Pre-test PT average going down

parso341

Hey everyone. I've been studying for the LSAT for over a year now, and I was finally hitting 170-175 on a consistent basis until this past week. Despite having gotten 172/173 on my last several practice tests, I scored a 163 and a 164 on my two most recent ones. I'm taking the July LSAT in 10 days. Has anyone experienced pre-test drops in performance like this? I'm assuming this is due to test anxiety, but I'm unsure how to mitigate these issues because I want to keep practicing before the test. This time may be my last chance. Any advice is appreciated!

Dkimvisionmaker11

Anxiety is probably a big factor. But also, have you been practicing with the most recent ones?

parso341

@Dkimvisionmaker11 said:
Anxiety is probably a big factor. But also, have you been practicing with the most recent ones?

Yes I just started doing the later tests (80s). For some reason I've done slightly better on the earlier tests.

noonawoon

I would say just don't let it get to your head. Keep doing thorough BRs and learn from your mistakes, but don't fixate on the actual PT scores. I took a PT a few days before my exam and scored lower than my average. I didn't let it get to me, and ended up scoring 12 points higher on my real exam than on that specific PT and 7 points higher than my PT average. I just told myself it's all uphill from here and maintained a positive attitude.

Markmark

Ooo this is a sort of contested / debated theory, but in my experience the PTs in the 70s and 80s mix up the tricks they use in LR. In more recent tests there's a big emphasis on super hard wording, weird / bad grammar, and then even more referential phrasing and traps where only 1 word is what makes an answer choice wrong.

It took me awhile of intentional focused practice to develop those skills, I think in older tests you don't see as much of the traps I mentioned. Case in point, in January I went -2 on a PT from the 60s then literally -10 on only 1 section from PT86 immediately afterwards as part of a mock test.

hsy271

I had the same exact experience a couple months ago. After scoring an all-time high of 178, I averaged 174 for the next 6 PTs in the 40s and early 70s, but then the next 4 PTs in the mid 70s averaged 168 with 165 low on the last PT I took. And that happened a week before the June Flex test. At that point I took a whole week off from LSAT, and that helped me tremendously. Ended up with 173 on the actual test.

You were hitting 170-175 consistently, meaning you already know your stuff and have your own strategy that works for you. Sometimes you just need a bit of break.

Dkimvisionmaker11

@parso341 I do think that the exam style slightly changes and it takes some getting used to. But you should be able to adjust relatively quickly. Best of luck!