A response for myself and others after my big drop

Bamboosprout

Hey there, fellow 7sage students. This is a collection of thoughts from chatting with others on 7sage and I thought it might be helpful to share.
Mentality and Getting Back on Track
First off, I want to say it's going to be ok. It's ok to lose to the LSAT some times. It's ok to concede and retreat, and recover to fight another day. The LSAT is hard and although some people on the forums surprisingly will consistently get 180s, most won't. I've talked to some of the sages and tutors on 7sage, and they all agree on this: that one of the most essential skills to take away from LSAT is the ability to walk away from defeat without giving up, and to be able to get up after taking a punch.
For me, after I get a hard punch in the face, I usually need some sort of external stimulus, and that's usually a book, a friend, or maybe just a good old bottle of whiskey, just something that will help me ice the bruise, but remind me why I'm doing this in the first place. I remind myself that I actually like the LSAT, and going to law school. I profoundly look forward to the challenge and opportunities they offer, and additionally, I am confident in my persistence, and that my persistence will yield results. And I believe those qualities apply to you as well. Constantly remind yourself of your intrinsic motivation and that you can overcome the LSAT. But like I said, even with these two internal factors, I still need a little external help. So build a support system for yourself. My favourite books for this are: The meditations, by marcus arelius, Prinicples, by ray dalio, A man's search for meaning, by viktor frankl. Or podcasts, like this american life, serial, or one not even related to law. Essentially, they just remind me to stop being a whiny little bitch and take it like a (wo)man. If that's too much commitment, then feel free to talk to me, or make a post about it on the forums, and the others and I will be happy to help you get back on track! If you didn't notice, under my earlier vent about my big drop, a lot of peers gave very helpful advice and cheered me on. You can do that too . We're here for each other.
Also, remember that time is limited, and running out, and remember that regret sucks more than trying your best and failing. I've regretted so many things in my life, that at this point that I am intimate with it and can feel it just by closing my eyes, and can use it to motivate myself so that I won't have to feel it again. If you don't want to feel regret, then let your actions prove that. We have 3 weeks left (if you're taking november), and that's very little time; really only 2 weeks left, since we're not suppose to study hard on the last week. So just put everything into these last two week, so you won't have to regret anything. There is an added benefit of feeling a lot less stress when you go into a test knowing you did everything you could, whether or not you will able to achieve a specific score.
Back on Track and Stronger than Before
It's ok to regress sometimes, but with that said, there's definitely no excuse not to learn something from your defeats. In fact, I welcome terrible defeats, because it'll be easier for me to recognize my mistakes and weaknesses than under normal conditions. Ask yourself: have you noticed any patterns or trends in your recent PTs that differ from previous PTs? Using the LSAT analytics, or just by tallying the mistakes yourself, you should be able to find some obvious weaknesses in your skillset.
That's step one, recognition. Step two is both the more straightforward and difficult part. You have to drill.
For some people, just redoing the core curriculum for the question types that they're weak on will fix the problem, but doing it right is the hard part. It's not perfect, but this is how I drill: I aim for perfection in drills, to do 5, 10, 15, or 25 hardest questions in a row, timed, and get none of them wrong. How do you get there? By taking it slowly and incrementally. I'll further break this down into smaller parts:
First, start with easier questions, and do them timed.
Second, BR them, but here's the important part: don't just BR them the way you normally would. Instead, now that you're not timed, take your pencil and, whenever you can, write down how you would pre-phrase the answer, write down the exact reason why you think the answer you chose is the right answer, and, if you can, also write down why you think a trap answer is attractive, but ultimately wrong (and ignore the obviously wrong answer choices). (Now, I see a lot of people doing this in the comments under questions, and that's great, but few people do it correctly. For reference, 7sage alumn, Accounts Playable, does it well)
Third, watch the video for any questions you circled or got wrong, but when you're watching it, don't just follow along; instead, I want you to actively engage with and try to anticipate and predict how JY would explain the question as he goes through it, and take notes on how his actually explanation conformed to or differed from your prediction. This is an important part of my mantra of: anticipate the JY, feel the JY, become the JY. Quite a few 7sagers have come out to say that they've started to think like JY, and I believe they probably used a similar process.
Fourth, move up a difficulty (according to the question bank), when you have gotten 10 or 15 questions of that difficulty correct in a row... or at least if you feel like you've gotten there, and repeat the steps.
Fooled by Randomness
Consistency is hard; it is a goal. But don't be discouraged because you're inconsistent. Just a few weeks ago, one of my test was 10 points below my average score, and even ignoring that test, my score has an upper/bottom spread of +/-3. I think over time, luck plays a part in the score too. Sometimes, you get a hard science or law passage that just destroys your mojo for the whole test, and other times, everything just goes your way. If you think about what the LSAT is, a large part is really just a game of probability. To illustrate this, here's an example:
Even if you can BR 180, I suspect that under timed conditions, you would consistently have anywhere from 10-12 questions that you're not 100% certain about. You've eliminated 3 answer choices, but are left deciding between two. On average, that's a -5/-6, and on a good day, it can be a -3, but alternatively, on a bad day, that can be a -10. That's almost a 10 point score difference purely from luck. On top of that, we have to consider the variability of mood and physical conditions, and that's another few points that you can't really control. So expect inconsistency, and focus on the factors that you 'can' control. Remind yourself that being nervous about such things that are out of your control is meaningless, and hopefully that will help sooth the stress.

Hope this helps

mjmonte17

@Bamboosprout This is great! Thank you!

Kermit750

I needed this! Thank you!

Bamboosprout

@mjmonte17 said:
@Bamboosprout This is great! Thank you!

@Kermit750 said:
I needed this! Thank you!

I'm super glad that this helps. I was worried that I was just rambling.

LSAT2019-2

Thanks for writing this! I'm going to bookmark and possibly re-read.

Pride Only Hurts

Absolutely agree. And interestingly enough, I think I've made the most progress after a bad regression. It always forces me to take a step back and refresh some parts of the test I hadn't touched in a while. Keeps you sharp! That being said, I'm still juuuuust shy of my target score for November so I still struggle with this emotional rollercoaster. Reminding yourself that you're good at this and actually enjoy it is sooo beneficial. I think when studying becomes fun, then improvement is bound to occur.

Bamboosprout

@lolsat__ said:
Thanks for writing this! I'm going to bookmark and possibly re-read.

Glad it helps. Hope to see you share some of your experiences on the forums too, one day.

@"Pride Only Hurts" said:
Absolutely agree. And interestingly enough, I think I've made the most progress after a bad regression. It always forces me to take a step back and refresh some parts of the test I hadn't touched in a while. Keeps you sharp! That being said, I'm still juuuuust shy of my target score for November so I still struggle with this emotional rollercoaster. Reminding yourself that you're good at this and actually enjoy it is sooo beneficial. I think when studying becomes fun, then improvement is bound to occur.

I hope you'll reach your target score. That said, it might not a good idea to focus on target scores. After all, having that target can help keep a fire lit behind you, but can do more harm than good approaching the final weeks of the test. It can be a lot of unnecessary stress. Just do your best, and you'll get what you'll get.

Pride Only Hurts

I hope you'll reach your target score. That said, it might not a good idea to focus on target scores. After all, having that target can help keep a fire lit behind you, but can do more harm than good approaching the final weeks of the test. It can be a lot of unnecessary stress. Just do your best, and you'll get what you'll get.

Yes you're right! I'm more focused on maximizing my efficiancy and time management at this point. That's all we can do! But I know my potential so if I feel like I still have room to improve after November I'll probably buckle down for a second take.

Bamboosprout

@"Pride Only Hurts" said:

I hope you'll reach your target score. That said, it might not a good idea to focus on target scores. After all, having that target can help keep a fire lit behind you, but can do more harm than good approaching the final weeks of the test. It can be a lot of unnecessary stress. Just do your best, and you'll get what you'll get.

Yes you're right! I'm more focused on maximizing my efficiancy and time management at this point. That's all we can do! But I know my potential so if I feel like I still have room to improve after November I'll probably buckle down for a second take.

Hurray for unlimited retakes!