Multiple Large Drops in a Row?

[t14orbust326]

Hi Powerscore,

First off, thank you so much for providing this forum space and podcast for free. I have especially appreciated how encouraging y'all are in your podcast (as opposed to some other LSAT podcasts ).

I've been a bit frustrated with my progress, or lack thereof, lately. I'm not quite sure what exactly I'm doing "wrong," so I wanted to reach out to see if anyone could help me figure that out.

For context, my diagnostic was a 141, which was taken about two years ago. I took a course that summer and ended up in the low 150s. School started, and I stopped studying. I studied off-and-on the past year (as I had an extremely unpredictable and demanding schedule job wise), but I switched teams recently so I've finally been able to study "seriously" with a predictable work schedule, as of early June. Since July when I started taking PTs, my PT scores have been:

1.
Timed - 160 (LR1 -7, LR2 -6, RC -7, LG -5)
Blind Review - 174 (LR1 -2, LR2 -4, RC -2, LG -0)

2.
Timed - 167 (LR1 -3, LR2 -5, RC -4, LG -3)
Blind Review - 176 (LR1 -1, LR2 -1, RC -3, LG -1)

3.
Timed - 155 (LR1 -9, LR2 -8, RC -7, LG -7)
Blind Review - 165 (LR1 -5, LR2 -7, RC -2, LG -2)

4.
Timed - 157 (LR1 -8, LR2 -6, RC -7, LG -7)
Blind Review - 162 (LR1 -6, LR2 -4, RC -7, LG -3)

I'm incredibly confused on how I was peaking in the beginning and have only gone down by a considerable amount since, even in blind review. I've read the Powerscore Bibles a while back in-full and recently with trouble topics, LSAT Trainer a while back, and the Loophole recently a couple of times. I've done RC from tests #1-20 (a mix of untimed and then timed with blind review), LR sections from tests #1-15 (a mix of untimed and then timed with blind review), and then have redone LG from tests #1-10 using the "foolproof" method. I keep a "wrong answer journal" for RC and LR. I also read on my own pretty regularly and speed read books on the side using the Spreeder app.

Before doing my 4th PT, I redid question types from tests #1-15 that I previously struggled on most (parallel reasoning, parallel flaw, weaken); MBT questions were also sort of a weakness area, but I decided to just take a PT instead of redoing MBT questions as well. However, then on my 4th PT, I did the worst on completely different question types: must be false, except, "pseudo sufficient assumption".

Thus, I'm now just confused on what in the world I'm doing wrong and what I should be doing next prior to taking my next PT.

Thank you in advance.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi T14,

I don't know exactly what's happening based on what you've said so far, but I'm happy to give you my thoughts on what could be going on. You'll be able to figure out more if you really drill into the whys of your performances. The drop in blind review scores is more concerning than the drop in timed scores---that indicates that there's some pattern of misunderstanding occuring in the test.

So what could be happening overall? My guess is that you may have started to relax your thinking. It's hard to prephrase every time. Once you feel like you know this test, it's tempting to skip steps, move fast, and not drill into arguments as deeply as you should.

The best way to figure out what's going on though, is for you to do an in depth analysis. What was different between the first two tests and the last two tests? Look closely at your scratch paper from the exams, and see if you notice any patterns. Did you stop drawing conditionals? How about your RC diagramming? Did you do the games in order, or save the hardest for last? How were you moving around in the LR section? Did you run out of time anywhere? All these questions will help you understand your own performance better.

Hope that helps!
Rachael