Self-study
I decided sort of late in the game that now would be a good time to go to law school. I registered for the October 2020 test in July. I got a 167 on my diagnostic test. I studied with Magoosh (because I had a great experience with them on the GRE) but I was working full time at a restaurant trying to make as much money as possible before we shut down again so I really didn't study as much as I should have. I got a 168 on the October Flex. I felt that given that I had done well without much studying, I could re-take, really apply myself, and have a good shot at getting above 170.
I signed up for 7Sage and when I'm doing the lessons I feel like I'm learning a lot. Lots of ah ha moments. However, I've now taken three prep tests on 7Sage and scored 163, 164, and 165 respectively. On Blind Review on the first two I got a 170, but the last one I was honestly so discouraged I got kind of lazy on Blind Review and only got my score to a 168. I am so frustrated. I'm spending a lot of time studying and I've gotten significantly worse. It's KILLING my confidence and I am afraid to take the LSAT in January because I went from feeling great about it to feeling hopeless. I took prep tests July-Sept on the LSAC site and scored between 165-168. I'm wondering if the 7Sage format has something to do with it? I can't understand how I've gotten so much worse.
I've focused a lot of my time on 7Sage on LR because I felt I had the most room for improvement there, but I'm seeing no improvement and now LG is suffering. I'm kicking myself for delaying my apps when I could have applied with the 168, but please don't pile on in this regard telling me what I should have done. I really thought I was making the best call at the time based on the information I had (including my success up to that point).
Any advice?
According the official rules no, you cannot. "Reading out loud" is specifically listed as a prohibited behavior here: https://www.lsac.org/update-coronavirus-and-lsat/lsat-flex
I wouldn't recommend even quiet muttering because it depends on your proctor and that's too much risk. This is from Proctor U: "This may create a flagged event. If the whispering is very consistent and you can understand what the test-taker is saying, there [is] unfortunately no way for our system or proctors to know whether the tester is just reading aloud to themselves or speaking to another person in the room or on a device, etc."
I noticed that I read aloud a lot while I was studying and have had to really force myself out of the habit. I think it's been good to be very consistent in this because it's helped me from having to think "oh no don't talk out loud!" throughout my practice tests.