Help, why is my score dropping??

kaylamkaufman

I started studying a few months ago, with a 160 diagnostic. I slowly creeped up to mid 60s, then low 70s, getting close to mid 70s with a top score of 177. Then, about a month ago, my score started dropping. I still get in the low 70s, but more commonly am now dropping back to mid 60s. My 163 today really did not feel great. (And this was after taking a full day off!!)

However, through this entire time, my BR score has consistently been 175-180 (most commonly a very specific 177, for some reason). So clearly I still know my shit, but just have completely lost how to do it during the test. What the heck is going on, and how can I reverse engineer this?

Alas, I am taking the October LSAT-Flex in a week... and there may not be enough time to remedy. (Though I do have first time test taker cancelling thingy, and am signed up for the November test as well.) But would love any thoughts!!

lcperry15

I've experienced this too! I think this might be a case of burnout or overthinking. I'm sure you're familiar with burnout, but studing intensely or over a long period of time can exhaust you physically or mentally, leading you to do worse. Or, once you start scoring at quite high levels and get familiar with the test, you can start really overthinking things and not trusting the good habits you've built/overintellectualize your approach to the test.

The solution to both of these is the same: take some time off, and don't do anything related to the LSAT. When you come back, you'll be fresh and probably scoring better!

Of course, another consideration is that your test is only a week away, there's also the psychological worry about how not studying is going to affect it/how much you'll forget/being slower come test day and only you know what's more important to you on test day (feeling well-practiced vs. feel well-rested). A compromise solution might be just to do less studying (max 1 section a day), as you clearly have practiced the stamina to do a full LSAT-flex.