Score decreasing! Help! Taking December LSAT

rasmi.hassan

Hello fellow 7Sagers. I need help/advice on what's been happening to me. I have stopped practicing for the LSAT for about 3/4 weeks, and when I came back to it, I went from scoring in the mid 150s into the mid 160s. My score then kept fluctuating, and eventually reached 167. However, I haven't been able to reach the mid 160s for the past 5/6 practice tests. I have no idea why this is happening, and on the test I just took, I scored 152!! I don't understand how my score could be decreasing and/or fluctuating as much as it does (between 152 and 167 on 9 practice tests in total). I am taking the December LSAT and I only have about 4 and a half weeks of prep. Do I start focusing on individuals sections or weaknesses in each section? Do I take untimed sections? Do I keep taking practice tests? What do I do?! Please help, and honestly all the advice will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

TeddyKGB

Can you give us a breakdown for each of the past 6 tests?

#1
LR: -X (combined)
LG: -X
RC: -X

#2
......


So we can see any trends in your mistakes.

harrismegan

I honestly went through the same thing. I was scoring 158 even (hoping to improve this), but on Saturday I scored a 151. Which was discouraging.
Don't look at the mark. Evaluate which question types tripped you up, are they normally the ones that trip you up? Were there more of these types of questions on this particular exam? If there were more of them on average then the ones you've taken in the past, then the score is a reflection of that. Just work on improving those question types to get yourself a more consistent score across exams.

rasmi.hassan

@TeddyKGB:
#PT 30:
- Score 162
- LG: -2
- LR: -14
- RC: -10

#31:
- Score 151
- LG: -15 (didn't do one full game)
- LR: -15
- RC: -12

#32:
- Score 157
- LG: -11 (didn't do one whole game again)
- LR: -12
- RC: -10

#33:
- Score 167
- LG: -0
- LR: -6
- RC: -11

#36:
- Score 155
- LG: - 5 (didn't do one whole game again)
- LR: -18
- RC: -12 (didn't do one whole passage)

#40
- Score 158
- LG: -6
- LR: -13
- RC: -9

#41:
- Score 159
- LG: -4
- LR: -16
- RC: -8

#42:
- Score 154
- LG: -3
- LR: -19
- RC: -14

#50 (yesterday's test):
- Score 152
- LG: -6
- LR: -12
- RC: -19 (didn't do one full passage and got multiple mistakes on the other ones)

@harrismegan: I realised that I the section that I sometimes get stuck on a game because I mess up the setup, which wastes a significant amount of time and often leads to mistakes. I usually didn't have any mistakes in LG before starting to study for the LSAT again. It's very unusual for me to get so stuck on it and waste so much time.
For LR, I have realised that Necessary Assumptions, Flaw, Parallel Flaw questions are all ones that I have less than 65% accuracy on them. So I decided to work on these ones this week, untimed, and get back to the basics. Really try to decipher each one of those types of questions untimed and see whether I can get at least 80% accuracy on them.
For RC, I don't know if there's much to do; my score fluctuates the least on this section so I doubt that I'll see much improvement on it as well.

Let me know what you think and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR FEEDBACK!

James Ray

Take one test untimed, meaning time yourself but dont stop if you go over, just take your time. then score it and review. then take another test. You sound like you burnt out and then took a break but the break didn't really help you relax your mind. You need to get your head back in the game and get hungry for the test and you need to wake your mind up to what is in there about how to tackle this test.

TeddyKGB

It seems like there's not really a whole lot of consistency in any of the categories. I'd definitely suggest re-going over the lessons (or getting the lessons if you don't have them) and drilling problem sets. It's possible for you to be ready for December if you're studying full time. If you can afford to, though, I'd recommend pushing your exam to February. It'll give you a little bit more time to iron out the wrinkles in your game and build confidence. (The vast majority of schools only take your highest anyways, so there's always the thought that you could take December and, if need be, re-take in February.)

rasmi.hassan

@jamesray I will do that. I will start focusing back on the fundamentals and take untimed sections. I feel like the mistake I made was to completely disregard what I learnt, and to simply answer the questions based on intuition only. That's what I'm hoping going back to the fundamentals will help me with. Thank you very much for your response!

@teddyKGB Exactly. I am definitely re-going over the lessons. I read a lot about the February LSAT and the general consensus appears to be that applying this late in the cycle is not a very good idea. However, applying with a score that does not reflect my potential wouldn't be a better idea in any way, so in the case that this happens, I might have to take the February LSAT. What's your take on it btw? Thank you very much for your response!

mike811881

Problem may be that you've been taking newer and newer tests. Most people find new ones to be more difficult. I think the rc is defiantly harder, but other than that you just need to get used to the style. Regardless, if your taking the December test it is crucial that you work through the most recent 10 for the last month.

rasmi.hassan

@mike811881 You're right. I'll start with PT60 onwards starting my next preptest!