Scores getting worse by the test date. How to boost my ego? Forum

[greenapples]

Hey guys,

I'm in a serious dilemma. My cold diagnostic was 160s, and I was getting -9 to -11 wrong by mid-August. As test date is approaching, my scores are dropping. FAST.

It's going from 170s to high 160s, and this week they are staying in the low 160s. Is this because I'm taking the recent tests? I don't know what to do. Ever since my score is in constant decrease I get nervous before taking PT. I tried shaking that off by running in the morning, eating vitamin C, going through reviews more carefully.

It just seems like my brain went through this weird zone. I am not focusing the same as I used to, and I don't seem to be using the same strategy (hence the low score)

Is this an indication that I should just take Sept test, cancel it if I bombed it, and retake it in Dec?
I'm not aiming for HYS, I just want to get into T14. I was hoping to score very high on LSAT to get considered for possible scholarships at low tier T14.

Has anyone experienced a similar anxiety issue? If so, how are you guys overcoming this?

Thanks!

[lawyerxxx]

curve makes 160 a few points higher, don't freak out too hard

[splittingheadache]

Hey guys,

I'm in a serious dilemma. My cold diagnostic was 160s, and I was getting -9 to -11 wrong by mid-August. As test date is approaching, my scores are dropping. FAST.

It's going from 170s to high 160s, and this week they are staying in the low 160s. Is this because I'm taking the recent tests? I don't know what to do. Ever since my score is in constant decrease I get nervous before taking PT. I tried shaking that off by running in the morning, eating vitamin C, going through reviews more carefully.

It just seems like my brain went through this weird zone. I am not focusing the same as I used to, and I don't seem to be using the same strategy (hence the low score)

Is this an indication that I should just take Sept test, cancel it if I bombed it, and retake it in Dec?
I'm not aiming for HYS, I just want to get into T14. I was hoping to score very high on LSAT to get considered for possible scholarships at low tier T14.

Has anyone experienced a similar anxiety issue? If so, how are you guys overcoming this?

Thanks!

Preface: I am taking the LSAT in December for the first time. I'm still working on perfecting everything, drilling, and reading. Take this for what it's worth.

Your diagnostic is so amazing. I hit 150 and didn't know what to feel and last week made 160 for the first time. From what I've read while hardcore lurking the past few test administrations is that for many people they read and drill and have nice increases in their PT score and then for some they hit a plateau and for many the score are not very consistent but some of them still have time left to get back the consistency and improve. It also does seem like that the more recent the PTs, the harder they are (many people have said that LG is less abstract, RC is progressively harder, and I can't remember what the assessment for LR is) which is why many people say it is so important to schedule PT's in that you are taking recent ones near the test date for relevancy and more of them for stamina.

When you first did your diagnostic, what were your breakdowns per section? This recent dip, what were your breakdowns per section? For each section, what were you struggling on specifically: in/out for LG, assumptions for LR, etc? Did you use any analytics to show your progress in each section and sub-section? Did you carefully take notes of specific weak areas and did you drill through them and REVIEW? Did you immediately review each PT in depth after you are taking them before you had this score dip, or only just recently? Is timing an issue: are you missing questions because you run out of time or are you being a bit careless in reading/being meticulous because of your progress already? How many 170s/high 160s have you had consecutively? How many PT's did you take? When did you start prepping?

What do you mean you are not using the same strategy, are recent PT's having you second guess the right answer?

Are you set on applying this cycle? I'm in the mindset that you should take as long as you need for the LSAT as this is something that is controllable for most people. Many people score below what they are PTing by 3 to 5 points. Keep in mind that while every point can equal thousands of dollars in scholarship, waiting to get that LSAT score high enough by taking multiple sittings could simultaneously decrease scholarship offers as they could be given out to others that have the numbers and applied earlier.

But if nothing is out of the ordinary particularly to those questions above and if you go ahead with September in the last few weeks I suggest you sleep as much as you can and make sure you sleep at a consistent time, write your PT's and complete your review in the early morning around the same time you would take the real thing, visit the test centre and go into the room if possible, (and this is just what I'd do personally) shut out the rest of the world (if friends want to go out, new tv shows premier, etc), I guess all in all, cut out extraneous factors that could add to the stress.

I really am in no position to dole out advice given where I am in LSAT prep, but I really hope it could help in the coming weeks. Best of luck and hope you kick some ass!

[McAvoy]

Almost everyone goes through this. It's why the TLS conventional wisdom is to plan on a score ~3 points less than your peak PT average.

It is ameliorated by retaking.

[greenapples]

Thanks for the encouragement!

Until August, I was consistently getting -0 to -2 in LG (careless mistakes) and mostly getting infer/most be true questions, weaken, and principle questions. I focused on improving those topics. Now, I'm just getting everything wrong! I got -6 wrong in each LR sections (not specific to topics) and -11 wrong in RC (usually got -4 to -6 wrong)

It's just plummeting. I do agree that recent PT is harder. Some questions seem new, especially ones that ask "which factor is important in assessing the argument?" etc. I'm planning on cutting some slack next week and just working off section by section. I'll push through doing PT's this week and hopefully I'll improve...

[LSAT Hacks (Graeme)]

Are you sleeping? A LOT of people skip this, and it is destructive to your test scores.

You should be sleeping 8 hours, or whatever is normal for you. If you need an alarm to get up and could sleep another 1-3 hours after it....you're on a sleep deficit, and performing below peak.

[dontdoitkid]

I went through a dip as well over the past ten days as well. I'm still working towards it, but what I've found is that the issues are overwhelmingly tied to a combination of increasing anxiety and burnout. A few things that I'm doing to combat that:

A. Taking away any reason for me to blame a PT on a condition (I was hungry/I couldn't focus/I was tired/I just wasn't feeling it). That means take care of yourself! 8 Hours of sleep, a healthy amount of non LSAT relaxation, caffeine or no caffeine (whatever you have been doing that helps you), anything you need to keep things as standard as possible for yourself.

B. Minimizing isolation. My mood tends to oscillate throughout the day between a low point of "there is no hope" and a high point that usually culminates in my strutting out of the library listening to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, or something like that. I try to keep both of these in check. When I'm feeling down I usually send a quick test to my girlfriend or one of my friends, do a little meditation, and just try and think about how much of my negativity is more a product of my own fears than it is anything substantive. Usually that helps and i can just move forward from there.

C. Be aware of your anxiety. Own it. If it's truly something you are dealing with, then it's typically not going to go away, and those reprieves you feel from it are not going to last forever. Face the beast. You have to constantly embrace it and work against it. Keep that up and you'll go a long way come test day. PM me if you want to talk about the anxiety side of it (or anything) - that's been a huge part of it for me since day 1.

Best of luck!!!

[unodostres]

i make sure to have a day in the week where i dont do lsat garbage. sure theres onyl like a couple of those left with the exam next week for me, but if you retake, think about that. same concept applies in law school. you might be getting burned out, so check out for a bit and coming back with new eyes helps. good luck