Getting worse at LR??

hawaiihi

Hi all!

I'm hoping that someone can help me out here. I started studying for the LSAT around Christmas, at when I took my diagnostic and a few subsequent LR sections/PTs, I was going -1/0 pretty consistently on LR sections. However, in the past two weeks or so, I've been doing a bit worse, ranging from -2 to -4, with a lot of -3.

Is it possible I've gotten worse? That I'm burning out? Any thoughts would be appreciated, especially if you've found that you've gotten worse on a section since studying!

LSATcantwin

Burnout is likely, going through a shift in understand of the test it likely too.

It’s actually quite common to have fluctuations in the test. Maybe you were just naturally good at LR before, but now that you are starting to learn about the inner workings of questions your natural ability is clashing with what you are learning a bit

Either way I wouldn’t worry too much. Take a break from LR and see what happens when you return!

(Ps truely understanding > natural talent any day) its a good thing!

Alex

How many sections/PTs did you do worse on? More importantly, what were the reasons you missed those 2-4 question? If there's really no reason, then perhaps it was just a fluke you can chalk up to a bad section or burnout.

Do you feel burnt out?

hawaiihi

@"Alex Divine"

I've done worse on probably 5 or so sections, overall. I think that the sections where I went -2 (versus -1) are probably not as significant, since one question isn't probably an indicator of my whole ability.

Still, I almost feel as if the more I go on, the more I second guess myself, or the more I get questions wrong that I thought I had "in the bag." (Once, I even BR'd at -2 ... when my actual answers would have been -0.) I'm not sure what to do, and I feel like I'm losing a grasp on what I know! Is this what burnout feels like? I'm not quite sure...

Alex

@hawaiihi said:
@"Alex Divine"

I've done worse on probably 5 or so sections, overall. I think that the sections where I went -2 (versus -1) are probably not as significant, since one question isn't probably an indicator of my whole ability.

Still, I almost feel as if the more I go on, the more I second guess myself, or the more I get questions wrong that I thought I had "in the bag." (Once, I even BR'd at -2 ... when my actual answers would have been -0.) I'm not sure what to do, and I feel like I'm losing a grasp on what I know! Is this what burnout feels like? I'm not quite sure...

Your diagnostic was so strong that it's likely that your implementation of new strategies may be messing with your confidence. I think it's relatively normal. The same thing happened to me with reading comprehension.

It could also be burnout. How many hours a day/week have you been studying?? It seems like you've made substantial process in just about a month. Have you taken any days off?

hawaiihi

@"Alex Divine" said:

@hawaiihi said:
@"Alex Divine"

I've done worse on probably 5 or so sections, overall. I think that the sections where I went -2 (versus -1) are probably not as significant, since one question isn't probably an indicator of my whole ability.

Still, I almost feel as if the more I go on, the more I second guess myself, or the more I get questions wrong that I thought I had "in the bag." (Once, I even BR'd at -2 ... when my actual answers would have been -0.) I'm not sure what to do, and I feel like I'm losing a grasp on what I know! Is this what burnout feels like? I'm not quite sure...

Your diagnostic was so strong that it's likely that your implementation of new strategies may be messing with your confidence. I think it's relatively normal. The same thing happened to me with reading comprehension.

It could also be burnout. How many hours a day/week have you been studying?? It seems like you've made substantial process in just about a month. Have you taken any days off?

Probably like, 3 or so hours a day? And not really very many days off as well. I'm thinking of taking @LSATcantwin advice and stepping back from LR for a few days. I can't imagine it'll hurt too much at this point!

I'm glad, also, to hear that someone had the same experience. That makes me feel a lot better

PARHAM1373

It’s burnout.
I was doing well on LR then all of a sudden the last 6 lr sections i did were very strange.
Id go -2 on one then -10 on the other, then -1 on one and -9 on the other.
For the past months i was never going lower than even -5 so -10 and -9 was shocking especially because it just suddenly occured and yet would be followed up by a -1 right after.
I think it was just burnout to be honest because my actual lsat was the very next morning and i actually did pretty well on my lr sections. It’s best to just take a break from it as you probably are also just experiencing burnout.
You might need more than a few hours like i did but a couple days of rc/lg and less lr should do the trick, or even a few days off from lsat studying

westcoastbestcoast

It could be burn-out or it could be the fact that you are consolidating the knowledge and skills from the CC. Once you are fully adjusted to the skills taught by the CC, your score should shoot back up, even higher than what you were previously scoring in LR. I have seen with many skill-based endeavors that you first have to go through diminished performance before succeeding.

hawaiihi

Thank you everyone @westcoastbestcoast @PARHAM1373 @"Alex Divine" @LSATcantwin ....just took a few days off, took a PT, and felt WAY BETTER. You guys rock!

PARHAM1373

@hawaiihi Glad to help!