PT Score Drop

aamyyy08

Hello everyone,

I am preparing to take the LSAT in a month and while I got a score that was close to the target score on the last PT (one in the 60s). I had a massive score drop this time (one in the 70s). Since the last PT, I keep getting a lot of questions wrong and things don't seem to be clicking as before. Do you think this is burn out? Or this is common? Even if it is burn out, I am scared to stop studying since the test is coming up soon and I have yet to get through the 80s and 90s. I would appreciate any advice and thank you in advance for your help!

maco4538

Hi!You're not alone. I had a similar drop and I think a lot of people experienced that. 70s are notoriously difficult and I think its because the LSAT test makers made an effort to make these test far less systematic than the others. For me, it sorta leveled out again when I hit the 80s--haven't quite fully recovered.
Assumptions are a lot more subtle and they definitely sprinkled in way more trick answers. I think the biggest difference was how abstract the referential phrasing was getting on questions that required conditional logic--made diagrams way more complicated to map.
They aren't handing out as much easy wrong answers so everything just generally feels more rushed. They also used a lot of miscellaneous games which I'm sure no one appreciated.

Those are just some of my observations, now for some advice:
LR: Continue to approach the stimulus systematically: separate the support from conclusion, map conditional logic, mind the "gap", be skeptical of equivocations, and continue to ask does this support necessarily support this conclusion? I think the stimulus are generally fine, but they are making the ACs more difficult to parse through. Often, you'll have a strong preface or an answer choice but don't seem to spot it on your first pass, its usually because they wrote it super nebulously so its not apparently obvious it matches your preface. So just go a lil slower while reading those ACs, I swear the grammar is getting worse and definitions are getting stretched.

aamyyy08

Thank you so much! This was very helpful

Braxton076-1-1

I had a huge score drop taking tests in the 60s and got really shaken by it. The best thing I did was create drill sets around the areas I needed the most attention in. Seeing yourself get difficult questions right helps a lot. I also had to focus a lot on staying calm and confident during my PTs, so much of taking the LSAT is mental. Once I did that, I jumped up to the most recent PTs and started working my way back to see as much modern material as possible. Since doing that, I've consistently scored 4-6 points above my target after spending a month scoring 5-8 under it.

Just stay calm and keep practicing, you'll come out ahead on the other side!