significant drop in score for recent 69+ pts

SeattlesBest

Hello 7sagers,
I need your advice on how to react to this drop…
I’ve reached my peak score in the late 60 pts scoring 161-164 range which is my target score. I thought I was definitely ready for the September test.
To my surprise, starting with pt69 to 70, I felt like I was so lost in LR and scored 157 on both of them.
Is it just me who feels there’s a dramatic change in LR Qstems?
I feel so discouraged and am even considering to postpone the test..
I believe standardized tests should retain similar difficulties over tests and these differences are such a bummer..
Any suggestions..?

Ron Swanson

This is a very common reaction that many test takers have to newer tests, I also felt the same way on LR when I transitioned to the newer tests. It can be really deflating to come a long way then stumble so close to game day.

Theoretically, the questions aren't more difficult; they're just different and it's tough to pin down exactly why. I think it comes down to higher word count per question, trickier trap answer choices, and less emphasis on the lawgic that often carries a fundamentally sound test taker through the earlier exams.

I think the key to overcoming these LR differences is doing a good job with your initial read through stimuli. I tend to think of my strategy as reading deliberately and effectively. Don't focus on speeding your way through to compensate for the more lengthy blocks of text. Instead, make sure you're reading briskly, but still "touching" each and every word as you read. By putting in the time upfront when reading a stimuli, you'll have an easier time retaining the information, thereby reducing your time per question because you don't need to read the stimulus and ACs several times in order to get the grasp you used to having so quickly on earlier tests.

These same reading strategies help with trickier answer choices. With this difference, it becomes crucial that you focus on eliminating wrong answer choices rather than hunting for the correct one. Often in older tests you could spot the answer right away because the other 4 options were so egregiously wrong. Try focusing on eliminating 3 (ideally 4) ACs, then deciding why only 1 of them could possibly be the right answer.

Finally, you MUST do a good job on BR in order to really understand/catch all of the nuances in the newer LR. The overarching theme, or at least as I've noticed, is that everything is more subtle and embedded in a lot more information. You can't really adapt to these changes effectively unless you dissect questions and answers during proper BR. Eventually you'll get back to your old skill levels and these new changes will be the norm.

Like anything LSAT, it takes time and practice..you got this!

SeattlesBest

Thanks for your help!
Upon BRing, I could also notice that even JY agrees many questions are tougher than usual on these newer PTs..

Cant Get Right

@"Ron Swanson" said:
I tend to think of my strategy as reading deliberately and effectively. Don't focus on speeding your way through to compensate for the more lengthy blocks of text.

Yeah, second this.

I've found that newer tests tend to use the language to disguise the logic more effectively. It's all the exact same under the language, but they start using a lot more complicated grammar and linguistic tricks. It's all superficial and if you read carefully you'll learn to see through it. It does take some adjusting to though. I felt lost on my first few moving into the later series as well. Very common.

danielznelson

@"Ron Swanson" said:
less emphasis on the lawgic that often carries a fundamentally sound test taker through the earlier exams.

Completely agree with this, and I got burned on PT 75 at least partly because of this reality.

danielznelson

And hurray for finally figuring out how to insert others' responses!

Cant Get Right

You're just now figuring that out @danielznelson . How is this even possible!?

danielznelson

I never really bothered to try it. Though I admit there was a time or two that I thought of trying to figure it out. Then I figured it out by accident, haha.

danielznelson

It's emvarrassing, I know.

Cant Get Right

@danielznelson said:
It's emvarrassing, I know.

Totally.

danielznelson

You just tagged that so I would see my misspelled word

Sprinkles

@danielznelson said:
I never really bothered to try it. Though I admit there was a time or two that I thought of trying to figure it out. Then I figured it out by accident, haha.

HAHAHAAHAHAHA this is epic