Low prep test out of nowhere

peterpetrousian

hello everyone, I am averaging in the 160-164 range and trying to bump my average a couple points before the September test. I recently took a prep test and score a 153!, I do not understand, I did terrible in every section, lows across the board. I don't know why this happened but now i'm seriously reconsidering taking the test in September. Has this kind of random drop happened to anyone else, I am freaking out here

Alex

@peterpetrousian

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you man. Don't let it bum you out too much or let it start freaking you out. First of all, bad days/flukes happen. It isn't like you suddenly aren't ever capable of a 164 again. I'm a big believer that if you can do it once, you are capable of doing it again and again with practice.

On prep tests where we don't perform as well as we would have liked are the prep tests that can teach us the most. Throughly blind review it and see what caused these mistakes.

@peterpetrousian said:
i'm seriously reconsidering taking the test in September

If you don't feel you will be ready for perhaps the most important test you will ever take, postpone!
Maybe make December a new tentative goal? This test is the last thing you should be rushing to take. You have the freedom to take it when you are 100% ready to score your goal. And don't let anyone else try to convince you of otherwise. You got this

nantesorkestar

Same thing happened to me on my recent test. I've been pretty down all day but after a few hours I reminded myself that this test doesn't show my potential. So instead of freaking out, I'm going to review this test intensely and figure out what went wrong for every incorrect question. Keep your head up and don't give up, you've already established that you are scoring in a good range.

Alex

@nantesorkestar said:
Keep your head up and don't give up, you've already established that you are scoring in a good range.

Exactly! This too.

Sprinkles

@nantesorkestar said:
So instead of freaking out, I'm going to review this test intensely and figure out what went wrong for every incorrect question.

Good for you!

Sprinkles

@peterpetrousian said:
I don't know why this happened but now i'm seriously reconsidering taking the test in September

Your last 5 PTs are a good indication of where you stand test day. Postpone if you don't reach your goal within the next few weeks.

Nanchito-1-1

It happens to the best of us. Review that test till you understand everything. I mean like rip and scrutinize everything. Think of it as an opportunity to work on your weaknesses. If you're thinking about postponing, most likely you should. There's nothing wrong with that.

mk940808

@peterpetrousian yep thats happened to me once! Dropped an entire 8 or so points randomly, then picked back up. I think its a fluke but an extremely discouraging feeling so I completely understand.

MrSamIam

That's actually more common than you probably think it is. There are a couple of reasons as to why you may have scored significantly below your average:
1) You're tired
2) You had an off day
3) You need to step away from the LSAT because you've been studying too hard for an extended period of time
4) That particular test was slightly more difficult for you
5) Bad testing conditions
6) You somehow managed to do the seemingly impossible - you forgot a ton of LSAT skills overnight, which translated to a drastic deviation, south of your average.

Notice how 6 doesn't seem very plausible? Try relaxing for a day or two, then take another PT and see how you do on that one.

CalPoliSci

Yeah just relax. When you've taken enough practice tests, you'll see that this kind of variation happens. If it happens on test day, then just take again on December with the confidence that you will likely regress to your mean score.

For example, I'm averaging in the 168 range. Last week I scored a 162 out of nowhere. I felt down, but on the next test, I scored a 169, which is back to my average. This kind of variation happens, so it's best not to think too much out of a single data point.

Cant Get Right

@MrSamIam said:
6) You somehow managed to do the seemingly impossible - you forgot a ton of LSAT skills overnight, which translated to a drastic deviation, south of your average.

Notice how 6 doesn't seem very plausible?

Love it!

BruiserWoods

You got this.

Honestly, it's a blessing. It shows you that you still are struggling in some areas and THAT'S AMAZING TO FIND OUT BEFORE THE TEST and not on test day.

BR the hell out of it. Take inventory of other factors. Did you sleep enough? Did you have enough water? Was there a lot of noise where you took the test? All these things can affect PT scores, especially as you start to get higher and higher scores. good luck

peterpetrousian

Thanks guys, after taking a good couple days off, and BR ing the hell out of that test my next preptest was a 165, I guess I did just freak out for nothing, Thank you and lets take this test on!