Hi LawLover,
Don't get down! The pathway to a higher score is not a straight line, but rather one with ups and downs, and plateaus. That can be immensely frustrating at times, but it's totally normal for things like this to happen. And, it also means that the factors that knocked you down this time will at other times raise you up. That's the nature of the LSAT, and I'll post some links below that support that idea. Just keep in mind that this isn't a history test, and 5 hours of studying don't automatically mean more points on the test. this is a not a fact test, but a process test, and that has a huge effect on how you improve and why your scores vary at times. So let's talk about that
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 (links on articles about all this are below). These phenomena are a natural result of the fact that the test is made by humans, and although it's an awesomely well-made test, it's still not exact.
What it comes down to is that 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 several 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.
Now, what you've just experienced is a variation that's lower than you might expect. But, after a number of tests and also reaching your highest score yet, it's also not surprising that that would happen on occasion. For more info on score variation, I've included a bunch of links that discuss various aspect of how this all works. I find it fascinating, and you might too:
Last, I'll leave you with this quote from Michael Jordan, followed by a final thought I've pulled from another post I made on this topic:
- "I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." —Michael Jordan
Failure on practice LSATs is the best possible thing that can happen to you. Why? Because each time you miss a question, you learn about what you need to get better at. Don't look at a low score on a practice test as a bad thing. Look at it for the opportunity that it is, and then capitalize on it.
Last, don't let one test get you down. Look at the body of what you've done and realize you've come a long way already, and you still have lots of room to continue to go up. Take the rest of the day off, relax, and come back tomorrow feeling better.
Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!
