Hi Sara,
Sorry to hear about your score, it sounds like you're capable of much higher! It's not uncommon for scores to deviate either up or down from where a student was scoring on their PTs; a real, live proctored LSAT is a different experience, and much more intense and mentally draining. That said, a seven-point difference between highest PT and actual score isn't enormous, and might be made up by a few tweaks to one's approach.
The first thing is to figure out what caused the lower score. Was it nerves? Did a game or passage go bad, dragging down the whole section? Test fatigue? Loss of focus? Often, wrong answers come in bunches, as a particularly hard question lingers in your mind and makes it harder to focus on the relevant information for the next question(s). We have to train ourselves to give each question our full attention, and not allow anything to distract us, including worries about past or future questions. Similarly, whenever you feel a loss of focus, make sure to give yourself a "mini-break" to look away from the test and take a breath, then look at the question in front of you with fresh eyes.
If you continually struggle on certain sections, types of reasoning or question types, that will require more in-depth analysis as to why. In that case, it might be worthwhile to look into
tutoring, even for a couple hours.
Hope this helps!
