Frustrated with low score

[lizzieb]

Hello there,
So far I have taken 2 practice tests. On the first practice test I took during the first week of the powerscore class I scored a 145. I took another practice test last week (after lesson 5) and I received a 145 again. I feel really frustrated with my lack of improvement. I have been listening to every class and have been doing all the homework. I would really like to boost my score as much as possible, my goal is a 165. I know that is a lot but I'm really dedicated and determined to do it. During the class I typically feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the material but my test results show otherwise. I've cut down to working part time so that I can focus on studying for the June lsat and I'd like to make the best use of my time. Do you have any suggestions for me?
Thanks for your help!
Elizabeth

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Elizabeth,

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with the practice tests. Improvement certainly doesn't happen overnight, and your two 145's are probably not exactly the same. Without knowing more about your percentage breakdowns per section and question type, I can only speculate as to what's going on, but rest assured that what you're experiencing is not at all unusual. In fact, the test scores of some students initially decrease before going up. In such situations, I typically attribute the lack of measurable improvement to one (or all) of the following:

• 1. Endurance. Without taking a ton of practice tests, you cannot build the endurance and stamina necessary to complete a five-section test without getting mentally exhausted. This is probably evident from your performance on the last section of your practice tests, or on questions that are toward the end of each section, but thankfully it improves with practice.
  
  2. Section strategy. Your current pacing is probably way off. You might be able to finish some of your sections in time, but you probably rush through half the questions. Rushing is no good. Inversely, you may not be able to finish any of your sections, forcing you to guess on a good number of questions. Blind guessing is no good either. The appropriate strategy would be to approach each and every question correctly, setting aside only those you can reasonably expect to take an inordinately long time to solve. The goal is to finish your section without having to guess blindly, and then return to any outstanding questions, if time allows. This strategy takes practice, and it gets better with time.
  
  3. Question accuracy. At the early stages of your test prep, your accuracy is likely to be higher on the question types you've already studied than on those you haven't. You're only at Lesson 5, so I expect to see higher accuracy rates on MBT and Weaken questions than, say, on Flaw and Parallel Reasoning questions. As you advance , you will achieve a more consistent accuracy level across question types. Ultimately, your accuracy should correlate most closely with the difficulty of the questions, and less so with their particular type.
  
  4. Recognition. When you took your first diagnostic test, you probably didn't know much about conditional reasoning, causality, or grouping games. You were trying to "wing it," so to speak, using common sense alone. Your accuracy may have been abysmal, but at least you covered more questions. Today, your recognition levels are higher: you know a conditional statement when you see one. That does not mean, however, that you can use that recognition to arrive at the correct answer choice quickly and efficiently. In other words, you haven't turned recognition into automation. As a result, you are probably running out of time sooner than expected, further lowering your score.

Again, most of these issues will fix themselves over time if you put in the work, which you seem to be doing. So, keep it up and don't let your practice test scores drag you down. After all, there is only one score that really matters, and that won't be for another two months

Good luck!