perform at the level I had been performing at on my PTs would be greatly appreciated!
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4 comments
Hi! The gap between PT and real test is really common. As you said, this being your first time in the actual environment does play a role; the good news is that now you've done it before, that'll be lessened somewhat in your next go-around!
Regarding the lack of freshness, chances are there are questions (or even entire tests) that you haven't seen in a few months. You can refer back to the first tests you took, and start bringing those back in. Unless you're able to explain not only why the right answer is right, and each wrong answer is wrong, there's still plenty of stuff to be mined from questions, even if you've already seen them before.
Based on your PT scores, it sounds like how you were studying was working for you :) I'd double down on the question types you were missing on your most recent PTs, as well as the ones that you may have gotten right, but took you a little bit longer.
I hope that helps, and good luck! You've got this.
@PhoebeHopp Thank you, I will definitely be trying that!
I am in almost exactly the same situation, my plan is to alternate between taking older PTs (PT16-20) that I haven’t done yet, and then redoing the first few PTs I ever took. My outlook in general is to focus more on quality over quantity with rlly deep review any time I miss a question. I have also heard people say on Law Hub there are question sets that aren’t on 7Sage, so maybe you could use those as well if you have no fresh sections here.
@Jdunni Thank you for your response! That is kind of what I have been doing in terms of quality over quantity, I used to spend HOURS every single day doing sections and drills, but after June I have cut back a ton. It has honestly helped a lot because my review is much more thorough when I am doing fewer questions and I'm less angry about studying lol which is probably going to be beneficial for the retake. Thank you for the suggestion of the older PTs, I will definitely be implementing those. I forgot those were an option since automatically disabled, but I feel like I am definitely at the point where its time to use those. I also did not know that about LawHub, but I will check it out because that would be great if I could get some new sets straight from the site!