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Related Discussions
Score Dropped from PT 40's to 70's`
I have a question relating to an experience I'm sure many of you have experienced. I started PT'ing in the late 30's and 40's and my score increasingly went up, starting from mid-160's to a high of 170. Then I decided to take PT 78 and my score dropped to a 163. I made the jump because I'm taking the exam in July and wanted to do fresher PTs.
For those of you whose scores dropped from PTs in the 40's to those in the 70's, what did you notice were the patterns that made the questions more difficult, and what strategies did you use to get your scores back up?
Comments
To better assist you, can we have your section breakdown from 3 PTs from the 40s and three PTs from the 70s, to compare? For instance: -2 in LG, -2 in LR, -3 in RC etc
Thank you
David
Our first step in any solid advice would be to see precisely where deviations from your previous scores are located.
Thanks, @BinghamtonDave.
My score breakdowns:
PT 36: -8 LR (both sections), -3 LG, -3 RC
PT 37: -7 LR (both sections), -7 LG, -4 RC
PT 39: -7 LR (both sections), -6 LG (didn't finish a game), -6 RC
PT 47: -7 LR (both sections), -3 LG, -0 RC
PT 78: -12 LR (both sections, -5 LG, -4 RC
Hi @Guillaume, that's a perfectly normal drop. It happened to me too for PTs 72-78 where my scores just died. The LR questions in the 70s have a lot less Must Be True types and a significantly more Most Strongly Supported types leading to an increase in difficulty. The scale imo is also very tight in the 70s (-10 to -12 for 170) compared to earlier PTs. Also, the Reading comprehension in 70s are more structured like LR questions than previously. What helped for me was drilling Most Strongly Supported questions in LR and just being more comfortable with inference questions for RC.
Since you've only taken one test in the 70s, I'm not sure we can be confident it's the 70s that caused the drop or just a random drop in performance. It's not unusual to notice occasional dips even when you have a continuous up-trend. It was the same for me.
While I personally didn't notice a drop in PT scores in the 70s particularly (I took my tests completely out of order and randomly across the "decades"), it seems to be common enough. After a few more tests in the 70s you'll likely get used to the subtle changes, and if not, will at least be able to discern some sort of trend to figure out where to focus and improve. One data point does not a trend make--good or bad.
Still, other than your LR, I don't think your RC or LG scores are particularly strange based on your previous test scores. In fact, your RC for 78 is pretty solid considering that people often get tripped up by their first comparative passages. I also recommend fool-proofing to get that LG average down to -2 max. The misc games from PTs 1-35 are great prep for the tough misc games in the more recent PTs.
For LR, I've noticed that while overall sections may not be extremely difficult, there are particular questions that suck up time. I also agree with @eRetaker. I think there are more questions that have subtle assumptions or require more digging to tease out the right AC than in older PTs. But still, I don't believe there's an obvious change in section difficulty, if any. Either way difficulty always seems to balance out across the sections so that the overall PT isn't especially more or less difficult than any other PT.
Just keep reviewing/fool-proofing/drilling/PTing and you'll be fine.
Thanks for the suggestions and comments, guys (and gals)! I'll continue PT'ing and focus on drilling the inference and MSS type questions while fool proofing LG. My goal is 168 so to get there and then fall back was kind of discouraging.
Hello!! Yeah for some reason my scores dropped when I took PT 70s. ugh!!!
I had a similar drop in my average PT score when I first began taking PTs in the 70s (I also jumped from the 40s).
My theory as to why this seems to happen for so many people is that, over time, LSAC has had to develop new ways of crafting incorrect/trap answer choices and subtle correct answer choices. We all know that in some respects, the LSAT is very formulaic and that aspect of the exam can be exploited and adapted to. If you watch J.Y.'s live commentary videos, he'll often say things like "this just smelled like a trap answer choice".
Furthermore, because the core curriculum uses material from PTs 1-35, I think 7sagers in particular are quite accustomed to the tricks that LSAC was using back in the 30s-40s era. That might inflate scores a little bit in the 30s-40s range.
What helped me get back on track was sitting down and doing an exam untimed, and paying close and particular attention to the questions that were giving me a lot of trouble even when working the problems untimed. If I remember correctly, there were several questions where I could not decide between two answer choices and had to throw my arms up in the air in defeat. I would pay super close attention to the trap answer choice, and try to figure out what LSAC was doing that was tripping me up so much.
Just commenting to say most do see a drop with the most recent pts based on the fact that the question types and rc/lr is harder lg is supposed to be easier (take more recent ones leading up to the exam )
Thank you, @"Return On Inference" and @ebalde1234 . Good to know that others are experiencing similar drops and that it's possible to bounce back. I've had to reset my goals a little based on these recent developments. I'll still take the July exam for the experience but my realistic goal to attain my target score would be for the November exam.
I think somewhere in the 60s or 70s they added the rule replacement logic games questions. Those were the main difference for me.
Powerscore did a webinar that described the modern tests and how they have changed. They make a prediction that the July test will be older 2011-2014 and Sept. will be modern. Idk about posting links in this forum, but the webinar is called: PowerScore's 2018 Crystal Ball Webinar: Predicting the June and July LSATs! Check it out, personally I'm making sure I'm familiar with both the older 2011-2014 tests and the newer ones just in case. If you plan to take in July, you definitely want to begin focusing on those tests instead of the 30s-40s era.
I don't really understand this. Is there proof that LSAC just pulls from an older test when the LSAT is nondisclosed? I didn't think that they would, but I'm hearing from a lot of different people that this is the case? I always thought it was weird that the LSAC has a nondisclosed test. What's the deal?
Yeah, the nondisclosed exams are there for LSAC to reuse again in a future date. For example, I think the 2017 Asia exam was the Feb 2015 exam. Each exam takes a long time and $millions of dollars to develop so LSAC tries to save some in the bank.
WOW! Thanks for the response!!
Wow this is new information for me. Thanks for the tidbit! Love this forum.
Yup. You mean June 2018 LSAT in Asia, right? I think it was the February 2015 LSAT in North America. And the RC section for that was first tested as an experimental section in the October 2012 North American test.
I confirmed that LG in PT79 (September 2016) first appeared in the experimental section in the February 2013 test in North America, so I think North American tests are tested like 2 years before.
Yeah I think that sounds about right for the gap in years @akistotle
So any guesses on what test may be debuted in July? Haha
This makes me feel a lot better. I was practicing with PTs in the mid 40s and some in the 50s and was getting in the 170s. Saturday I took PT 75 and got a 166 and was wondering why my score dropped.