Drop in score, nervous about Oct Forum

[jenex]

Hi all,

A fellow Oct test-taker here with a last minute freak-out situation. Would greatly appreciate any input!

I'm retaking for the 3rd time (got 164 Oct '14, and same score Feb '15). The scores have been pretty frustrating, as I've PT'd above 165 going into both. I'm hoping to score 170+ this Oct and have been taking a PT each wk for the past few months to gauge my studying progress.

My issue is that, with the exception of the latest PT I've taken, I've been scoring between 170-175 the past two months. However, none of those PTs were fresh (I'd unfortunately gone through all of the PTs while prepping for my last two sittings). A few days ago, I took PT 75 (fresh), and scored a 162 (LG: -2, LR: -6/-7, RC: -7). Needless to say, I'm alarmed/freaking out.

When I reviewed PT 75, I found it hard to find the right answer to most of the questions I missed, esp. RC (a stark contrast to tests from prior wks; during those reviews, I could arrive at what I did wrong pretty easily). I'm wondering now if I should even take the Oct test. I'm not sure if I'd been subconsciously relying on my memory of old LSAT problems and PT 75's more indicative of how I'd perform on test day, or if it's a fluke/partly a result of starting to feel burned out?

Sorry for the long post - if anyone has any experience/advice on this, I'd really appreciate it!

[lymenheimer]

I took 2 fresh PTs before my real test. 163 on both. Scored on the upper end of my range on the real thing (163-170). Only difference is my range was for fresh PTs. So it is possible and these outliers occur, but I'm not sure how accurate your range is with previously taken PTs.

[basedvulpes]

Post removed.

[PoopNpants]

I can relate to your situation OP, I scored a 167 last February and am re-taking in hopes of a 170 or above,

I've been comfortable PTing around that range for quite some time but did a 162 on a PT last week. Immediately I got over and didn't look to much into it, BR'd it and noticed I made alot of stupid careless errors I usually don't make. Took a PT today and did considerably better.

TLDR; Don't panic, review the test, keep note of what you did wrong/why you did it and move on

[jenex]

Thank you for the input guys! Will take y'all's advice on moving forward/relaxing the days before the test. Still concerned that I'll repeat my performance on the fresh PT on test day, but hopefully taking apart what I got wrong on PT75 will help prevent that...

lymenheimer - out of curiosity, do you remember what you on the real thing that was different from the 2 fresh PTs you took before?

Goodluck, PoopNpants, on the retake!

[lymenheimer]

lymenheimer - out of curiosity, do you remember what you on the real thing that was different from the 2 fresh PTs you took before?

It was the June test so I took a PT on Friday and one on Saturday morning, with the real test on monday. I did NOTHING regarding LSAT for the rest of Saturday and Sunday. Got to the test center monday about 30 minutes before check-in (I have been there numerous times before), looked over a few LRs, an LG, and an RC passage, kept to myself during check-in. Focused on what I had to do and did it. I don't think I necessarily did anything particularly different, I just may have been more focused. I took the PTs at my SO's place, so there were some distractions and I was frustrated on Saturday after my performance Friday, and super frustrated thereafter. But I essentially threw all of that out the window as 2 very inconveniently timed outliers and focused on my half-belief in karma ("scored lowest twice in a row = test day is gonna be good"). I focused on the fact that my avg was around 168, and I made sure to concentrate on my test (it was pretty easy in the quiet of the testing room rather than having PLL or Gossip Girl on the tv behind me).

[T14-->BigLaw]

Hi all,

A fellow Oct test-taker here with a last minute freak-out situation. Would greatly appreciate any input!

I'm retaking for the 3rd time (got 164 Oct '14, and same score Feb '15). The scores have been pretty frustrating, as I've PT'd above 165 going into both. I'm hoping to score 170+ this Oct and have been taking a PT each wk for the past few months to gauge my studying progress.

My issue is that, with the exception of the latest PT I've taken, I've been scoring between 170-175 the past two months. However, none of those PTs were fresh (I'd unfortunately gone through all of the PTs while prepping for my last two sittings). A few days ago, I took PT 75 (fresh), and scored a 162 (LG: -2, LR: -6/-7, RC: -7). Needless to say, I'm alarmed/freaking out.

When I reviewed PT 75, I found it hard to find the right answer to most of the questions I missed, esp. RC (a stark contrast to tests from prior wks; during those reviews, I could arrive at what I did wrong pretty easily). I'm wondering now if I should even take the Oct test. I'm not sure if I'd been subconsciously relying on my memory of old LSAT problems and PT 75's more indicative of how I'd perform on test day, or if it's a fluke/partly a result of starting to feel burned out?

Sorry for the long post - if anyone has any experience/advice on this, I'd really appreciate it!

That's an awfully large drop. Did you have trouble with timing? Were your 170+ scores from retakes? A drop from 170+ to 162 seems far-fetched. PTs are made to be consistent, so a 172 test-taker will score a 172 on PT 75 and PT 64. Obviously people are human, and humans maker errors, but 170+ and 162 are in two completely different leagues. I'm consistently scoring 170-174, but when I make a few mistakes and/or I feel lousy about my performance, I end up with a 169 (168 at worst, thus far).

[jenex]

Thanks, lymenheimer for the details! I feel like lack of focus/tiredness definitely contributed in part to my PT75 score. I'll keep prepping/doing what I know has worked for me til the exam, and hope that the PT was an outlier.


T14-->BigLaw, I had trouble with timing on RC and LG; I had to rush, though finished in time for both (feeling the time crunch on RC has been usual for me, though I had been averaging -3/-4 prior). I actually went through LR too quickly (5 min left over for each, as consequence of not thinking through the Qs I wasn't certain about/bubbling choices some that looked remotely good). Yes, the 170+ scores are from tests I had taken before. Looking back, I don't think the 170+ scores are not really representative/perhaps the higher end of how I'm really testing, and PT75 is probably (hopefully) the lower end. And thanks for the input! : )

[jenex]

*scores are really representative

[bnssweeney]

I find this post extremely interesting because the SAME thing happened to me when I took PT 75.

I found that the language in LR answer choices to be very nitpicky and really made you split hairs to get some of the ACs right. I didn't find the LG to be challenging, and RC was normal for me. It was really LR that gave me problems.

All I can say it just keep drilling with the most recent material, especially since it's so close to test day. Take PTs 70-75 and BR the shit out of them and then review (and review some more) to familiarize yourself with the language. I've been doing this and it's been helping.

FWIW, I took this test on the real test date in June and bombed it, partly because of test-day anxiety and partly because I felt the LR was not what I was used to in my prep.

Anyone else have these thoughts?

[Tiddlywinks]

Took the June 15' test and scored 162 as well with similar numbers on everything. Studied a bunch since then and reprinted the LR out and redid. Scored 5 more questions right the second go around... They're definitely harder but drilling and doing more recent tests will help. The 162 was 3~ points under my average at that time for reference.

[jenex]

*Reviving this thread for an update, in case it's helpful to anyone who's experiencing a drop in PT score/freaking out. I ended up getting a 169 on the Oct test, which is at the low end of where I was PT-ing before, but much better than some of the low scores I got (though one more pt would've been nice, I'm happy with how I did).

In retrospect, I think burnout was probably a main factor in my drop in PT scores. I took 2 days off from work before the real thing, and felt relatively good/calm while taking it. I'd suggest taking a few days off if anyone experiences something similar.

Good luck to all who are studying, especially you re-takers!!

[Petrichor]

*Reviving this thread for an update, in case it's helpful to anyone who's experiencing a drop in PT score/freaking out. I ended up getting a 169 on the Oct test, which is at the low end of where I was PT-ing before, but much better than some of the low scores I got (though one more pt would've been nice, I'm happy with how I did).

In retrospect, I think burnout was probably a main factor in my drop in PT scores. I took 2 days off from work before the real thing, and felt relatively good/calm while taking it. I'd suggest taking a few days off if anyone experiences something similar.

Good luck to all who are studying, especially you re-takers!!

Congrats! The whole experience was surreal to me; I had less than half the weekly time to prep compared to my June test due to workload but managed to score just a hair better. Reached a max PT of 174 (fresh) during this time but still felt incredibly unprepared, I was able to score higher nevertheless so I hope people realize the value of taking breaks.

[appind]

*Reviving this thread for an update, in case it's helpful to anyone who's experiencing a drop in PT score/freaking out. I ended up getting a 169 on the Oct test, which is at the low end of where I was PT-ing before, but much better than some of the low scores I got (though one more pt would've been nice, I'm happy with how I did).

In retrospect, I think burnout was probably a main factor in my drop in PT scores. I took 2 days off from work before the real thing, and felt relatively good/calm while taking it. I'd suggest taking a few days off if anyone experiences something similar.

Good luck to all who are studying, especially you re-takers!!

congrats
this is interesting because i was in a similar position before october, had minimal fresh tests left, and took PT-75 fresh. i got 168 (-6 rc, -2 lr1, -2 lr2, -3 lg) on pt-75 and withdrew because i was below 170 even though my scores on PT retakes were higher.

not sure if it's possible to gauge but is there a specific drop on your 162 on pt-75 you can attribute to burnout? section breakdown on oct test?

[jenex]

Congrats Petrichor, that's amazing!

appind, here are my section breakdowns for the two tests:

PT 75
RC: -7
LG: -2
LR1:-7
LR2: -6

Oct '15
RC: -4
LG: -5
LR1:-3
LR2: -2


LR is usually pretty consistent for me (RC was my weakest, LG was usually -2/3 unless there's something strange that trips me up). If I were to try to pinpoint where burnout affected me, I'd say it was LR (my LR was usually -2/3) and RC. Both require a level of concentration that is much harder to attain when you're feeling spent.

appind, it sounds like you're doing well so far. If your avg scores are much higher than what you got for PT 75, I'd say burnout was affecting you. If you think it'd be helpful, I'd suggest taking 2 days off from work/doing nothing but chill before test day (feel like my RC/LR scores prob would've been lower if I hadn't).