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Is it normal for practice test scores to dip?

ehoyaehoya Member
in General 29 karma
So I know I'm not quite doing things the 7Sage-approved way: I registered for the October LSAT and started 7Sage late this June because I need to get my score back in time to apply this fall. I've taken the test once before (February this year, to be exact), and I didn't do so hot. I got a 158 on the actual day of, and I had heard of the blind review method beforehand, so I wasn't surprised because my best BR at the time was 161. (This was with three weeks of studying after having been back in the country less than two months after a year-long, overseas assignment. I said I haven't been doing things the 7Sage-approved way, okay? I got it!)

The point it, I've gone through all of the 7Sage lessons (exempting some problem sets because I'm also working full time right now, and there just wasn't enough time for all of them if I was going to get a decent amount of PTs in), and I started taking full, simulated PTs last week. I've done PT41-45 so far, and I'm a bit nervous. At first, I was doing really well. For PT41 my actual/BR was 160/171, PT42 159/171, and PT43 164/172. However, my last two weren't as good: PT44 160/167 and PT45 159/167. It's mainly the drop in the BR scores that's making me really nervous (that and the fact that the best I've done in logic games was a 60% accuracy and today was 46% accuracy). Does that happen? Does score improvement typically look more like a straight incline, or it is common for it to be more like a roller coaster with just a general upward trend? How many PTs do I need to go through before I'll be able to tell the difference?

I should probably add that after I do the blind review, I go back over all the ones I got wrong and try to figure out why the correct answer is right and why the wrong answer is wrong in my own words before I watch J.Y.'s explanations to confirm/correct my reasoning. It takes freaking forever, but I know that's the best way to learn. I'm just nervous that I'm not doing something correctly since even my BR scores have dipped, and I only have a few weeks to figure this out and avoid burnout at the same time. Words of advice/comfort/anything-of-an-anxiety-reducing-nature, someone? Anyone? Please?
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Comments

  • ehoyaehoya Member
    29 karma
    I probably should have mentioned that the average score of my top choice school is 168, so anything near that (or better, of course) is what I'm shooting for.
  • PacificoPacifico Alum Inactive ⭐
    8021 karma
    First of all you need to postpone until December. If your LG is that bad you have no business taking the LSAT, you would just be wasting your time and money. You'll be fine for applying since most schools don't even start reading apps until late October or November anyways. And a 160 isn't going to get you where you want so why bother?

    Second of all, you may as well have taken 0 PTs at this point because 4 is nothing. You say you get it now but you still seem to be giving this test short shrift and you're not getting 170s cold so I'd say you need to wake up and respect the task at hand.

    Also, are you doing clean copy BR or are you using the test you took? The former is the way to go and the latter will likely keep your BR scores suppressed.
  • ehoyaehoya Member
    29 karma
    The only reason I had signed up for the October test was because I didn't realize that the school's application period extended until February (I apparently had written their early decision deadline--November 15--on my calendar by mistake), so I've switched to the December test, per your advice now (and I'm so much happier to have that off my back). Thank you for prompting me to look into that!

    When you say clean copy, are you suggesting that I make a copy of each test before I do it in my book and go over the entire thing all over again afterwards? I was under the impression that the reason I use the same test is so that I'm only going over the questions that I marked as ones I wasn't sure of. Should I be marking those ones on my copies after I take the test and just go over those, or am I basically supposed to take each test twice, one timed and one not?
  • PacificoPacifico Alum Inactive ⭐
    8021 karma
    Make a copy of the entire test beforehand, then circle questions for BR as you go through the timed test. Then just write down the sections and numbers of every question you circled on a blank sheet of paper. Then put away your answer sheet and the copy of the test you already took and BR the questions you have written down on the sheet of paper. This way you force yourself to really focus without fighting your ego.
  • ehoyaehoya Member
    29 karma
    Gotcha! Now that I'm taking the test in December, I have 26 blank tests left (unless I buy another book). If I take two per week from now until the week of the test (taking the two days off beforehand), does that sound like a better timeframe to actually improve?
  • aincaoaincao Member
    47 karma
    I was a lot like you and am still taking my test in October, I just started taking an LSAT everyday, BRing it, and then after seeing what I get wrong and what I need to improve on, use flashcards for strategies and question stems, words, whatever, and then do 10-15 logic games a day that came from tests 1-38 (the hard ones, so that you get some really weird games most of the time and it forces your brain to think abstractly and not so cookie cutter) and then recycling games I've already done to make sure I can see the inferences even faster and try to beat J.Y's time. With that method I have finally started consistently getting either at my very worst a -2 at my best 100%. It has been such a massive improvement from how I started out which was sometimes 40% (yikes!!, but @Pacifico and @bSM45LSAT gave me great advice so I have them to thank for the extremely fast progress that I have made!) To be fair to you, I have the whole day to my advantage and I wake up at 6am so I have more time to prepare than you do.

    I think you should be taking Logic Games more seriously and instead of doing individual games and timing them individually (if that's what you are doing), do them as a drill set of 4 for 35 min. That way it is way more realistic and the pressures are like the ones you will face on the LSAT, also definitely have an analog watch, that shit is invaluable. If you do end up having trouble with one game in particular, then rinse and repeat it until it becomes second nature, and reinsert into your testing regimen, its a great confidence boost if you hit a string of hard games and get frustrated.
  • PacificoPacifico Alum Inactive ⭐
    8021 karma
    Yeah I think 2 per week for a few months would be great for you.
  • ehoyaehoya Member
    29 karma
    Awesome, thank you guys so much!
  • nicole.hopkinsnicole.hopkins Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    7965 karma
    @Pacifico said:
    Yeah I think 2 per week for a few months would be great for you.
    Dig.
  • ehoyaehoya Member
    29 karma
    So question: I'm ten PTs in now, and I'm still struggling with improving my LG section on the tests. All the other sections, I'm consistently get mid to high 80's in percentage accuracy, but my LG accuracy percentages are all over the place. I was slowly starting to improve a little over the last few PTs, but then I got really sick and I wasn't able to do any for over a week. When I graded my most recent one today, all my other sections were the highest I've ever scored, but my LG section was the lowest I've ever scored. It's really frustrating me because in my BRs, I'm getting one hundred percent accuracy in the LGs almost every time (to the point that the difference between my actual scores and my BR scores is generally between 10 and 15 points).

    I have about another two months before I take the test, and I'm still trying to average 2 tests/week (I'd do more, but I can't with my work schedule), but I'm wondering if I would benefit more by cutting it down to 1 test/week to spend more time just on LGs (especially of the grouping-sequencing variety because I ALWAYS struggle with those). However, I'm worried that the progress I've seen in the other sections will suffer if I don't keep the same pace.

    Should I focus more on drilling with LGs or should I keep doing what I have been: take a full, timed PT, do my BR, check my answers, try and figure out why I got wrong whatever I got wrong, and watch the video explanations for every question that I'm still confused on (though I watch the videos for every LG, regardless of how I did on my BR) at least twice a week?
  • DumbHollywoodActorDumbHollywoodActor Alum Inactive ⭐
    7468 karma
    I think you should always be drilling LG, almost on a daily basis. I try to do 3-4 games per day to stay sharp. I've found when I get lax about this, my LG scores go down.
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