Depressing PT performance Forum

[keta02]

Hi,

I've taken 3 previous PTs (51, 52, 53) and scored a 176, 176, and 170, respectively. Today I took PT 55 (Oct 2008) and dropped off to a 165 - needless to say I am disappointed and felt that all my months of preparation went to nothing. I felt really bad when doing the test today cause I couldn't focus that well and was a bit under pressure (self-caused).

Did anyone else have a really bad PT that was not indicative of how you did on test day?

Also, I've done just about every LR question to date but I feel that you still cannot fully prepare for the unpredicatable and that sometimes you just will not have answers that jump out at you in all three sections for that matter.

[birdmann783]

regain composure and realize that its better to have this now than on test day.... alot of ppl dont look at raw scores as much as that 3 digit number....fix ur weaknesses and go again

[itsfine]

I think everyone who has studied for the LSAT by taking PTs, which is the best way to study, and is scoring that high in terms of scores...has experienced a test or two or three or four where you just dont score close to your norm. what ive found worked best for me is taking a day or two off from PTing...not from the material in total, like i would still du a game or two or 10 LR or so but not a whole section...then i got back to PTing after a few days.

in short..

relax. ur fine.

[angioletto]

My final PT score before the December test was 7 points lower than my actual score ended up being. I felt crappy at first but then I just told myself I was just getting my shitty performance out of the way so I could do better on the real thing.

[nematoad]

if it helps I thought PT 55 was harder than most of the recent exams. i scored a like 5 points under my average. those damn talk stories...

[keta02]

Thanks for the moral and practical support from everyone.

Yeah nematoad I did think the RC was a little tough on PT 55, and why do I get the impression that on the recent PTs the RC questions are more like Logical reasoning questions in disguise - they are really long and annoying to read through, and don't really ask what's in the passage but more on abstract ideas like "which of the following sentences would most belong in the passage" or some other vague topic. And the curve is horrendous cause -7 on the entire PT translates into a 173 or so, while the questions aren't necessarily easier.

[bblobber]

Also, I've done just about every LR question to date but I feel that you still cannot fully prepare for the unpredicatable and that sometimes you just will not have answers that jump out at you in all three sections for that matter.

On the hardest questions, there absolutely will not be an answer that jumps out at you as the right one. There should be 2-3 choices that you can eliminate on the first reading. Then you are left with 2 or 3 more that sound somewhat reasonable. Your job is to eliminate the wrong ones by finding their flaws. You may be left with an answer that doesn't sound all that great, but if you've done a good job of elimination, it will be the right answer. This is what got me a 177 in December (-6 total; -1 on RC which had a ton of crappy answer choices).

[hv1]

Hi,

I've taken 3 previous PTs (51, 52, 53) and scored a 176, 176, and 170, respectively. Today I took PT 55 (Oct 2008) and dropped off to a 165 - needless to say I am disappointed and felt that all my months of preparation went to nothing. I felt really bad when doing the test today cause I couldn't focus that well and was a bit under pressure (self-caused).

Did anyone else have a really bad PT that was not indicative of how you did on test day?

Also, I've done just about every LR question to date but I feel that you still cannot fully prepare for the unpredicatable and that sometimes you just will not have answers that jump out at you in all three sections for that matter.

The cause of this drop is in bold --> (I felt really bad when doing the test today cause I couldn't focus that well and was a bit under pressure (self-caused)).

The LSAT requires tremendous mental power.

Regain composure, cut the mental baggage and keep moving. You know what you want.

[democrattotheend]

Don't panic - the exact same thing happened to me when I took the June 2008 LSAT as a prep test. The comparative reading threw me and I didn't finish half the reading comp and got a 165, after getting 170+ on at least the 10 previous prep tests. Then I got a 169 on October 2008 and thought I was going down. But I kept working at it, focusing mostly on newer tests with the harder reading comp, and eventually got my scores back up there. On the real test, I got a 173. So don't get too discouraged.

Also, if I recall, the October 2008 test had a tight curve...I think it was -9 for 170.