Why do people score significantly lower on test day?

cm214998

Hello Everyone! Before I start, I want to say sorry to all of you who have scored below your target. I have not taken my exam yet but I've read some posts of people scoring WAY BELOW their PTs and BRs scores. Like almost 10 points. It's very discouraging reading some posts about how hard people have worked, only to still fall short. What do you guys think?

I understand nerves and anxiety on test day can impact your score, but a 10 point impact? I know there's a 5 point range, and that's what you should expect. Can it also be that during certain months the tests are harder than others? Or maybe a new question that LSAC has tried? What are your thoughts?

Stevie C

2 thoughts on this

1) Less control over the environment. There's ambient noise. Some proctors or fellow test-takers could be disruptive. It's generally less comfortable than being at home.

2) Lack of honesty with themselves. Someone may sincerely believe he was "PTing in the 170s" when his 4 most recent PTs were 171, 165, 170, 163. Sure, the most recent score is in the 170s, but this individual wasn't consistently scoring in the 170s.

What if this person gets a 165? Yes, it's 6 points below his most recent PT. But considering that he got the same exact score on the prior PT, he should have realized that 165 was within the realm of possibility.

jknauf

I think an important idea to keep in mind is that this occurrence is only for SOME people. SOME other people have reported scoring higher than their PTs. There is to many unknown variables to conclude why this happens. This is why it is extremely important to go in on test day knowing you're at your LSAT peak.

bjphillips5

Other factors to consider: nerves, lack of sleep the night before, and maybe overconfidence based on a few above average PTs. As someone who took the test a month ago, the test day anxiety is real. I shiver and shake when nervous so you can imagine what that does for bubbling. I didn't feel like it severely impacted my score because I was kinda ready for it. But test day anxiety can be really severe for some people especially when they then encounter a difficult passage or game that throws them off a bit.

stepharizona

Pretty much what everyone said here. I believe the "typical" drop is about 3 points, or at least that seems to be a good rule of thumb. Many people that have big drops can see they made errors like bubbling or not finishing on time.

One thing I would add, is a lot of people underestimate the impact of 5 sections. This can really throw people stamina off, especially if there was "pretty weird" section and you thought it was the experimental, only to discover it wasn't (or was).

Practice with your worst nightmare version of the test. So for me that was LR, RC, RC, LR, LG, which happen to be what I got on test day.

Also, test in weird place. Go to a Starbucks, a really quiet library, a place with small desks, a place with crappy chairs. It will not only increase your focus but also prepare you for anything (or close to it)

LawAndDisorder

My advice is try to simulate test conditions as best and as much as possible. I wrote exams at my test centre, at test time, for 3 weeks prior to the exam. Writing it with others right next to you is surprisingly a HUGE deal. At least it was for me. I dropped 5 points the first time I did this. Even with my practice I had a mini freak out in the exam on the RC section. Luckily my sharpened intuition, as YJ would say, saved me and many of what felt like complete guesses ended up being correct. Also I only wrote exams at 9am and woke up at 6:45, ate the same breakfast, did the same format of practice problems and even listened to music loud for 30 min to simulate the drive to my exam centre. Not sure if this answers why people drop points but its how I partially overcame this issue. Looking back I could probably rewrite and get 2-4 points higher but who wants to do that all over again. Cheers.

cm214998

It seems like testing environment simulation is a crucial factor according to the advice I've read here which makes absolute sense. @stepharizona I like your idea of going to weird places to test, I'm sure that can be very effective. I'm thinking of a food court at a mall, we'll see how well I can concentrate there lol. As for text anxiety @bjphillips5 meditation really works for me. In the beginning, you don't see much improvement or the effects of it, but after a month or so of habitual meditation, the results are insane when it comes to relaxation during high pressure situations. Thanks for the advice guys!

combsni

It depends, I think a lot of people put too much pressure on themselves to perform well and that definitely contributes to this somewhat occurrence. Overall, people tend to score in that same range, unless a given test just happens to have all of their weaknesses.

erik.m.tollefson

anxiety, and often times, regression to the mean.

Not Ralph Nader

I want to add taking earlier PTs like 20s to 30s and too few of them and never looking at newr 70s. I am not sure any of those people who posted have taken at least 15 to 20 different fresh PTs.

combsni

@"Not Ralph Nader" I agree 100%