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how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:22 pm
by naillsat
I am wondering how rarely or commonly do people perform better on the real test than their PT scores, anyone knows, either from your own experience or from someone you know?

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:24 pm
by hereyago
you should ask this when the june lsat scores come out. then you'll prob get a lot of answers.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:44 pm
by CardozoLaw09
I would presume it's not too rare of a feat.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:47 pm
by jbates14
I'm sure that some people over-perform, but more than that under-perform. It is just the nature of the test and the conditions of it

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:48 pm
by oaken
Didn't quite do better, but I did as well on the LSAT as I did on my best PT (a score I had only gotten on a PT once).

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:03 pm
by mewalke1
Yea I would say ask again in a couple weeks thats when Ill now. I took 4 PTs.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:07 pm
by moonman157
oaken wrote:Didn't quite do better, but I did as well on the LSAT as I did on my best PT (a score I had only gotten on a PT once).
Exact same situation here. It's usually the opposite though.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:12 pm
by Kikero
I'd guess it's probably more common with people that didn't take as many practice tests in the first place. I only took two practice tests and I jumped 4 points on the actual test. If I'd have put more time into PTs then my scores probably would've leveled out instead of increasing from PT1 to PT2 and then from PT2 to the actual test.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:13 pm
by 20130312
Kikero wrote:I'd guess it's probably more common with people that didn't take as many practice tests in the first place. I only took two practice tests and I jumped 4 points on the actual test. If I'd have put more time into PTs then my scores probably would've leveled out instead of increasing from PT1 to PT2 and then from PT2 to the actual test.
Credited. I took 4, and then did 2 points better on the real thing than my best one.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:15 pm
by SchopenhauerFTW
I performed worse on the actual test.

There is a poster here though who magically got a 174 who I don't think even broke 170 on a PT, and there was a poster in October 2010 who was shocked to get a 180. Such people are indeed rare though.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:19 pm
by dabbadon8
Highest PT was 171 got a 173 on test day. Think it had more to do with making sure I was rested, relaxed and in test mode day of. Also some luck maybe ha.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:29 pm
by Malakai
I performed worse (subjectively, as i had been unable to answer all the questions with my usual level of confidence), and decided to cancel and retake. Like others have said, it seems to be more likely that one performs under PT average as opposed to performing above. I'm trying to figure out how to perform equally, if not better than my PT highs, on my next game day.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:50 pm
by jbates14
My question is to the people above who said they took 4 and 2 PTs. How did you only take that few of PTs, but have hundreds and thousands of posts on this site?

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:55 pm
by Malakai
jbates14 wrote:My question is to the people above who said they took 4 and 2 PTs. How did you only take that few of PTs, but have hundreds and thousands of posts on this site?

Lol. Seriously, please share this holiness.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:55 pm
by Kikero
jbates14 wrote:My question is to the people above who said they took 4 and 2 PTs. How did you only take that few of PTs, but have hundreds and thousands of posts on this site?
I didn't join this site until after I had taken the LSAT (I took the Feb. 2010 test). I'm quite happy with my results, so I never felt the need to retake, but I do wonder how much higher I would've scored if I'd treated the test with more importance and put more time into studying it like I'm sure people here would've told me to.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:02 pm
by 20130312
Kikero wrote:
jbates14 wrote:My question is to the people above who said they took 4 and 2 PTs. How did you only take that few of PTs, but have hundreds and thousands of posts on this site?
I didn't join this site until after I had taken the LSAT (I took the Feb. 2010 test). I'm quite happy with my results, so I never felt the need to retake, but I do wonder how much higher I would've scored if I'd treated the test with more importance and put more time into studying it like I'm sure people here would've told me to.
Haha same. I took the October 2011 test and joined shortly thereafter when I was researching schools to apply to. Honestly, I strongly considered retaking until I received an amazing offer from my state school.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:06 pm
by jbates14
guess that makes sense...glad I found it during my prep

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:09 pm
by Nova
jbates14 wrote:guess that makes sense...glad I found it during my prep
Me too!

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:38 pm
by thenumberfour
Can't say for certain until I get my results, but I wouldn't be surprised if I outperformed my PT's on the actual thing. I say that because I had crazy focus/test adrenaline the day of the actual exam. I give it my all because I knew how critical it was and I left feeling very confident. We'll see though!

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:53 pm
by roaringeagle
I over-performed I got a great score and skipped 8 questions on LR. If only I had TLS to guide me....

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:57 pm
by Bildungsroman
I scored higher on the real deal than I ever did on a PT.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:08 am
by ben4847
I got +5 from my average, and +1 from my high score.
More than that though, I had never finished more than 3 games in practice, and I finished all 4 on the real one.
However, I almost always got -0 or -1 in RC in practice, and I got -3 in the real one. So it cuts both ways.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:23 am
by fronkman
thenumberfour wrote:Can't say for certain until I get my results, but I wouldn't be surprised if I outperformed my PT's on the actual thing. I say that because I had crazy focus/test adrenaline the day of the actual exam. I give it my all because I knew how critical it was and I left feeling very confident. We'll see though!
This guy created an account to brag about how will he thought he did. He will fit in nicely here.

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:39 am
by Malakai
fronkman wrote:
thenumberfour wrote:Can't say for certain until I get my results, but I wouldn't be surprised if I outperformed my PT's on the actual thing. I say that because I had crazy focus/test adrenaline the day of the actual exam. I give it my all because I knew how critical it was and I left feeling very confident. We'll see though!
This guy created an account to brag about how will he thought he did. He will fit in nicely here.
Lol. One of the few ways to top such a feat is to open your account to market a product on here, like I did :wink:

Re: how rarely do people perform better on the real test than PT

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:10 am
by naillsat
roaringeagle wrote:I over-performed I got a great score and skipped 8 questions on LR. If only I had TLS to guide me....
so even with 8 questions skipped, you still got a great score. I am quite surprised lol :D