After 1+ year and 16 preptests, PT score fluctuates 159-167-159-167

julesbluejulesblue Member
in General 27 karma

For my most recent PTs, I scored 159-167-159-167-157. I am frustrated at the huge fluctuations in my scores and starting to feel burnt out. I am planning to take the September test. I have studied for the LSAT with a full time job that usually takes around 45-60 hours depending on the week.

I have been studying for the LSAT for around 1.5 years now, with a 3 month break in between moving overseas. I started at a 146 diagnostic, and finished the 7sage Curriculum around last July/August. Long story short, after moving overseas, I made the decision to take a Princeton Review course class on site hoping to review the fundamentals again and taking some PTs on site (not sure if this was a good decision...) During the several PTs I took at the Princeton Course, I realized my weakness was in Logic Games (-10) and LR (-8-10) and scored in a range of mid 50s.

After taking the two month course, I started drilling Logic Games for several weeks with a Games Packet from PT1-35 organized by game type and difficulty (did around 3 copies each or more, watching 7sage videos for each). After finishing Games, I did a question type drilling for LR on my own using a similar LR packet I received during the course (1-35). I felt comfortable to move onto PTing after these drills.

I took 16 PTs so far since late January starting with PT 44 and finished PT 61 today (I didn't start in late 30s because I had exposure to some late 30s during the Princeton course). With my work schedule, I did one timed PT on a weekend day and BRed throughout the week. By early March until late April, I pulled my score to a 160-163 range. Then this month, after scoring a 159, I had the fluctuation between 159-167. Ever since starting BE, my BR score has been in the 168-174 range. The reasons for my most recent drops to 159/157 have usually resulted from a drop in Games (-7 to -10, from my earlier ranges of -4 to -6 with sometimes -1,-2). My LR also fluctuates between -3 to -8. My 167s have been good luck with RC (-1), Games (-1/-2) and performing better than usual for LR (got -5/-2 compared to usual -5/-4 range). I might generally be scoring in the late 50s-early 60s range and just had good luck for the two 167s, but my BR scores have always been in the higher range. I BR all circled questions and am very diligent with the review.

At this point, I'm scared of using up more 60 PTs before moving onto the 70s if I'm having fluctuations like this. It's difficult to explain how I feel about Games - I felt much more confident back when I first started PTing after doing the month drilling, and I feel like my confidence got worst each month maybe psychologically zoning out from scoring bad a couple of times on the Games. Besides Games, my LR is usually pretty consistent within the -4/-5 range although I sometimes bomb it with a -8 on a section. I sometimes end up spending 8-9 minutes double checking the first game in the section, although when I do during Br, I finish a game usually within the suggested time frame. RC score mostly is -4~-6, but I sometimes got a -8 with a bad PT. I also get very nervous under time pressure in general which sometimes contributes to these low scores, and on top of that, I think burn out from my job might be an issue too (especially this month)

I'm not sure if I need to re-do the basic Game bundles again. I'm honestly not sure what I should be doing without doing any more PTs. I've tried doing 4-5 games for each game type from the Question Bank for the drilling, but not sure what would be best for game drilling and whether I should keep moving forward with the PTs after BRing or do some more basic Game/LR drills. Any advice on drilling and how to move forward with PTing (esp on whether I should re-do the basic PT 1-35 drills or focus on re-doing the PT 44-61 etc) would be helpful. Anything in all on how to close gap in actual/BR and work-studying balancing etc would be appreciated too.

Thank you!

Comments

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @mk835

    You say you feel less confident now than after you had drilled the LG bundle. From what else you wrote it seems like confidence and timing are your issues there.

    I think that's normal especially if you weren't consistently drilling games. A lot of us aren't intuitively great at games (I know I'm not, I suck...) and that requires us to have to be consistently drilling games and keeping those skills up to par. I noticed that even if I don't drill games for 3 days, my speed decreases and I begin to lose confidence. I recommend doing at least a few games a day to prevent your skills from getting rusty.

    I don't think it could hurt to go through the bundle again. I've had to do many games in the bundle 10 times before things clicked. The good news is, if you just keep plugging away, you'll get good at games.

  • LSAT Is ComingLSAT Is Coming Alum Member
    530 karma

    The fluctuation on LG seems to indicate that you are great at certain types of games and maybe struggle with others. Are you running out of time on the bad sections, or just making some mistakes? Check out Analytics and identify which games are highest priority for you -- drill the living hell out of those ones.

    Another quick tip, which you may have already done given that you drilled the bundle -- don't just drill by game type. Drill by PT. Do the LG section from PT 5, for example, under proctored conditions. Taking games individually when you know the type and expected gameboard setup beforehand is far different than taking four games back to back of different types and unpredictable difficulties.

    Stress from doing 4 games within 35 minutes can increase the rate at which you mistranslate or make simple mistakes -- getting a rough third game might make you rush through it, etc.

    Make sure to drill not just by game type, but also by actual sections under timed conditions. And then the second you finish, see how many you got wrong, and identify your mistakes before marking the right answers down by doing any games with wrong answers again.

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @mk835

    This is great advice that I completely left out:

    @btmccartney said:

    Make sure to drill not just by game type, but also by actual sections under timed conditions. And then the second you finish, see how many you got wrong, and identify your mistakes before marking the right answers down by doing any games with wrong answers again.

  • julesbluejulesblue Member
    27 karma

    @"Alex Divine" @btmccartney

    Thank you so much for all the great advice! I agree that I may have not been consistently drilling Games, and I certainly feel that drilling 4 games like a section will be very helpful.

    As a follow up - how do you balance between doing timed PTs and drilling? I imagine going through the bundle or at least lots of games might mean I need to skip BRing for at least a week, given that I don't have much time to study during the week. Should I resume PTing once I feel comfortable after drilling?

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @mk835 said:
    @"Alex Divine" @btmccartney

    Thank you so much for all the great advice! I agree that I may have not been consistently drilling Games, and I certainly feel that drilling 4 games like a section will be very helpful.

    As a follow up - how do you balance between doing timed PTs and drilling? I imagine going through the bundle or at least lots of games might mean I need to skip BRing for at least a week, given that I don't have much time to study during the week. Should I resume PTing once I feel comfortable after drilling?

    Well, for me the balance comes from abstaining from doing more PTs until I have properly BR'd and addressed and any and all weaknesses from the last PT I took. So in your case I think it would be better to spend some time re-going through the bundle before you take another PT. Even if you miss a week of PTs, I think it will be well worth it.

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