Inconsistency in PT socres Forum

[ADks]

With a little more than a month and a half left until the December LSAT, I have been experiencing some inconsistency with my PT scores.

My current study efforts have been and will probably continue to be drilling, concentrating on individual sections, etc. until November, which is when I will start PTing more. However, I have been taking at least 1 PT every week for the past couple months. I have been constantly improving from my diagnostic (149) to 159, 160, 164 progressively. But recently I have also dropped a couple 156s into the mix.

How can one improve consistency? I imagine getting a range of scores is part of the process, but I was wondering if anyone had any techniques that could help.

Thanks you!

[omega918]

What is your review like, for both when you drill and PT? Once I started a much more in depth system of review (for both drilling and PT), I began to get much more consistent with my scores. You should be looking very closely at every question you were even just a little unsure of, as well as every question you got wrong. When between 2 answers, what confused you? What made you pick the one you did? What makes the right answer right and the wrong answer wrong. Even take the approach of a tutor or teacher, and act as if you are teaching it and explaining it to someone else as you review, talking out loud if you have to. This will force you to make sure you really understand it, and not just kind of conceptually "oh yeah, I guess I can see that and won't do it again..."

Also, are you noticing trends in question types you get wrong? If so, you need to drill those hard so they don't throw off your score, or your confidence, when they show up.

[ADks]

and not just kind of conceptually "oh yeah, I guess I can see that and won't do it again...

Yeah, I do the above sometimes.

I do consistently get the same types of problems wrong but have worked fairly diligently to improve my processing on those questions.

Probably just need to work more intelligently on those types, and work through my processing in general.

Thank you omega

[josh43299]

What preparation resources have you used to get to this point? What sections are you struggling with? Are you finishing the sections? If not, are you accurate on the questions that you make it to? How much time do you spend prepping per week?

[msuz]

OP,

The same thing happened to me, with nearly the exact same scores. I took in Oct and am now waiting for my score, and if it werent for the LG section I would feel pretty confident about getting a score in the high 160s. And that is even with a shitty pre-LSAT PT, where I ended up having a 157 as my last PT, so you are in better shape than I was. My advice depends on you - do you think you have achieved your potential, or are you shooting for 170s? I know for me, I didnt have time to prepare adequately - I only had 2 months and my diag was a 144 - so I tried to brute force my way to a high score (PTs everyday and reviewing at night, without completely mastering all question types). If I could do it again, I would drill by question/game type until I mastered them and would have followed a more meticulous regimen in general (such as what Dave Hall recommends in his thread, or Pithypikes guide). If I am not happy with my score I will retake in December, because I am almost certain I was still improving when it was time for me to take the test.

If you think you are peaking/reaching your potential and you honestly dont think you are smart enough to get above the high 160s without luck, I would recommend trying to figure out what kind of routine you did right before you peaked. IE, if you took a PT every other day for a two weeks, peaked, then burnt out, maybe you should do the same thing 2 weeks before the LSAT.

However, if you think you need more time to master the test and that you have not yet realized your potential, try your best this time/delay until next year/retake if you arent happy with your score.

[thelawyler]

There are slight differences in PTs as they have changed slightly overtime. Notably LG gets a bit harder recently, LR seems to change a little in style, etc. Try to see if maybe that trend is affecting your PT scores.

[ADks]

I have prepared with the 3 Bibles, I started by doing LR that seemed to be my worst section. I started with a general review of LR then proceeded to the ones I had the most problems with. When timed, I finish the sections usually with a couple minutes to go, in some cases I barely finish which is usually with the LR sections. I usually put in about 20-30 hours a week, I am in grad school and working so I get it in where I can. I have read the LG and RC bibles, I don't seem to have an inconsistency problem with those two respective sections. Just with LR there are so many different types of questions...

Good point msuz, I'm not planning on PTing hardcore until a month out, and by hardcore I mean at most 3 a week but probably two a week.

I've noticed the trends thelawyler, I have stuck to older PTs so that I can take the newest 10 in November, so they are most like the one that I will actually take..

[Seneca]

and not just kind of conceptually "oh yeah, I guess I can see that and won't do it again...

Yeah, I do the above sometimes.

You should adjust your routine to do that all of the time. Reviewing your mistakes is probably the most important part of taking the PT. Yes, you get experience with timing and you're exposed to new material, but it doesn't mean anything unless you can figure out question by question, section by section, why you got each answer wrong (or right) and make a note of the type, your reasoning flaw, etc to work on. You should do a comprehensive review and then a study session or two addressing those flaws before you take your next PT in order to benefit as much as possible from each take.

Also, when you are comparing your scores from test to test, don't focus on the overall score (156, 164, whatever) - focus on the raw score and the number of questions you missed in total and by section. Depending on the curve for each test, a -10 overall can mean a very different thing than a -14 (you'll see this more and more with the more recent tests - both numbers have earned 170s in recent years). Similarly, it is more meaningful to recognize that you had an unusually low-scoring LG section that caused a 3-point score dip than it is to just see a lower overall score. You need to shift your mindset from the big picture (consistent score on each PT) to a smaller picture (consistent scores from section to section between tests) for now.