Plateaued in the mid to high 150s and score decreasing

[jlam061695]

I have been preparing for the LSATs since June of this year, and I have experienced quite a few ups and downs in terms of my score in the past four months. I started out with a 145 for my diagnostic, and since taking one of the full-length courses over the summer, my score initially went up to a 154 the second time around but decreased for the last two tests (back to the high 140s). Since the course ended in mid-September, I have done a lot of vigorous preparation; I bought all three of the LSAT preptest books with actual LSATs and I have taken about 14 of the tests. I started out getting about 12-13 wrong on the LR and finished the first book getting 7-4 wrong. On the LG, I haven't noticed much of an improvement since I started; I keep consistently getting 11-9 wrong and I am usually not able to finish all the games. I haven't noticed much of a pattern for the RC section in terms of what sorts of questions I get wrong; I get anywhere between 11-4 wrong. What irks me is not so much my score but my inconsistency. Since I started the second prep test book, I have been doing worse; I went from getting only a handful wrong on the LR to getting, on average, 11-12 wrong per section. I do each section untimed and I try to be in an environment with little disturbance, even though I have to pause the timer on my clock sometimes if my parents barge in the room. I have no idea why I am starting to do so poorly again, despite all the prep I have done and all the time I spent analyzing the questions I got wrong + the corresponding correct answer choices. I am taking the December LSAT and I am anxious about it because I am afraid that if I do improve again, my score on the actual LSAT will be inconsistent with what I scored on the practice tests. Any advice on how I can be more consistent/have a different mentality/how to score higher would be appreciated.

[Claire Horan]

Hi Jlam,

As an aspiring lawyer like yourself, I would like to first offer this disclaimer: I have no idea what is going on with your score. I have some thoughts for you and some possible reasons and solutions, but you ultimately have more information here.

I have often seen students with a similar problem, so don't feel like you are the only one who has seen a score decrease. Scores do not uniformly go up, even when you are studying really well. One reason for this is that there is no significant difference between a score 3 points apart. Another reason is that these are small sample sizes. It is likely that your highest score would not be your "true" score at this point in time if you had a sample size of 100. So try not to extract too much "information" from the scores themselves.

The good news is, you can learn from poor performances, so a recent disappointing score can pave the way for a better future score. Try to reflect on your performance after the timer goes off for each practice test, section, or passage/game. How did you feel? What strategy did you use that you generally don't? Did you do a lot of diagramming, or less? Did you have time to spare? If you do this reflection at the level of a timed, 8:45-minute logic game or reading comprehension passage, your sample size will be greater and you can get more information about what works for you and what doesn't (ex. are you trying to read too fast or slow).

For the rest of October, I think you can afford even to do some active experimenting. Then, once you've figured out your best strategies, timing, preparation (how much coffee? how much sleep? etc), take the month of November to practice doing what you've identified as your best methods. And, above all, don't let anxiety bring you down. Coming at every problem with confidence and an attack mentality is incredibly important.