My last PT was last weekend. I haven't done well on my last two PTs (trying too many test-taking strategies, I think), so scores have been down a few points. This messes with my head, so I've decided no more this last week.

Instead, I drilled individual LR sections a few times, but I'm done with those now, too. I've come to enjoy LGs, so I'm only doing those these last few days. Some timed, some not. I plan do one or two Saturday morning before the test, to warm up my brain.

My test center is about an hour from me, so to ensure I get a good night's sleep and don't feel rushed the next morning, I got a hotel near the test center the night before. I can drive up after work tomorrow and have dinner, relax, and get a good sleep. The morning of the test, I plan to get up early enough to do my warm up puzzle, have a good breakfast, and take a brisk walk.

Right now I'm focused on the mental prep. Sleep, relaxation, de-stressing, reminding myself that I've got this.

It's in your IRR (Item response report).

I just got mine.

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The thing with strategy is it needs to work universally. Trying a strategy out the first time is always a bit rough, but the broader issue I see is just that your general strategy only works under certain conditions. Maybe doing the RC passages with the most questions is going to work sometimes. But on 82 it happens to be a really awful approach. You're correct to be afraid that this could happen on test day. Because your strategy is contingent on the whims of the test, it could. You need to find better section strategies that are more resilient to the many different contingencies you need to be prepared for. A strategy that works sometimes is a strategy that doesn't work.

Yes. I'm definitely leaving that one behind. Since RC isn't usually that bad for me to begin with, I'm just going to go back to doing them in order. I'll skip individual questions if I have to, but no more skipping around on entire passages for me.

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Well there are a few things here that you can use to calm your self down!

1.) You tired a new skipping strategy. - Often when we try new things on a test, or we take an unorthodox approach, we will take a hit to our score. This is not because the strategy is not valuable or useful, but rather because we are not use to it. You were not taking this PT in your "normal" way it sounds like, which can account for some drop in score. THIS ISN'T BAD! It means you're still learning what works best for you.

An anecdote for you - prior to the September LSAT I refused to do a skipping strategy. Every time I tried I saw a decrease in my score. @ @ @ and a few other people told me that I had to skip if I wanted to improve. I just wouldn't listen. After struggling for a long time I finally started to skip. After I got use to it my scores started to improve a ton, turns out they were all right. I just had to spend time getting use to what I was doing!

2.) This test was hard for a lot of people. While the LSAT is consistent and the same but the difficulty fluctuates for individuals. It can be a lot of things, burnout, not focused, tired, the list goes on. It takes a lot of things to go right to preform our best, and it sounds like you might have just had a hiccup.

3.) Hard tests are the best thing that can happen to us. It is a chance to learn. You did really well on your BR so it tells me that the material wasn't hard for you. What was hard was timing, the way you approached the test, mental blocks, stress and things like this. This is where you need the work! It's a chance to get better!

You have totally got this!

Thank you! This really helps put things in perspective.

Thank you all, especially for the perspective on trying a new strategy. It was literally the first time I'd tried it (having just listened to the webinar about it the day before). I think what I'm going to try before the test in Dec is taking timed LR sections using that strategy so that I can get more confident in it. I'm usually pretty happy with my RC and LG scores. It's LR that brings my overall score down. I can squeeze in a lot more timed sections between now and then, than I can full tests (though I will take my final PT next weekend).

That BR really did make me happy because I've been working a lot the last couple weeks on honing my skills in certain problem areas, and I this was the first BR I'd done since doing so.

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In the last 2 weeks strategy can net you more points than "drilling types" like Sami mentioned are you skipping? Consistently? Are you doing things how you normally do them? How do you bubble?

Basically are you taking the test how you practice?

Focusing on HOW you take the test is just... maybe even MORE important than your problem based knowledge.

I've cost myself 10 points, 7 points and 4 points on tests in single sections all via costly mistakes usually missbubbles or letting a section get in my head or issues with not setting my clock right.

Had 0 to do with my knowledge of answering LSAT questions.

I'm spending my last 2 weeks on consistent bubbling practices, skipping strategies and deliberately putting sections that undermine my confidence into PTs (or entirely comprised of them) to get me to a point that I don't have these issues.

At this point it's not a lack of LSAT knowledge keeping me from getting my goal score... it's me getting in my own way.

I think this is where I'm at, too. There are still a couple types of questions (if they are particularly difficult) that I struggle with. But I do feel I have the basics there. It's now time that I struggle with, and test-taking strategies. I believe that skipping works, but I struggle with it a lot. So I'm spending this last bit of time trying to hone those test-taking skills to make sure I'm in control of the time.

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So I took the Sept. test and scored 5 points higher than the latest 3 PTs I took before it.... so make sure to be calm and eat properly the day of the test :)

oh god, if that happened to me it would change all of my target school lol

I just assume I will score about 3 points lower than my PTs and try to get my PTs to a place that will account for that and still get me the score I hope for.

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I thought it was easier than June and July. June’s RC destroyed me. I thought this one was a very typical LSAT. It’s also totally possible that I was just more prepared for this one after 8 months of studying. But it also seemed easier than the September test, which I didn’t sit for, but I did a PT on it.

This is tricky because we are all so vulnerable to bias from our stages of prep, mood, and perception of how we scored. From what I have seen in this thread, on Reddit, and from my own experience, the consensus seems to be a tough LG due to the Mining game, 2 Average LR sections, and a relatively easy RC. Obviously anecdotal evidence like this is weak at best, however, speculation like this is the only thing keeping me sane until 12/8.

This was my perception of it. I struggle with LGs anyway, but the mining game totally threw me. I skipped it and went to the last one, but by the time I was done with that I had little to no time left for the mining game and just guessed everything except the first question. Felt that the LRs were pretty standard and I I finished without rushing at the end like I often do. My experimental was LR, though, and I do remember one being harder than the others; I just don't remember which one it was! RC is always good for me, and I felt good about this one, even the movie one (though it was the toughest).

Hopefully my feeling about this test is correct (that I hit my target). I've been wrong before. I thought I completely tanked the first one I took a year ago, but got a 158 (not as good as I'd hoped, but ok). Then I took September's test as a PT on Friday. My dogs barked through the entire thing [literally!] and I was super annoyed and struggled with the LGs and got a 161 LOL If I did worse on Saturday than the dog-barking PT on Friday, I may just give up ;)

I found the LGs hard, but they are never my strong suit. The mining question threw me. Other than the first ? I guessed on most of that game. I do well on RC usually and felt this one went well, though I got a bit short on time on the last one, so who knows. I felt pretty good about the LRs, but one was definitely harder than the other 2 (I had 3 LRs) and I have no idea which one that was. It’s all a blur.

I don’t think I did worse than my previous one (158) but I’m hoping it was enough to break 160, my goal. Just no idea at this point.

Same here (but not URM). I also have a 161. I find it encouraging but don’t put a lot of hopes on it :) the highest ranked waiver so far is Penn. It’s nice to save some $$ when applying, though.

Edit: I do have a high GPA, over 75th percentile at almost every school. But it wasn’t until I broke 160 on the Nov exam that I started to get waivers for the top 20.

I got it. I'm probably throwing off their results, since it was not at all geared toward a 48-year-old woman who graduated college 23 years ago.

Yes, I did the same :) After starting I realized that 7Sage was for me, and upgraded to ultimate. (I'll be 50 when I start law school next year -- welcome!)

Thanks, everyone! You gave me some ideas on how to proceed. Appreciate it!

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wait can someone explain the curve? like if PS is predicting -10 curve does that mean everyone gets 10 points free? I don't get it and had no idea there was possibility of a curve on the LSAT LOL

Curve means how many you can get wrong and still score 170. A -10 curve means you can get 10 wrong and score a 170.

I would not want to rely on it entirely. I started with PowerScore, then moved to 7Sage (which was the most helpful for me). I also use Khan, but mostly just for another perspective. Sometimes I get little "Aha!" moments that bring things into focus for me, because sometime you just need something explained a different way for it to make sense. But 7Sage is my go-to.

thanks! I think I figured it out. Appreciate the link as well.

I graduated in '94 also! Hey, fellow NTS :)

They release scores in waves, not all at once. Hopefully you have it soon!

I just got mine (very happy, made my goal). I saw it on the website first then got email about 2 minutes later.

I'm 700 or so since May (estimate).

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@ Since you have the U+ account, you already have access to PT 82:

https://classic.7sage.com/lesson/preptest-82/

Others can purchase it here as an add-on:

https://classic.7sage.com/addons/

We generally release new PTs a few weeks after they're released to the students to took that PT. If you have a U+ account, those PTs are automatically added to your account.

oops. I guess I should have looked first! Thanks.

I graduated high school in 1987, college in 1994, and will be 50 when I start law school :)

There was a guy in my group who had 6 highlighters of various colors and at least 2 dozen pencils. I really wondered if he used all the highlighters but was too busy to watch obviously.

Older guy in front/left of me finished every section at least 5 minutes early. Not sure if he’s a super genius or over confident.

I’m really down about today. I was really confident going in and felt the first two sections went ok (RC and LR)..a little short of time at the end of each and had to rush a little, but nothing horrible. Then I got the LG section with the floors and it just went south. I probably only got about half of that whole section. When I saw the second LG after the break (fruit one) I was happy, thinking the first one had to be the experimental. I did better on the second one but not as well as I’d like. Last LR was ok.

Disappointed that the 1st LG was the real one. I have no idea how I did overall, but suspect I’m going to be unhappy. Ugh