What to do when your preptest scores plateau

SaraFromOC

I've been taking prep tests almost every day, and my score hasn't budged by more than a few points from an average of 162. Most of my mistakes are in the Reasoning sections, and I know I need to speed up my Games time, but no matter how I study for the Reasoning I'm barely showing improvements there. I'm taking notes on the kinds of questions I miss most so I can review them again, but does anyone have tips on how I can go about fixing this trend?
Thank you!

PandaRamen

Hi! I know score plateau sucks because it feels like nothing is working even when youre churning out PT after PT. I think you need to limit your PT to 2x per week. Everyday PT seems like too much especially if you BR and then review all the missed questions from the PT and BR.
Also your brain takes time to process all the info 1 PT and BR provides. What I normally do is PT on day 1. BR on Day 2 then see the results. Day 3 is spent really understanding the fundamentals of the missed questions and what my thought process was during PT and BR that led me to choose the wrong answer. Day 4 is either new PT or on a clean copy redo (untimed) the questions I got wrong and try to write the process on why to eliminate certains choices.

I know this seems like a long process. But I did what youre doing last year -basically churn out PT after PT without understanding my fundamentals. I kept plateauing at high 140s (no CC) this year Ive finished the Starter and is doing the process above and Im at high 150s after 4 PT... let me know if you want to discuss certain PTs or need a study buddy, or you just talk about anything LSAT

Ohnoeshalpme

You're taking way too many prep-tests. 2 prep tests a week for someone studying 30+ hours/week is a lot - let alone one "almost every day". The prep-test is meant to diagnose your weaknesses but it's your responsibility to drill specific weaknesses between prep tests.

Find the question types that you sink most of your time into. Use skipping strategies on these types of questions. You can try doing confidence drilling. Or try section drilling or even 15-in-15 strategies. All these to demonstrate that there are things beyond practice tests that improve your score.

Cant Get Right

Yeah, ditto on way too many prep tests. It doesn't sound like you're actually studying to me. You're just taking PT's. Have you taken the time to analyze any of those PT's? You need to reflect on why you're losing points. You need to correct misunderstandings. You need to build the essential skills necessary to go further. You need to examine not only the material content of each test, but also the effectiveness of the test taking strategies you're using.

PT's are elegant tools for telling us our weaknesses, but they are incredibly clumsy for actually addressing them. After you test, blind review. After you blind review, analyze your errors. After that, develop a study plan that addresses the underlying issues. Then, study. When you feel like you've made meaningful progress, then take another PT. And the cycle starts over from there. That's how you move forward.

Leah M B

Agreed with above and @"Cant Get Right" laid out the best way to study. If you don't truly correct your errors between tests, then you just fall into the same patterns and aren't really progressing. The real growth comes in really wrestling with questions, analyzing why you got one wrong, why the right answer is right, and learning how to attack it correctly next time.

It's definitely a frustrating and slow process, but I really think you need to back off the PTs to max 2 per week, and work on the meat of the questions to work out what's tripping you up.

SaraFromOC

Fewer PTs, more question analysis, drills, and intense review. Got it. On the bright side, I have a good idea of the questions I'm consistently missing, so I'll use the time to correct whatever is tripping me up on those. Thanks for the help everyone!