Score Fluctuations

[pattrick]

Hi,

I took a full length LSAT course with you guys last summer, and although I did not do as well as I liked on the September 2014 LSAT sitting I am registered to re-write this september. It turned out to be almost a good thing I did not do as well I would have liked, as I am in a much better place with my studying than I ever was before the exam last year. I am in striking distance of my goal of 173-174 with my lsat five practice test being 175(pt56), 175(pt57), 175(pt58), 171(pt59), 171(pt60). However, this fluctuation is scaring me. It seems I either do really well or not so well. At these score in which one or two raw points can be make a huge differences, any tips on maintaing consistency, both in practice test and for the actual test.

Cheers,
Pat

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Pat,

Thanks for the message! First, congrats on the score improvement. It's an odd thing, but taking time off from the LSAT often helps increase your score. I wrote a bit about that last year over at: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/243 ... Your-Score.

Second, your scoring changes aren't actually considered a statistically meaningful variation. The LSAT isn't a perfect test (no exam is), and thus every time you take it there's an expectation that your score will move a bit. Anything within one standard deviation is considered a basically "identical" score from a statistical standpoint, and this is one reason that LSAC reports scores with a score band of a couple of points plus and minus from your actual score (see http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/your-score/score-band for more info). That band is to let law schools know that your "true" score could be anywhere in that range.

Third, because of the way the LSAT is constructed, it's almost unavoidable that you have score variation. Two elements that cause this are what I call the casino effect as well as section difficulty balancing. These phenomena are a natural result of the fact that the test is made by humans, and although it's an awesomely good test, it's still not exact.

So, although that looks like a wide variation to you, test makers would say it's all within expected ranges of a person whose "true" score is 173 (which is the center of that range). That doesn't much help, though, because law schools look at a 175 as different than 171! And, as you rightly note, in the 170s, a single missed question can cost you one scaled score point. So, the impact is severe, but that is happening because right now you are scoring at a really high level.

Although it may not seem so to you, you are actually scoring quite consistently. As you move through the next two months, rigorously track the questions you are missing in each area. Write them all down, and look for patterns within those misses. also track the questions you answered correctly, but weren't 100% comfortable with. Dissect those as well. There are very likely some concepts that you know pretty well but not perfectly, and those are the concepts you want to identify and then absorb 100%. Second, try to take as many tests as you can over the next few months. Get used to the strain and fatigue of the test as much as possible—the more comfortable you are with that, the more powerful and consistent you will become.

That's it for the moment, but please let me know if that helps. and again, congrats—you're actually doing awesome right now!

[pattrick]

Thanks so much for your reply. I have my heart set of either Chicago or Columbia and with only a 3.79 a lot is riding on preforming well on test day.

[pattrick]

Sorry one more question. I had planned to do practice test 50-75 as full timed test, while using the first fifty for question type practice or full section practice. Is that enough full timed practice tests for the next two months given that I am now on test 61?

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Pat,

Those are both great schools, and you are right that a lot is riding on your LSAT performance. Fortunately, you are already in a scoring range where you are in contention for admission so it's now a matter of refining and polishing your skills.

At this point, we are 67 days away from the LSAT. You've got 14 tests remaining, so that's a test every 4-5 days. That's a pretty good pace overall, and given that closely reviewing an LSAT should take a minimum of several hours, probably about right. Going at a faster pace is possible, but I don't feel like it's beneficial given the time you have, and it would take time away from general studying (and taking the occasional break!). One helpful note if you are looking for more exams: it appears the new SuperPrep II will contain a previously unreleased test (see https://twitter.com/DaveKilloran/status ... 1220898818 for more info).

So, I think you are in good shape. You can balance your time between taking tests, comprehensively reviewing those exams, working on your weaknesses, and continuing to generally study and learn more about the LSAT.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!