Advise after PT 59

Princess

Hey guys! I've finished redoing the CC for the second time because I got the Ultimate+ package, am foolproofing the games for the second time, and working through drilling still. I just took PT 59 and am feeling a bit discouraged. I know this is just my first one after such a long time, but I still wanted to see some huge jump.

Today I took PT 59 and got a 159 with a BR of 173.
I'm really glad to see the jump in the BR for sure and I feel like I did get stressed out during time, so hopefully I can still improve.

Breakdowns:
LG Actual -4; BR -0
LR Actual -11; BR -4
LR Actual -7, BR -5
RC Actual -8, BR -1

*Usually my LR actual is -4 to -7 in timed LR sections, so I'm a bit upset about this...hopefully, the next one is better

7 months ago, I took PrepTest 39 and scored 161 with a BR of 169
5 months ago, I took PrepTest 40 and scored 159 with a BR of a170

I appreciate any advise you guys have. I am trying to take the test this summer by July and score a 170+. My goal is to get into the Top14! I am going to keep working on LR drilling, along with timing strategies. I will be taking atleast one or two preptests each week as well because I do have full time to dedicate to the LSAT. Please do share your best tips.

TheDeterminedC

You should not be discouraged!! Your blind review is right where you want to be. In other words, you have the knowledge required to consistently get the score you want. Your current understanding IS adequate to achieve your dream and this should be enough for you to know that you can do this!! Now, you must to focus on the causal components responsible for incorrectly answering questions under timed but correctly in BR. I suggest laying off the full PTs and just focus on sections to do this. Start with LR since it's the one area where you are able to improve the most at the moment. Get to the core of exactly how the time pressure is causing this gap by questioning what you were thinking during it.

Are you mislabeling conclusions because you are going too fast? Are your conditional chaining of ideas taking longer than they should? Are you overconfident or under confident on answers you should not be? Why did you have a false sense of confidence on these? How much time did you spend on each question? Why was X amount of time wasted on question #? Is simply knowing that the section is timed affecting the gap?

Those questions are just a few examples of the ones you could be asking. Answering these will help lead you towards causal components that are contributing to the gap between BR and timed. I firmly believe that fixing one problem won't suddenly close the gap, as there are different issues at play in each particular question. However, exposing and fixing problems will, over time, lead to more BR thinking on the timed sections (which is the goal here). Of course, the questions that stump us on both BR and time will be opportunities to learn more, but your main focus ought to be on closing this gap and getting the great score that you are more than capable of achieving!! Cheers.

Princess

That was really helpful! Thank you so much! I need to try to be more mindful and ask myself those questions. Hopefully, I can close on this gap. I took PT 60 and jumped to 162, so I guess that's good news for now. Small steps hopefully to 170+

@TheDeterminedC said:
You should not be discouraged!! Your blind review is right where you want to be. In other words, you have the knowledge required to consistently get the score you want. Your current understanding IS adequate to achieve your dream and this should be enough for you to know that you can do this!! Now, you must to focus on the causal components responsible for incorrectly answering questions under timed but correctly in BR. I suggest laying off the full PTs and just focus on sections to do this. Start with LR since it's the one area where you are able to improve the most at the moment. Get to the core of exactly how the time pressure is causing this gap by questioning what you were thinking during it.

Are you mislabeling conclusions because you are going too fast? Are your conditional chaining of ideas taking longer than they should? Are you overconfident or under confident on answers you should not be? Why did you have a false sense of confidence on these? How much time did you spend on each question? Why was X amount of time wasted on question #? Is simply knowing that the section is timed affecting the gap?

Those questions are just a few examples of the ones you could be asking. Answering these will help lead you towards causal components that are contributing to the gap between BR and timed. I firmly believe that fixing one problem won't suddenly close the gap, as there are different issues at play in each particular question. However, exposing and fixing problems will, over time, lead to more BR thinking on the timed sections (which is the goal here). Of course, the questions that stump us on both BR and time will be opportunities to learn more, but your main focus ought to be on closing this gap and getting the great score that you are more than capable of achieving!! Cheers.