Can an unfinished diagnostic practice test be evaluated?

[Guadalupe]

I ran out of mental energy on my first timed practice test and had to guess on significant portions just to complete the test.

I really just wanted to see what I could accomplish. I hadn't studied anything else but GAMES and since speed and accuracy is so crucial to the test I wanted to feel what it was like to perform under timed conditions.

Should I evaluate all or just portions of the practice test? Did I waste a perfectly good test by guessing?

Worried and feeling very beat up...

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Guadalupe,

Thanks for the question! Yes, the results of your test are still extremely useful. There are two things you want to look at:

• 1. How did you perform on the questions you answered?
  
  Since guessing doesn't tell us anything about your actual performance on questions, don't worry about evaluating those questions. Instead, carefully examine the question you were able to answer, and use those results to assess your strengths and weaknesses.
  
  2. Your timing
  
  The fact that you guessed on a lot of questions does NOT mean you wasted the test Instead, it tells you that speed is an issue you need to work on. However, here's the good news: pretty much everyone needs to work on speed, and very rarely do people take their first practice test and finish all the questions. So, this is a very normal problem to have!
  
  The way to get faster is, counter-intuitively, to not worry about speed much at first. Instead, focus on understanding the LSAT concepts and techniques in play in each question, and then as you become comfortable with those, begin doing more and more questions so you can practice at moving more quickly.

So, the good news is that your experience here is normal, and you shouldn't feel bad about that. Instead, use the test results to help you see what you need to work on the most, and then build a plan from that point on.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks and good luck!