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Suddenly scoring badly on games

emily.grant491emily.grant491 Free Trial Member

Hi all--

I took the June LSAT and for the 6 practice tests leading up to it I started scoring between 0-2 wrong on every game section, almost regardless of difficulty. I only got 1 wrong on the games section of the actual test.

I need to retake the test in September. This 0-2 streak endured for the first 6-8 prep tests, but about a week ago my games scores started slipping significantlyI can't seem to shake the issues I seem to have picked up with games and it's pretty significantly affecting my ability to score above a 166. I think I've chosen Some hard tests to practice with (in order to make sure my games skills can endure through hard games) but today I took a preptest with a games section that wasn't particularly difficult on its face, and I still got 4 wrong.

I've tried slowing down, I'm watching all of 7Sage explanations of anything I miss (and before I do, I go back and try to complete the game myself without time constraints or help). Do you have any advice?

The tests I've done recently are:

52 (4 wrong on games)
62 (5 wrong on games)
71 (9 wrong on games)
70 (5 wrong on games)
23 (7 wrong on games)
64 (3 wrong on games)

Comments

  • AlexAlex Alum Member
    23929 karma

    @emily.grant491 Were there anything the games that gave you trouble had in common? Or were your wrong answers spread out through the section?

    Are you particularly out of practice, or have you been drilling games since June?

  • LSATcantwinLSATcantwin Alum Member Sage
    13286 karma

    Don't fret! This happens to everyone. Sit back and breath for a minute. You've gone -0 before, why can't you do it again? The answer is you can!! Give yourself some breathing room and re-approach with a calm mind. Then try and identify what questions are hurting you. For me personally it is the questions that say,

    "which is an accurate list of all the X that can go on Y..." I hate these for some reason. haha

    You can do it!

  • Paul CaintPaul Caint Alum Member
    3521 karma

    I just took PT 64 and I also got -3 on games. I'm usually -0. I can attest that those games felt particularly hard. They had three difficult grouping games, including one with subcategories and one with subcategories and sequencing. Overall difficult section imo.

  • rafaelitorafaelito Alum Member
    1063 karma

    "Without time constraints" is interesting. I experienced a similar issue although less drastically. My average was a -0.8 on games and then it jumped to 2. Small sample set (last five PTs, all modern) but I think still indicative of a problem. In my opinion, I got good at games and started developing bad habits while I drilled games I'd seen before. I got lazy in other words. LG was not my strength when I first started. I rely exclusively on the tools developed throughout my prep. So I have to be extremely methodical. That precision in approach coupled with a willingness to move on if I get stumped by a question makes me able to score -0 or -1 pretty regularly. So maybe it could be bad habits? You don't have to do a section timed to develop good habits but you have to consciously train yourself. That is what happened to me and what I've been doing to try to fix it. An example of a bad habit is using POE when you don't have to or spending too much time on a question or rushing into the questions even if no inferences pop out at you right away or not stopping to consider if the game would benefit from splitting game boards.

    Anyway, hope this helps!

  • rafaelitorafaelito Alum Member
    1063 karma

    @"Paul Caint" said:
    I just took PT 64 and I also got -3 on games. I'm usually -0. I can attest that those games felt particularly hard. They had three difficult grouping games, including one with subcategories and one with subcategories and sequencing. Overall difficult section imo.

    -2 recently. Yeah, grouping games are hard.

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