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Picking myself back up after bad lsat
Hi everyone,
I am feeling deflated after getting a score MUCH lower than my PTs. Throughout May, I was getting in the 170s with a high of 176 (about 8 tests in a row total) but then yesterday I got my score back and it was 166, which is the lowest score I've gotten since December 
I did have some extenuating circumstances which may have affected things (or it may be me making excuses, I just don't know): the last week of May I came down with the flu and was out for the count for a week. When I came back (and still wasn't feeling great) I was PTing in the high 160s (168/169). I tried to chalk it up to being sick. But to make things worse, 9 days before my LSAT i ended up in the ER with a really horrible eye infection and spent a good two days in bed with my eyes closed. I took another PT once i regained my sight and I got a 168.
That being said, I took some time off work and took two practice tests right before the exam and both were 172 so I was feeling confident going in.
Suffice it to say that I feel pretty deflated right now. I know my health was an issue in the month leading up to the test but because I did do well on the two tests right before and because I felt fairly good physically the day of, I thought I would be okay. I signed up for September, but my confidence has really taken a hit. I was wondering if anybody else has had this happen and if you have any words of wisdom for moving forward.
Comments
Hey, I haven't taken the LSAT yet, so I'm not in the best position to speak about retakes after a potential fluke but I've been sick while trying to study for this test. First of all, your body needs time to recuperate fully. I think taking the two practice tests right before the exam after an ER visit probably cut into your overall stamina on the real deal. Secondly, those are legitimate health issues and not excuses -- anyone in your position would have dealt with the same score dip as you did -- I would not feel guilty about taking that time off.
I think you should take at least a week off, if not more, in your prep leading up to September. It's easy to underestimate the importance of health and general well-being (both physically and psychologically) while studying for the LSAT. If the average of your last 5 PTs in the weeks before September are not within your target range, I highly recommend that you postpone. It looks like you know what you're doing in terms of mastering the content. I just think you're on the edge of burnout if not burnt out already and taking some time off will be beneficial for you overall.
Best of luck!
On my second LSAT, I actually went down a point from my first score after making substantial improvements on my PTs. That was an awful feeling so I know what you're dealing with. I actually quit altogether. Took me a couple months before I recommitted myself. I agree with @"yeram.choi" that a little time off would be good. After that, come back to it and derive your confidence from empirical data. What are you scoring on timed PTs? In BR? On drills? It sounds like you're in the neighborhood of where you need to be, so you probably need to focus on building consistency. It's hard to address issues once you're in the 170's because you're left with so few errors at the end of each PT. You have to look at your data more broadly. Don't just look at your performance from PT to PT. Look at your last 5 PTs. Where did you lose points? What was that one -5 LG section about? That can't happen. Figure out how to fix it. Why are you consistently missing -3 on each LR section? That leaves you with very little margin of error on the rest of the test. What are the underlying issues and how do you correct them? These are just examples obviously, but it's things like this you need to be looking for. Use your crisis of confidence as motivation. Get angry and get busy. (After you've taken a break!)
Thanks @"yeram.choi" and @"Cant Get Right". I guess the thing is consistency-- every once and I while I WOULD have weird flukes that made no sense. Sometimes it affected my score and other times it didn't (for example, -6 on a random LR section didn't kill me if I had -0 on two other sections and -1 on a third). In BR, I would always score around 178 with the occasional 177 thrown in.
Sigh...guess it's back to it. Hard things are hard, that's what I tell myself. I just have to figure out where to go from here!
Keep staying positive and take a break for a bit. If you want that score you deserve bad enough, you will get it. Sometimes when I'm feeling down I watch some of the webinars of the sages who struggle just like us and hearing how their stories are so similar helps me to get back up when I'm feeling down!
Good luck going forward
I kid you not, the SAME EXACT THING happened to me. Across my last 20 practice tests, my average was 172, never once dipping to what I got on test day, a 166. I'm fully with you. Right now I've decided to just go for a retake in September. My logic is -- this score is high enough to get in my safeties even if by some cruel fate I do worse on a retake, but it's too low to have a shot at T-14 with my GPA (3.6). Really, I have nothing to lose by retaking it.
There are three possibilities for you, two for me:
1) Health got in the way
2) Test anxiety got in the way
3) You just got really unlucky with this test; didn't gel with the questions
If it is 1 or 3, then odds are if you maintain your understanding of the test, you will retake with a more fitting score. If it is 2, then that's that, and you might get lucky. Either way, you owe it to yourself to find out. You've already invested so much into this test that it'd be a shame to give up.
I'm definitely burnt out, but I'm sticking with September. I'm going to start studying again hardcore in mid-August. Until then, I'm just going to do a logic game or two a day. The LR and RC skills are more durable over time than LG. I want to take it in September just because of rolling admissions, and so that the more competitive schools can see that I am aiming higher.
@LSATiscoming ha- we literally ARE exactly the same! I also have a 3.6 GPA and am aiming for T14 so glad to know that I'm not alone. It's so frustrating, as I am sure it is for you, because I haven't gotten a 166 since January! The burnout is real so I think a break is good. I am going to start studying this weekend only because I have a two week vacation planned for August (I booked my tickets in May when I was sure I was going to do great...ha) and don't want to study the entire time. But know that I'll be rooting for you!
And @"Alex Divine" thanks for all the positivity-- I really need it right now. Feeling better than I did yesterday (which was absolutely terrible) and starting to gain some perspective for moving forward.
One more question for everyone--I burned through all the most recent tests. Would you do older tests or re-take the most recent ones?
I would suggest a combination of both. You want to keep that familiarity with the newer tests so you need to retake some of them but since they are all retakes you will also want to take the older ones you have not gone through yet. This will help you stay comfortable with encountering new LSAT stimulus but not lose touch with the slightly different language on the newer tests.
I would suggest that perhaps the title to this thread should be changed. A 166 may not be the score you wanted, or the one you are capable of, but it is decidedly not a bad score. Many people would be absolutely elated with that score. Additionally, others who do not have the same ability as you might be insulted by labeling a score that is better than their best shot as "bad." I know that this was not intended, but I am sure that it could be taken that way.
@uhinberg not my intention at all- I meant to say it was lower than I was getting on my PTs and, like you said, lower than what (i believe) I am capable of just in terms of the LSAT. Definitely not a bad score at all! I am just disappointed by the magnitude of my score drop and was referring more to my "bad" experience with the whole thing. I am very sorry if I offended anybody.