Not sure what to think.

DawnHenry

I took PT 82 last weekend and totally blew it. I choked on one whole LG section (in that it took forever) and then had less time to spend on the others (plus, I got several wrong on the one I choked on). I'd decided to do the RC that had the most questions first, since while I do reasonably well on RC, I always seem to have to rush through the last one because it often has a lot of questions. Well the RC with the most questions on this test was the judge one, and so that messed me up, too. I basically ran out of time to one whole RC section.

I was also trying a skipping strategy, but that just got blown out of the water.

I normally PT around 163-164 now, pretty consistently, but this one was a 158. My BR Scores have been going up and on the 163/164 PTs I usually BR around 169. BUT on this 158 test I BRd at 177!

I was pretty happy with that and part of me thinks maybe I just had a bad day and the BR is proof that my actual score would have been higher on another test.

So I don't know whether to be pleased overall about the BR, or down about the 158.

The only way to know for sure is to take another PT, but ugh. That drop and experience on PT 82 was bad. So now I"m freaking out that I could run into the same thing on the actual test day.

I'm sure I'm not the only one freaking out. I just needed to vent to people who will understand

LSATcantwin

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. @"Cant Get Right" @"Alex Divine" @acsimon 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!

FerdaFresh

Test day nerves a factor? Also, I think PT 82's LG was pretty easy compared to the average test... so if you're retaking this December, I'd drill LG as a top top priority!

TabbyG123

I had this same experience today! Some tests are just simply better than others because of the way that a certain test may exploit certain weakness of ours (which may be a strength for other testers, which is why the overall "difficulty" of the test is discongruent with our below-average score).

But just be confident that you'll hit around your average (which is a pretty great result if I do say so--and the average will go up if you implement a better skipping strategy) and keep your training/resting strong until test day (and not getting discouraged!).

And when you come into contact with one of these, I think the best bet is to do what you just did: BR the shit out of it and prepare yourself for the next one.

@LSATcantwin brought up a good point regarding trying out new strategies. When I first implemented my skipping strategy for LR, I totally bombed one section. Like, BAD. But my average score got better overall for it on subsequent tests. I'd encourage you to keep training that skipping strategy, as I'm sure you'll see improvements before game day.

Coming from someone who JUST finished BRing a test with a below-average timed score but a way above average BR score. ^^

DawnHenry

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.

DawnHenry

@LSATcantwin said:
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. @"Cant Get Right" @"Alex Divine" @acsimon 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.

Cant Get Right

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.

DawnHenry

@"Cant Get Right" said:
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.

Seeking Perfection

@DawnHenry
That's always been the problem of skipping.

It can help a little if you skip the right section or question at the right time (which with practice you can probably get better at). And it will hurt you when you skip the wrong section or question at the wrong time. Additionally, it always hurts you a little because you use time and energy thinking about whether to skip a question which you can't then apply to the actual test questions.

If you can get the positives of skipping to outweigh the negatives for you by test day, then use skipping in that section on test day. If not, go through it in order. The only way to tell if the positives outweigh the negatives is to take a PT with the skipping strategy in question once you are used to skipping and also take a PT without skipping. Then you just compare. That applies on RC and LR.

For logic games I would say struggling with PT 82 is a bad sign. Logic games were by far my worst section and I solidly completed them on the September test though I did miss 1. Everyone, I know who struggles with logic games, breathed a big sigh of relief after that section. It was essentially our best case scenario. Everyone who struggles with RC had just about the opposite reaction to the test. So I'd recommend making games a central focus in the time you have left.

Good luck!