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I can completely understand how people can do worse than they expected to do. It's a very hard test and just the slightest bit of irritation or annoyance from something can throw you off. Besides that, purely in terms of numbers, just a few wrong can shoot you down a few points on the scale. It's unsurprising to see people say that they did worse than they expected.

On the other hand, are there people who have done much better than they expected? I ask because I felt good when I left the test, for whatever reason. Maybe it was because I was just glad it was over, even for a few days, or maybe it was for some other reason. But I just didn't feel that dread that I am sure we all feel when we know we've fucked up. That could easily be misplaced confidence, something I experienced quite a few times during practice tests. But the games, for instance, assuming I didn't make some sort of horrible error in each individual game, we a lot better than I expected.

I hold no delusions about getting a 180 or anything close to it, unless I really lucked out. But I do think it's possible that I did a lot better than I expected, if only because I wasn't testing around a 175 to begin with. It's certainly possible, if not unfortunately likely, that I didn't get the score I needed to get, but I as I've indicated over various threads, I felt good, other people have suggested they got similar bubbling patterns to the ones I got, and I have a habit of finishing higher on some test than I ever score.

I'm just wondering if this is a really stupid way to feel.

I pt'ed consistently at 160. I left the test feeling really good. Got freaked out as I trolled TLS the next few weeks thinking that I missed a ton of questions. I received a 167. It completely changed my list of schools.

I felt really good when I left the September test. The LG section was made up entirely of games I was pretty good at.

Then I logged onto TLS and felt as if I was purely deluding myself and was an utter loser because I didn't feel like I scored a 175.

But, I did better than I ever did on a PT.

no. never in the history of the lsat has someone exceeded their expectations.

some of these thread titles crack me up

Impossible!

talibkweli wrote:no. never in the history of the lsat has someone exceeded their expectations.

some of these thread titles crack me up

I'm actually surprised that people do better. I'm not surprised that someone does better, but I'd be surprised if it was 20% do much worse and 1% do much better (seems too high compared to 20). If the test counts, and you get more fatigued, and it's early in the morning, and there's a time limit that is nonnegotiable, and nerves get the best of you, it makes sense that the PTs will be better, but unless you only did 2 or 3 PTs, I find it hard to believe that someone does 3 or 4 points better than they've ever PTed before.

talibkweli wrote:no. never in the history of the lsat has someone exceeded their expectations.

some of these thread titles crack me up

Well, you only have so much space, and the title was both blunt and bound to attract attention.

HerseyChris wrote:

talibkweli wrote:no. never in the history of the lsat has someone exceeded their expectations.

some of these thread titles crack me up

I'm actually surprised that people do better. I'm not surprised that someone does better, but I'd be surprised if it was 20% do much worse and 1% do much better (seems too high compared to 20). If the test counts, and you get more fatigued, and it's early in the morning, and there's a time limit that is nonnegotiable, and nerves get the best of you, it makes sense that the PTs will be better, but unless you only did 2 or 3 PTs, I find it hard to believe that someone does 3 or 4 points better than they've ever PTed before.

But you also (hopefully) enter super-focus mode on the real test, which is impossible to simulate on a PT.

kalvano wrote:I felt really good when I left the September test. The LG section was made up entirely of games I was pretty good at.

Then I logged onto TLS and felt as if I was purely deluding myself and was an utter loser because I didn't feel like I scored a 175.

But, I did better than I ever did on a PT.

How much better?

b.j. wrote:

talibkweli wrote:no. never in the history of the lsat has someone exceeded their expectations.

some of these thread titles crack me up

Well, you only have so much space, and the title was both blunt and bound to attract attention.

oh, i know what you mean and stuff. its just that the title implies that you think its physically impossible to do better than you thought

Jumbo wrote:

HerseyChris wrote:

talibkweli wrote:no. never in the history of the lsat has someone exceeded their expectations.

some of these thread titles crack me up

I'm actually surprised that people do better. I'm not surprised that someone does better, but I'd be surprised if it was 20% do much worse and 1% do much better (seems too high compared to 20). If the test counts, and you get more fatigued, and it's early in the morning, and there's a time limit that is nonnegotiable, and nerves get the best of you, it makes sense that the PTs will be better, but unless you only did 2 or 3 PTs, I find it hard to believe that someone does 3 or 4 points better than they've ever PTed before.

But you also (hopefully) enter super-focus mode on the real test, which is impossible to simulate on a PT.

+1

I didn't have my cat trying to lay on my question booklet during the real test.

Improved my score by 12 points (and exceeded my goal by 3 points) on the last September test. Not that my score is anything TLSers would be amazed by, but I was pretty damn excited It also let me totally revamp my school list (I didn't have enough reaches!).

Jumbo wrote:

HerseyChris wrote:

talibkweli wrote:no. never in the history of the lsat has someone exceeded their expectations.

some of these thread titles crack me up

I'm actually surprised that people do better. I'm not surprised that someone does better, but I'd be surprised if it was 20% do much worse and 1% do much better (seems too high compared to 20). If the test counts, and you get more fatigued, and it's early in the morning, and there's a time limit that is nonnegotiable, and nerves get the best of you, it makes sense that the PTs will be better, but unless you only did 2 or 3 PTs, I find it hard to believe that someone does 3 or 4 points better than they've ever PTed before.

But you also (hopefully) enter super-focus mode on the real test, which is impossible to simulate on a PT.

That's how I felt. I don't know why, but I didn't have a period where I just zoned out or almost fell asleep, which was usually the case on practice tests.

mytwocents wrote:Improved my score by 12 points (and exceeded my goal by 3 points) on the last September test. Not that my score is anything TLSers would be amazed by, but I was pretty damn excited It also let me totally revamp my school list (I didn't have enough reaches!).

What did you get?

I know what you mean, by the way. Not that I am bashing anyone here, but I always find it amusing when people are frantic over a 173. I'd give a kidney for that sort of score. I guess it really is relative.

talibkweli wrote:no. never in the history of the lsat has someone exceeded their expectations.

some of these thread titles crack me up

Damn it. You beat me to it.

b.j. wrote:

kalvano wrote:I felt really good when I left the September test. The LG section was made up entirely of games I was pretty good at.

Then I logged onto TLS and felt as if I was purely deluding myself and was an utter loser because I didn't feel like I scored a 175.

But, I did better than I ever did on a PT.

How much better?

Not huge.

Best PT was a 161, if I recall correctly, and I came out with a 164.

But it made me feel better, and I think the gap between 161 and 164 is pretty big in terms of schools the LSAT score makes available.

FacistCommunist wrote:
I didn't have my cat trying to lay on my question booklet during the real test.

+100. My cat is probably the only one in my life sad that I no longer have to spend all my free time studying for the LSAT.

On the actual topic of the thread, I wanted to chime in to the "felt great on test day and scored higher than I had expected." I took the Sept test and walked out feeling like I must have been missing something because I thought it was so easy compared to my last few PTs. I scored 1 point higher than my highest PT (a fairly old test), and about 3-4 points higher than my PT average (see profile for actual stats).

kalvano wrote:

b.j. wrote:

kalvano wrote:I felt really good when I left the September test. The LG section was made up entirely of games I was pretty good at.

Then I logged onto TLS and felt as if I was purely deluding myself and was an utter loser because I didn't feel like I scored a 175.

But, I did better than I ever did on a PT.

How much better?

Not huge.

Best PT was a 161, if I recall correctly, and I came out with a 164.

But it made me feel better, and I think the gap between 161 and 164 is pretty big in terms of schools the LSAT score makes available.

Absolutely. Good for you, by the way.

I really, really hope I'm in the same position in a few weeks.

s419 wrote:

FacistCommunist wrote:
I didn't have my cat trying to lay on my question booklet during the real test.

+100. My cat is probably the only one in my life sad that I no longer have to spend all my free time studying for the LSAT.

My cat will love life when I'm studying for hours every day. When I was in UG I only studied a couple hours every week.

i have a really hard time focusing and motivating myself while doing practice tests. i always do better in really high pressure situations.

YEAAA I did so much better than expected. Actually first I did worse than expected, then better. I was expecting a 170 on June's test, was hoping for a 172-174, but that felt like wishful thinking. Scored a 166. Re-took in Sept, feeling POSITIVE I was going to break that 170 mark... ended up with a 177.

Sometimes life is sweet.

No. Nobody ever does better than they expect. The people expecting a 180 get 175s, the people expecting 175s get 170s, the people expecting 170s get 165s, and the people expecting 165s get 140s and a trip to Cooley.

This is why I took the test expecting a 187.

CaliforniaDreaming1 wrote:YEAAA I did so much better than expected. Actually first I did worse than expected, then better. I was expecting a 170 on June's test, was hoping for a 172-174, but that felt like wishful thinking. Scored a 166. Re-took in Sept, feeling POSITIVE I was going to break that 170 mark... ended up with a 177.

Sometimes life is sweet.

Most of my PTs were in the 173-174 range, with -(0-1) on most LR and LG sections and -(3-6) on RC. RC questions just somehow felt clearer Saturday, so I think I have a legitimate shot at doing better than my PTs.

But maybe I'm just deluding myself... We'll find out in 3 weeks!

I scored about 3 points higher on my actual LSAT than my consistent practice scores. Practicing about 168, scored 171. Not significant, but unusual that my highest score was on the real test.

I took the Sept. LSAT and frankly don't think I deserved the high score I got.

Right after the test I didn't feel like I that well... I ended up changing my last answer from TCR to a distractor and agonized over it during the essays, so I mildly considered canceling. Decided not to and got a score that suddenly made me competitive at my dream schools- 6 points higher than my PT average and a score I only hit 5 times out of the 50+ PTs I took.

I tend to turn on an extra gear when it comes to pressure situations. For some people the pressure makes their minds sharper and keeps them on their toes, but my score could very well be sheer luck as well. I tend to think it's the latter, but who knows?

I enshrined the pencil I used to take the test. It sits in my room next to my Jesus Christ action figure.