Help please!

[brittany1990]

I just finished the Full length powerscore virtual online course this past saturday. Before the course began, I took a practice test to get a baseline score and I got a 144. The second practice test I took was in week five and I got a 153. Since then, I have been consistently taking practice tests. In the past two weeks, I have taken around 5 practice tests and have been scoring around 162-164. However, I took a PT this past Monday as well as today and got a 157 on both of them.

I am extremely nervous that my score is dropping since I’m taking the LSAT in basically a week. I have no idea why the drop is occurring, and I do not know if I should take anymore tests before the actual LSAT on October 6 since recently my scores have been hurting my confidence.

Any advice would be great!

Thanks,
Brittany

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Brittany,

First, congrats on showing some great improvement. Well done!

Second, Let's look at those last two tests. The test that you took on Monday seems like an outlier to me. You'd been scoring in the 162-164 range, and then you had a bad outing. There are plenty of reasons for this (fatigue, noise, bad test day, bad test for you, etc). Had you written me then, I'd have told you to forget it and then move on. But, I wonder if your confidence wasn't a bit shaken by that performance, and then when you went in today that doubt rattled you a bit more and caused a similar result. I know that's pretty unnerving, and it makes you feel like all your progress is being washed away. The good news is that is not the case! If you can go out and hit the 162-164 range multiple times, you have the ability to do that again (and more!).

The issue is now, as you've said, that you are extremely nervous. That is not helping your cause and is instead having a bad effect on it. You need to take a few days off from full practice tests, and instead just work through regular LSAT problems--which will help remind you that you really do have the ability to solve these problems. Then, once you are feeling a bit better (and perhaps slightly rejuvenated), you should sit down and take another test, but don't let those old doubts creep in again!

Confidence is a big part of this test (check out our online modules on Test Confidence and Attitude), but the best thing here is that you've done it before. Don't let one or two bad results (especially when they seem related) get you down. Instead, walk in there knowing that you can score higher, and expect that to occur

Good luck!