Does this unnerving trend warrant a cancel? Forum

[sanetruth]

So here's my deal. I took a testmasters course and have been studying for the lsat while working full time since about May. Originally, didn't think it was a problem until I noticed/realized that a lot of my studying done after work is much less than fully productive. Regardless, the testmasters course ended in late august and I started doing prep tests. This has been the trend of my score since that time:

170, 170, 169, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 170, 169, 166, 166, 168, 166, 166, 167, 164, 163

The last one was even worse than my first diagnostic with testmasters, however i'm inclined to ignore it because i forced myself to take it after a full days work running on 4 hours sleep and little food. However, the trend is still worrisome. The worst part is, after I take the test, I can't tell if I did poorly or not. On some of my 170's I thought I had done horribly, and even on both the 164 and 163 I thought I had performed well until I checked my score. Something is certainly up here, and I feel like I'll need some time to correct it, so instead of having what will probably be a low score weigh me down, i'm thinking of going in, taking the test and then canceling. Because, like I said, even if I feel like I performed really well i could end up walking out of there with a 163, which is not what I should be getting. However If I cancel I'm always going to feel like I may have cancelled a decent score.

Thoughts on this trend and how to approach saturday?

[BU2013]

I never encourage a cancel unless you are sure you have bombed it. Nearly all schools take highest score. Why waste the money, maybe you did well.

[sanetruth]

I know someone else has got something for me...

[ly2010]

This is a tough one because you've given yourself a long time to study. Are you sure that if you cancel, you'll have time to work on it for another two months? I'm in a similar position as you so I definitely understand feeling like you're not ready.

However, with the scores you've been PT'ing, I personally wouldn't want to cancel and have to restudy and retake but that's because the schools I am shooting for aren't HSY. However, if the schools you are shooting for require 170+ and they "average," I would probably go in, take it, and then cancel unless you were 100% positive about your performance.

[ajmanyjah]

So here's my deal. I took a testmasters course and have been studying for the lsat while working full time since about May. Originally, didn't think it was a problem until I noticed/realized that a lot of my studying done after work is much less than fully productive. Regardless, the testmasters course ended in late august and I started doing prep tests. This has been the trend of my score since that time:

170, 170, 169, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 170, 169, 166, 166, 168, 166, 166, 167, 164, 163

The last one was even worse than my first diagnostic with testmasters, however i'm inclined to ignore it because i forced myself to take it after a full days work running on 4 hours sleep and little food. However, the trend is still worrisome. The worst part is, after I take the test, I can't tell if I did poorly or not. On some of my 170's I thought I had done horribly, and even on both the 164 and 163 I thought I had performed well until I checked my score. Something is certainly up here, and I feel like I'll need some time to correct it, so instead of having what will probably be a low score weigh me down, i'm thinking of going in, taking the test and then canceling. Because, like I said, even if I feel like I performed really well i could end up walking out of there with a 163, which is not what I should be getting. However If I cancel I'm always going to feel like I may have cancelled a decent score.

Thoughts on this trend and how to approach saturday?

Are you correcting for the curve?

I found nearly all my variation (granted, it was 5 points in my case) was due almost fully to the curve, and I was scoring -9 to -14 consistently

[sanetruth]

So here's my deal. I took a testmasters course and have been studying for the lsat while working full time since about May. Originally, didn't think it was a problem until I noticed/realized that a lot of my studying done after work is much less than fully productive. Regardless, the testmasters course ended in late august and I started doing prep tests. This has been the trend of my score since that time:

170, 170, 169, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 170, 169, 166, 166, 168, 166, 166, 167, 164, 163

The last one was even worse than my first diagnostic with testmasters, however i'm inclined to ignore it because i forced myself to take it after a full days work running on 4 hours sleep and little food. However, the trend is still worrisome. The worst part is, after I take the test, I can't tell if I did poorly or not. On some of my 170's I thought I had done horribly, and even on both the 164 and 163 I thought I had performed well until I checked my score. Something is certainly up here, and I feel like I'll need some time to correct it, so instead of having what will probably be a low score weigh me down, i'm thinking of going in, taking the test and then canceling. Because, like I said, even if I feel like I performed really well i could end up walking out of there with a 163, which is not what I should be getting. However If I cancel I'm always going to feel like I may have cancelled a decent score.

Thoughts on this trend and how to approach saturday?

Are you correcting for the curve?

I found nearly all my variation (granted, it was 5 points in my case) was due almost fully to the curve, and I was scoring -9 to -14 consistently

For the 169's to the 173, I never had below -13. Those later scores saw me getting more like -17,-18, and that last one, the 163, was a -22 (another reason why i'm not going to let it get to me?). Still, dropping from a max of -13 to consistently ~-18 is a significant decline.

[sanetruth]

This is a tough one because you've given yourself a long time to study. Are you sure that if you cancel, you'll have time to work on it for another two months? I'm in a similar position as you so I definitely understand feeling like you're not ready.

However, with the scores you've been PT'ing, I personally wouldn't want to cancel and have to restudy and retake but that's because the schools I am shooting for aren't HSY. However, if the schools you are shooting for require 170+ and they "average," I would probably go in, take it, and then cancel unless you were 100% positive about your performance.

No i'm not going for HYS, but I am going for a 170. My only concern is that I have heard that when your LSAT score is shown to schools, it is shown on a +-6 point spectrum, and that unless one of your two scores falls outside of the spectrum, then taking the average is seen as a better indicator of your performance. To back this up, a lot of schools say something like 'although we consider both scores separately, we also consider the average of two scores because it has been shown to be a better indicator of future performance'.

See, i'm a splitter, so something like this will make a difference.

[sidhesadie]

MY pt scores were doing the same thing, it was like the more I practiced the worse I got. My score in LR and RC stays consistent, but LG is my tough section and it was getting worse with every PT> from 174 down to 164, progressively. It was staying in the 169 + range initially, but as I started doing more frequent PT, it started dropping. This has been recently, like the last week.

Finally quit doing PT, just going back to drilling LG out of the powerscore Bible, and ignoring PT. I'm not doing another PT before test day. It's obviously not helping, for me I think it's going to be more useful to just focus on the one section I have trouble with, rather than exhaust myself with reading all that LR and RC when I end up with the same score in those sections regardless. The entirety of the variation in my score has come from the LG section.

I guess I'll find out Saturday if this is an effective strategy , but goodness knows I don't want the dang score to go any lower!!!

[sanetruth]

MY pt scores were doing the same thing, it was like the more I practiced the worse I got. My score in LR and RC stays consistent, but LG is my tough section and it was getting worse with every PT> from 174 down to 164, progressively. It was staying in the 169 + range initially, but as I started doing more frequent PT, it started dropping. This has been recently, like the last week.

Finally quit doing PT, just going back to drilling LG out of the powerscore Bible, and ignoring PT. I'm not doing another PT before test day. It's obviously not helping, for me I think it's going to be more useful to just focus on the one section I have trouble with, rather than exhaust myself with reading all that LR and RC when I end up with the same score in those sections regardless. The entirety of the variation in my score has come from the LG section.

I guess I'll find out Saturday if this is an effective strategy , but goodness knows I don't want the dang score to go any lower!!!

I wish my problem were that simple. My games are fine. usually no more than -2. However, the rest is unpredictable. Sometimes i'll go -4 total on LR, but yesterday i got -13. Also, the day before yesterday i got -1 on RC (on PT 58), but before that was hovering around -7 for a few days. Also, sometimes i'll go -2 on the first section, but sometimes its the first section that ruins my score. Its the inconsistency that kills me, if i knew what i needed to work on , i'd do it, but every time i try and focus on one or the other, the other drops down.

[Patriot1208]

Didn't read the whole post, but our your better scores from earlier tests and your worse scores from newer ones?

[sanetruth]

Didn't read the whole post, but our your better scores from earlier tests and your worse scores from newer ones?

It's mixed, although my two highest scores were from early tests. I still have scored 170's, 169's and 168's in the 50's. However, my two lowest scores of recent were both on very recent tests.

[rbhesser]

My scores did that last year... I realized belatedly that it was due to burn out. The lower more score got, the more I studied, which resulted in a lower score, etc. Vicious cycle. If you think it might be the same for you: relax today, take a test tomorrow, and just do some light work Thurs. & Fri. Make sure you warm up just a little bit on Saturday and have fun with the test. If you're super stressed about it, you're going to do worse. RELAX.

And wait until after the test to decide if you want to cancel. If this is your first test, and you don't get the score you want, you can always re-take in Dec. It's not going to hurt you.

[Er6297]

Were you familiar with some of the material on old tests because of repeat from test prep books or the course..etc? If so that would mean your old test scores are inflated because of residual memory; try taking pt59 or 60 and see what you get – that should be an accurate reflection of your score. If you don’t like what you get then take the test on Saturday but cancel the score. Its good experience.