retake and inflated practice test scores? Forum

[ejh22]

Hi everyone,

I haven't been posting here for very long but this website is such a great resource!

I took the LSAT this past October and scored a 158. In hindsight I should have canceled but didn't feel all that awful about the test coming out of it. Moreover, my prax test scores were all over the place, ranging from the low-mid 150s (like 153ish, can't really remember) to a high of 167 the Wednesday before the test, so I guess I thought I'd get lucky, but alas it didn't happen...I should mention that my diagnostic (a cold, never before seen test I took about 6 months before I actually started studying) was a 144. I think my score resulted from a combination of some flawed methods, test-taking anxiety (which affected me more than I anticipated), and personal crap that distracted me while preparing for the test.

So now I'm preparing for this June's administration. I'm adhering to the bibles and am seeing drastically different results. My prax test average so far (6 tests) is a 168, with scores ranging from 164 to 171. The first three months of my prep I spent a lot of time with the Kaplan mastery book drilling question types and have seen these questions repeated in prax tests. I don't remember the entire prax test, just am like "I've seen this question/passage/game before". I still work through the problems like I don't know the answer but am worried that my prax test scores are still inflated.

So for anyone who has retaken and has had to reuse some material, did you find that your practice scores were inflated because of some subconscious remembrance of material? Or did your score reflect your preparation for the retake?

Sorry for the long post...and thank you!

[oregon000]

scores might be a little inflated, but this is not a bad thing. Studying for the LSAT with brute force ( i.e. retaking practice tests) requires that you learn to recognize patterns. As long as you know why the answer your putting is right ( not circling "A" simply because you remember it is the right answer) you are helping yourself. Retaking tests is extremely valuable, don't worry about quantifying "inflation". Keep doing what your doing, make sure your retaking the tests and not blindly bubbling and you will be good to go. Congrats on the progress, good luck!!!

[ejh22]

Thanks for the encouragement! That is exactly what I'm doing, and when reviewing I'm writing out why right answers are right and wrong answers are wrong just so I'm absolutely certain I understand the reasoning behind everything.

[oregon000]

That is awesome work.

When I studied, I would get a room in the library and teach each test to the walls (Wally) after I took it. I would do each logic game on a whiteboard, going through it out loud from the set-up, to the deductions, to the questions. I would then go through each incorrect answer on the other sections and explain it to Wally. ( including how/why I was lead astray)

The other people in the library thought I was off my rocker, but it worked well for me. Keep doing what you are doing, and consider getting/finding a whiteboard. It was the most helpful prep tool for me.

[gaud]

I am in the same boat as you with the inflated scores. Has anyone retaken after running into this? If yes, results?