Actual test score much lower than PTs ... what do I do next?

madisont144madisont144 Member
edited August 2022 in August 2022 LSAT 108 karma

I got my August LSAT score this morning and am very disappointed. On my last 6 PTs I scored 173, 170, 177, 175, 173, 175. I always took them under realistic testing conditions. I really expected to score in the 170s on the actual thing, but I got a 165. The only section I really found challenging was the RC, so I just don't know what happened. I have no idea what to do next, especially because I can't see what I got wrong. I feel very defeated. I signed up for October, and I'm just looking for some tips on how to go about preparing and staying optimistic. :( Has anyone else gone through this?

Comments

  • Steven_B-1Steven_B-1 Member
    794 karma

    I sightly underperformed as well b/c I've cracked the 170s on most of my recent PTs and got a 169. Can you try to reverse engineer what went wrong? For example, i know for a fact that I messed up the last LG and that cost me getting into the 170s so i will now work nonstop to try to perfect the damn LG section which has always been my weakness.

    So if you struggled with RC, then maybe you can try to drill a lot of RC and come up with strategies to follow when you're up agaisnt a very hard passage.

    In terms of optimism, just know that you have the skills you need to defeat this exam as proven by your PT scores. We all have off-days so don't let it bring you down. It happened, it's okay, and now refocus on killing it in October!

  • madisont144madisont144 Member
    108 karma

    @Steven_B-1 Thank you so much! :) And congrats, a 169 is still a wicked good score!! How many PTs do you plan to take before the next administration? I'm wondering if I should spend the bulk of my time on RC drills rather than full PTs.

  • LSAT LizardLSAT Lizard Alum Member
    331 karma

    You're very likely to do much better in October!

    165 is clearly outside of your usual score range. Something went wrong; maybe you bombed the RC. That probably won't happen again.

    Your recent practice test scores are very good, and expecting 170+ seems reasonable. This particular test didn't work out, but the next one probably will.

  • madisont144madisont144 Member
    edited August 2022 108 karma

    @LSATlizard Thank you, this is very encouraging! I'm honestly thinking I must have gone -10 in RC or something. I had two of them and felt really burnt out by the second one. Hopefully this really was just a fluke!

  • blaw5918-1-1blaw5918-1-1 Member
    65 karma

    I also underperformed by about 6 points and I felt pretty defeated. But I made myself a plan for the next month and a half, and I am ready to get back into it. Going to make it my life for the next 8 weeks!

  • madisont144madisont144 Member
    108 karma

    @blaw5918-1-1 You got this! What does your study plan look like? Are you going to focus more on taking full-length exams or just drills? It's hard because I've used up so many of the recent exams.

  • blaw5918-1-1blaw5918-1-1 Member
    65 karma

    @madisont144 said:
    @blaw5918-1-1 You got this! What does your study plan look like? Are you going to focus more on taking full-length exams or just drills? It's hard because I've used up so many of the recent exams.

    I'm going to do 8 LG games a day, 45 LR questions a day, and 6 RC Passages a day, and then everyday do a time section rotating between the three. I am also going to take a prep test every Saturday and review on Saturday!

  • Steven_B-1Steven_B-1 Member
    794 karma

    @madisont144 I’ve basically done every PT with the exception of the 90s so I’m not sure if I’ll do those now or save them for October but mostly I’m going to focus on getting LG down to -0 by repeating hard games and I’m also going to drill every RC passage that I haven’t done. I was counting on LG and LR giving me wiggle room to make 4ish mistakes but I think this is also a wake up call that I can’t neglect RC so much so I’m going to try my best to get it to at least -2 consistently.

    Good luck!

  • madisont144madisont144 Member
    108 karma

    @Steven_B-1 I'm in the exact same boat. I was also neglecting RC and leaning on my skills in the other sections. Time for me to finally take it seriously!

    Good luck to you too!

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