When you learn to adapt to the pressure of time, and begin to eliminate bad answer choices rather than select them, you will see your score increase dramatically. I took two "bad" PTs before I achieve a mid-160s score. But even scoring in the upper 160's, I don't think I'll ever achieve my B/R score in the upper 170s. Some of the "curve-breaker" questions take me 4-5 minutes and several attempts to figure out, I just don't have that time during the actual exam. That's where the discrepancy is: efficiency. Eventually, you will learn how to be more efficient, and your score will reflect that. Good luck! :-)

I'm just concerned that you might be so worried that you're not going to improve, that you're actually preventing yourself from improving. While preparing for the June 2014 administration, I found myself in this situation. Before the June administration I was stuck in the high-140s, low-150s. I was putting in more hours than I am now, but the quality of my study was hampered by my pessimism. I decided to postpone my exam to September. I took a week off from studying, and started again with a healthier mindset. This time around I was determined to be focused and careful, but mostly just efficient. While I used to waste time being annoyed and discouraged with difficult questions, now I just laugh it off, knowing that I'm going to figure out exactly what happened after the test. I still have plenty of room for improvement, but I would rather focus on what I've accomplished than focus on what I have yet to accomplish. You should absolutely prefer to compliment your application with an LSAT score you are proud of, I just think that will be more feasible to accomplish with a changed perspective. I completely understand your frustration, but I encourage you not fester in it for too long. I'm sure by now you have the fundamentals down, you just have to learn how to apply them strategically and under timed pressure. Anyone will tell you this process is grueling and at times, discouraging, but you can learn this test.

If you're giving this your best effort, there is no reason to beat yourself up. Stay focused on your inevitable success, and by success I mean getting into law school. Perhaps a shift in perspective will help: this is a prerequisite, it's a weed-out. That's it. The LSAT is not a measure of your self-worth, intelligence, or even your ability to succeed in law school. I think it's a nine percent positive correlation between LSAT score and first-year GPA, and after that it really doesn't make a difference. For a while I thought that I could only be happy with a 170 on the LSAT. But, in reality, I will be happy with whatever score I earn because it will reflect my best effort, and I will be even happier with my acceptance to a law school. I've come to this realization after a considerable amount of worry, stress, anxiety, frustration, panic, and the works: it is what it is. The next LSAT administration is two months away, you have time to sharpen your skills and perfect a strategy. And you can always choose to take it at a later date. But if you're anything like me, the fear of failure will paralyze you if you don't decide to get past it. Take the pressure off yourself and have some fun with it! Good luck!!

I took my time with the curriculum, working through everything as suggested by 7Sage. I started PTs recently. I'm taking 2 PTs per week, one on Monday morning and one on Friday morning. I get everything ready the night before the PT, so when I'm done with my morning routine, I'm ready to start...not frustrated by printer problems or a messy working space. Just before I start the test, I write out reminders to myself on the cover-page: focused, relaxed, careful etc. All this helps to put me in a clear, positive frame of mind. When I'm anxious or negative (which I tend to be), I tank. The other days of the week are days for Blind Review and Fool Proof. I work through every problem on the test, even ones I thought I had no trouble with the first time around. If I still missed a few questions when I grade the test, I go back and try to figure it out myself before watching the video explanations. I go back through the curriculum for any concepts that gave me trouble, though this is a quick process -- just until it clicks. I try not to dwell on curriculum because I just spent a few months with it, this time around it's only to refresh my memory if needed. This process takes about 2 days, leaving me some time to briefly review the most recent PT one last time before I take the next one. This solidifies everything I've learned in the past few days. With each PT, you should start to see more and more similarities between tests. Figure out what's tricking you, and consciously stop yourself from falling for the same trap over and over again! Ultimately, I think the key is exposing yourself to as much material as possible, in an effective and reasonable manner. You want to see as many questions as possible, but also learn as much as you can from those questions. It's a balance. I also think that maintaining a healthy, positive, and confident view towards your preparation is CRITICAL. I have struggled with this tremendously, and changing my mindset has made all the difference. I have stagnated and been very frustrated at times, but you have to make the decision to push through it with dedication and confidence. I have been interning three days a week (with an hour commute) and preparing curriculum for a course I'm TAing in the Fall for a few months now...so this has not been a 24-7 operation, though it has been quite the commitment. This is not insurmountable. You are capable of achieving a score that you are proud of, whatever that score may be. Envision success.

Hi. I was similarly frustrated a few months ago, and I think I've managed to push past the road block. I can try to give you some insight as to what worked for me. What's your strategy been thus far?

I'm in the same boat! I missed 9 in RC, the lower end of my usual range, and 9 more throughout the rest of the exam. I have decided not to retake as I am out of prep materials. I am redirecting my energies towards the things I still have control over, i.e. personal statement. Our scores are respectable, and should open plenty of doors for us!

That's a good idea, thanks! I'll try that! (:

It could have been that it was the first section. I'm never focused enough on the first section to do RC. It was the first section on PT 72, and even though it was "medium" difficulty I missed 9 questions!

Yeah I'm doing some timed sections in addition to two PTs. If you can't do them all, focus on your weak spot? RC has gotten a lot tougher in my opinion, that might be a good place to start.

Hi Christian. That is a lot of PT's to write in nine days! I definitely recommend that you cut back on PTs, to two or three of the newest tests tops! The marginal gains to be had from writing five additional tests this week just aren't great enough to outweigh of those of being positive, healthy, and focused for next Saturday. At this point, you are probably as ready as you're going to be -- all that's left is preparing for all the variables we'll have to deal with next Saturday (nerves, distractions, bubbling etc).You should also plan not to review anything LSAT related the Friday before the test. Good luck!!! (:

I was very consistent at -2/-4 in RC until recently. My score in this section has begun to fluctuate more recently, as the passages become more difficult into the late-60's, and also as I become more nervous about the September exam.

As far as the increased difficulty goes, the difference between the correct A/C and the wrong A/C's is usually in the details. You really have to read every word, and fully understand what each word means for the passage. This sounds obvious, but most of the questions I have gotten incorrect lately have come down to my misunderstanding of the implications of an answer choice. Wrong answer choices also often misdirect your attention to the wrong portion of a passage, using familiar words and phrases to lead you astray. Sometimes, though, there are questions that are just tricky, and no amount of cautiousness helps me see the right answer under timed pressure. I try to minimize these instances by being very aware while reading.

Careful reading goes hand in hand with focus, of course. As my test date draws nearer, I find myself scanning passages without fully paying attention. I burn through 4-5 minutes "reading" the passage, and all I come away with is "I'm so nervous!" Perhaps you're very aware of your weakness in RC as you go through the section, causing you to put more pressure on yourself.

I hope this helps!

Thanks everyone for the advice. I only have two PTs left before the 27th, and I think I'm going to take them on campus in an empty classroom, which I have only done once before. I have been fairly true to testing conditions, only occasionally bubbling in a few answers after time has been called. This is something I am working on this week, after realizing that this is more important than it seems.

One thing I have definitely noticed in my PTs is that RC has gotten more difficult as my nerves become more prominent. I've been much more likely to drift in RC than in say, LG, where my attention is constantly focused on a set of rules and conditions. This hurts my understanding of the passage, forcing me to re-read, which in turn stresses me out even more!

I'm planning on completely tuning everything out on test day, as I've heard some horror stories about interactions with other test takers before the test and during the break. I just hope I can rein in my anxiousness and go into "auto-pilot" as someone mentioned here. Good luck everyone!

You should do the problem sets included in the lessons for now. You don't want to burn through practice tests before you learn everything there is to learn. Take the diagnostic, and then stick to the lessons. If you want additional practice outside the curriculum, I would recommend reading a few challenging articles per week to improve your ability to parse difficult language for both LR and RC. Good luck!

I'm writing the September exam as well, and I've actually taken the same PTs as you have since starting with 7sage. Before I joined 7sage I took 10 of newer exams, with a far lower average score. I'm hoping that the difference in scores can be accounted for by my level of preparation, as I was far less prepared in June than I am now. I'm going to start taking the newest tests from here on out. I would recommend that you do the same. I'm sure the newest tests are the best representation of what the September exam will look like for us.

I've seen a steady trend across all my PTs of a low score on my first section. Reading Comp is my best section, and on my last PT, it was the first section of the exam. I dropped to a +18 from an average of +25. I added a fifth section that day, it was Reading Comp, I scored a +26. The sections were equally difficult, but I just wasn't focused enough during the first section. After reading through this thread, I'm definitely going to do a light warm-up before beginning my last PTs before the September exam. Something I have done that helps to ease my mind is to write out notes to myself on the cover sheet of every PT. When I find myself panicking on a tough question, I repeat the notes to myself quickly..."relax, focus, confident, efficient" etc. It's weird, but it calms me down! Thanks for all the suggestions! (:

I noticed this thread the other day, and forgot to comment. On my diagnostic exam I think I missed ten or twelve LR questions. But on my most recent PT I got one LR question wrong on the entire exam. I think you should definitely expect to see improvement in LR following the blind review method, but it will take some time to click! Good luck!