Getting discouraged =(

kitkatbar

Hi all!
I've been studying for a while now, and over the past two or three weeks my scores have been dipping to the high 150s-low 160s, when I used to be able to get mid-160s. My BRs average anywhere between 169-173 and it's been a while since I hit a score I've been happy with. Not sure what's happening to me but when I'm doing separate timed sections I seem to be doing significantly better than when I put it all together in a PT >:( Is there still hope for me to get in the mid/high 160s from now til the 8th? I'm definitely starting to panic and feel like poop. I took the Dec '14 LSAT and got discouraged with a 159 so I stopped studying til ~March after I got a full-time job. Any advice would be super helpful!

visualcreed

I'm in a similar boat. I've been teetering the low to mid 160's over the past few weeks. Some of the things I've noticed for myself, not sure if they will apply to you but it might give you some ideas..the newer tests have been harder for me. Maybe not harder but a little different and I'm not as prepared but I think I'm getting the hang of them. I've been PT'ing and the wrong times. I work full time so I squeeze it in when I can but I'm often not at my peak mental capacity so that might be attributing to my lower scores now. As for getting a mid/high 160 before June? I sure hope so because that's what I'm aiming for too.

kittyahmed

I was in exactly the same boat as you both a month ago (knock on wood that I may be coming out of it). I went from getting 165 range to 156, 157 and 161. Like @visualcreed, I attribute it partly to the newer tests just "feeling" different as well as the fact that I had just started regularly doing full timed tests and was timing myself mercilessly (I think a lot of people, myself included, tend to allow themselves to "finish up" the question they're on or just take a quick two or three guesses after the time is called and that can really give you a false impression of what you're really scoring).

One thing that helped a lot was circling the really difficult questions as I did the timed test so that while grading I could see if those were right or wrong. I'd then go over those questions painstakingly, regardless of whether they were right or wrong. My goal was to be able to recognize what was difficult for me during the timed test (this often differs from what is hard when you're more relaxed) and to really understand why they were hard for me and eventually understand how they work. I also wanted to try to get to a place where only the hard questions were wrong (in other words, minimizing careless errors) If I am struggling between two answer choices, I'll choose one but put a mark next to my second choice - if the correct answer isn't one of those two then I know I've got a serious problem but if it's the other one, then really attentively working on internalizing the advantage of one over the other helps oceans. A vast majority of wrong answers probably fit into this category and you can systematically eliminate them when you see the flaws you make in your reasoning when you don't have the luxury of time.

So basically I would recommend doing very conscious reviews like that scattered throughout the day whenever you have a minute and then continuing to do timed tests in one sitting so you get used to the time constraints. I really think the timed tests have helped me get over the panic that comes with having a strict time limit and the reviewing has helped me feel like I have a better hold on the questions as they come up. I've now started feeling much more comfortable with the test as it is administered and my scores are starting to rebound. Even better is that on blind review my scores have skyrocketed, which makes me think my comprehension is improving even more now. Just keep in mind that this is a way of thinking that you need to internalize and that takes time - especially to be able to do it under timed conditions - and give yourself time to let it settle in. My guess is if you keep doing full PTs regularly your score will start rebounding soon.

As a note, I applied this process mostly to LR sections, which was my worst section for a long time. I made a strategic/mathematical decision to focus on those questions above all else...

I hope this helps you out some (and I hope it helps me out some too!) Good luck on the test!

kitkatbar

Thanks so much you two! Glad to know that I'm not the only one who's been through this haha. It's definitely a killer. And now that I think about it, my dip in scores really began when I started doing more of the newer exams. They really do feel different than the older exams! Hopefully we can all get out and stay out of this dip!!!!

Pacifico

Hang in there and don't get discouraged! Just keep pushing and it should get easier as you acclimate to the most modern/recent PTs. I know time is getting tight for June now but I'd definitely take at least a day off per week to reset your brain a bit and just get out and relax and exercise. Definitely make sure you're doing an honest and thorough blind review and then really absorbing the lessons from your mistakes when you watch the videos. I've found it's easiest not to make the same mistake twice in LG after it hurts you once, so just make sure you can transfer this type of development to LR and RC if those are problem areas. And definitely drill some specific LR question types if your wrong answers are concentrated on one area or another. Good luck!

nicole.hopkins

@kitkatbar said:
Is there still hope for me to get in the mid/high 160s from now til the 8th? I'm definitely starting to panic and feel like poop.

So, you've got 13 days until June 8th. How has the advice in this thread helped you? Do you just need to build in more rest time? Are you fried? I've found that when hard work is uncoupled from tangible results and discouragement sets in, that can be a precursor to burnout or a sign of fatigue.

"Is there still hope"? Well, it sounds like you're asking for hope in place of real confidence. And confidence is a bit of a different animal than hope. Hope is something you have to work to maintain in the face of setbacks because of a sense of calling or rightness to/in the thing hoped for. Should you be confident—I think that's the question I would ask myself if I were you.

Are you confident? Or do you doubt that you've really put your all into studying—and have been diligently testing, as the below quote mentions:

@kittyahmed said:
I think a lot of people, myself included, tend to allow themselves to "finish up" the question they're on or just take a quick two or three guesses after the time is called and that can really give you a false impression of what you're really scoring

I allowed myself a lot more fudge room on a few of the early PT's I took. Then when I retook those PT's with much more strict conditions, my score dropped even though I was in a much better place with understanding and habits. So that introduced discouragement, and I repented of having done that fudgey work. It inflated my sense of where I was at and thus gave me a false confidence, when getting the score reflective of my abilities *for that test* and *at that time* would have been a better gauge for me.

You're definitely not alone and the newer exams are *subtly* different. That's why it's important to give yourself enough time to retake (or at least thoroughly review) a few of those or drill from them, in my opinion. If you're not able to do that, then the habits you've developed from the earlier tests will certainly not hurt you in the later tests (or on test day), provided they are good habits!

Remember, you DO have options. Consider whether you are truly confident that you have worked for the score you hope to get. Based on that consideration, determine whether to take the test on the 8th, and understand that it's ok to take it in October. Be flexible and be kind to yourself