Need some advice/encouragement

moreilly19

Hi everyone, so it is taking a great deal of courage to post about this publicly, and I hope I will not be judged. I have been using 7Sage since December (doing it alongside normal college coursework) and took the July Flex exam. Right up to the exam, I was scoring anywhere from 159-163 on PTs. I got a 152 on the July exam and I am crushed, discouraged, and feeling hopeless. Was this just test anxiety? Is there any general advice that anyone can give me? Thank you, feeling down.

sa12gill

I was listening to a podcast (can't remember which one now) and the speaker indicated that 47 out of 49 students score 4 to 5 points lower on their first official LSAT than their PT scores. His point was that most students are a bit loose on timing themselves and stimulating the stress of a real test day. As a solution, he argued that students should give themselves 2 to 3 minutes less per section and perhaps even listen to hard rock right before taking the test to increase heart rate and simulate stress.

I think what happened to you is just basic anxiety. If you were scoring between 159 and 163 on strictly timed practice tests then you have a good handle on the material. To prepare for the next take focus on really timing your takes and maybe even throw in a little bit of meditation every day (headspace is a really good app for that).

You're going to do great next time!

The Judges

I had a similar thing happen to me. Its crushing, but use it as motivation for your next test.

whatsmyname

It could be the medium. I'm worried performance may decrease when doing it on a screen. You have to look up and down, you can't scribble, its more difficult to keep track of information.

You have to simulate test conditions and practice under them.

Defender

Good news is that schools are incentivized to take your highest LSAT. So, you just gotta get back on the horse. First, are you doing timed sections regularly? Second, do you allow yourself to get hung up on questions (spending 2-3 minutes and waffling between answer choices)?

Back in January, my score started to rise. I was so excited when after 8 months of study, I finally hit 160! And then.... I practiced a 151. I was freaking out because I thought, wait how could that happen? I thought I was passed the low 150s. But this test is about skills and execution. That means, if you approach the test day differently than you do your practices, you can almost guarantee a different outcome. I learned to relax after doing many many timed sections, and then it just felt like homework-level nerves.