Hi all, first time poster here!

I've done quite a few practice tests and while there is (happily) a general upward trend between all of them, my last 5 are sort of all over the place with 10 points between the best and worst and no decipherable trend. While it seems like one should be scoring within a certain range (for example, 160-165), I am not sure what the acceptable limits of the range are- that is, a 10-point range seems way too large to accurately predict a potential test-day score. So my questions are:

1. What does constitute as an acceptable range within which one can reasonably get a good idea of what their score will be on test day? 5 points? 6? 7? What is your range from your last 5 tests, and do you feel it accurately reflects your potential?

2. How does one differentiate between a representative score on a PT and an outlier score? (An outlier score being one that is way above or way below the mainstream, and since it doesn't fit in with the general trend, may not actually represent anything of significance.) Example: Did I score 175, which is x points above my average, because I'm legitimately improving, or because I got lucky that day?

3. Any tips on making scores more consistent? All of my sections are usually +/- 5 EXCEPT for RC which is either real good or real bad and never in between...

Thank you all in advance for the help!