Progress expected to make from PT to PT?

Comments

• Jonathan Wang Yearly Sage ⭐

  August 2014 edited August 2014 6874 karma

  There's no set progress curve. Some people improve every test; some people improve in bursts. Some people go from 140 to 170; some people start at 160 and end at 164.
  
  To give you a sense of perspective of what you're asking in particular - 153 is a ~56th percentile score, and 163 is an ~89th percentile score. You tell me how likely you think it is that you'll leapfrog ~33% of the test taking population in one week.
  
  To be clear - I'm not saying it's impossible. If it happens, great! But if you *expect* it to happen, prepare to be disappointed because the likelihood is very low.
  
• selina Alum Member

  August 2014 73 karma

  Thank you Jonathan! That's exactly what I needed to hear. If there was a progress curve or not. Now I know that I can expect anything at this point.
  
  I also see that going from 153 to a 163 is a bigger jump then the 10pt increase I visually saw it as. Going from the 56th percentile score to an 89th percentile score is a HUGE increase and achieving that after one week of review and drills is unlikely. So, thanks for the reality check!!!
• 1 Like

  chrijani7 Alum Member

  August 2014 edited August 2014 827 karma

  I was scoring in the mid 150's at the beginning of summer. I decided to retake the 7sage course and really SLOW down my studying. I found that this helped me out so much, as it took the constant rush and "churn and burn" pressure off of me and allowed me to focus on actually understanding the fundamentals behind each question.
  My point for telling you this is for two reasons:
  (1) to let you know that I think your week off to evaluate and drill your weak areas is a great idea. Most people dislike slow drilling and get a sense of pride taking PT's. But taking PT's is useless if you do not take anything away from each one.
  (2) After finishing the course and doing very slow drills with lots of reflection, I have taken 2 PT's (163/160) and as you can see the results are definitely improved, but do still vary. There could be a number of factors that explains my second test score is lower than my first, when I had been "more prepared" for the second one. Maybe the first one had more questions I was better at, or maybe the second had more questions I was worse at? Or maybe I got more sleep for the first one, or a better mood. Whatever the case may be, I think its important not to get caught up on test-to-test analytics, rather you should focus on your "range".
  Obviously improving from test to test feels good, but having a test that is somewhat below what you have been scoring is not an indicator that you are doomed. Think of the bigger picture, if your consistently scoring within the 160-165 range, then you can expect that is where you will land during the test. But if you get a 155 on one test and a 160 on the next, the inflated score may be due to luck or for some of the reasons I stated before. That's not to say you did not improve, but its better (at least I think) to focus on your average rather than "oh this test I got a 150, I am upset, OH THIS TEST I GOT a 160 I am good, Oh this one I got a 155, I must not be as good as I thought, etc."
  
  Hope this helps.
• mattwhitworth56 Member

  October 2021 316 karma

  It's possible, I'd say just don't get discouraged if it doesn't improve by more than a few points or even goes down. My first PT I got a 156, next one was a 154, one after that was a 155. That was in early September, and I didn't get into the 160's for the first time until late September. Now I'm PTing in the mid 160s and occasionally high 160s but also some high 150s low 160s. I think the most important thing is to stay positive. A single point on the LSAT can be massive in terms of scholarship money, acceptance to your top schools, etc. So when you don't see an improvement or even see a dip don't be alarmed at all, and when you increase your score even by a point or two be proud of yourself and celebrate!
• 4 Likes

  andrew.rsn Alum Member

  October 2021 831 karma

  @mattwhitworth56 - dude, this post was from 7 years ago. I wonder what selina is up to now.
• 2 Likes

  mattwhitworth56 Member

  October 2021 316 karma

  @"andrew.rsn" lmao i dont know how that popped into my feed
• 2 Likes

  Facta Non Verba Member

  October 2021 110 karma

  @"andrew.rsn" said:
  @mattwhitworth56 - dude, this post was from 7 years ago. I wonder what selina is up to now.

  The graveyard of old posts where past students are stressing about the LSAT is oddly comforting... some things just never change.
• 1 Like

  WhatIsLife Member

  October 2021 810 karma

  @"andrew.rsn" said:
  @mattwhitworth56 - dude, this post was from 7 years ago. I wonder what selina is up to now.

  Hopefully Selina is out there somewhere kicking ass as a Lawyer. Good luck to Selina