Practice test and score trend

[TargTru99^]

Greetings,

I just took an LSAT practice test today. So far in my studies, my first legitimate LSAT practice test score was a 138, and the second score was 143, taken this past August shortly after I did the first couple months of the 12-month self-study package from Powerscore. I did not take this third practice test until today, which, as immensely disappointed as I am, turned out to be a 137 score. Do not be mistaken, I, throughout this past semester in college, had put in precious hours to study for this test all while trying to bring up my GPA. Yet I was only able to get through the first two lessons of the LSAT prep course I was taking, I got an extension to the materials of the course and currently am on lesson 4. Even as I learned new concepts I need to understand for this test, I still got a lower score. I simply do not understand this. My best recourse is now to follow an advice from a Powerscore blog article to do 2 practice tests per week, one untimed and another timed. I am even considering taking a gap year so I can have enough to time get that near perfect score I've got to have in order to even have a chance at the top 10 law schools. What other advice can you give?? I am in a dire situation right now, being that I have been planning to take my first official LSAT this coming July. Please respond as soon as possible.

[TargTru99^]

To add to my post,unlike my previous practice test, the strategy that I took differently in this latest practice test was to not go from the beginning to the end of each section, but go after the question types or games or passages that appeared easiest to me and get them done first before going to the other questions. I implemented that strategy, but apparently, it seems to have a complete opposite of the effect I was expecting. What am I doing wrong??

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Targ,

I've got a few thoughts here that might help! First, when learning new concepts for the LSAT, it doesn't work the same as when you learn straight facts such as in a history course. I'll pull from an article I wrote about the LSAT Bibles, which applies in part to the course as well:

• "To be sure, many students do see significant increases while they are still reading the books. But, that's not the case for everyone, nor is it a surprise. This is because studying for the LSAT is different from studying for a history or chemistry test. In those disciplines, when you learn a fact or formula there is often a direct increase in your score on the exam. However, the LSAT is not a fact-based test; it is a test of reasoning processes, and so the correlation between learning an idea and seeing an immediate score increase is not as strong. In a sense, it is similar to learning how to drive a car: even after you read the manual and learn the rules of the road, the first several times you go driving you probably are not a good driver at all. Nothing is familiar or comes easily, and you are likely more of a menace on the road than anything (I certainly was!). Because you will at first struggle to integrate key ideas into your approach, this also means that at times you might see a small score drop. That's okay! Learning anything new tends to slow one down, but as you become more comfortable you will start to see increases, often large ones.
  
  Placing this in the context of the LSAT, your focus while reading the books should be on understanding the ideas. Do they make sense? Do you feel as if you are learning more about what you are seeing? If so, you are fine. During the reading of the books I don't expect that you'll see big gains. Those gains will come once you start practicing with questions and taking tests (which is akin to actually driving the car). It won't happen in a week, but the more you practice, the easier the methods will come to you, and ultimately you will begin to see solid increases. You have to trust the process and put the required work in to get the ultimate benefit."

Second, the strategy you implemented is not an easy one to pull off, especially in LR. It's more successful in LG/RC because each question set is "bigger" and thus easier to isolate, so I don't have an issue there, but in LR it's incredibly difficult to tell what is easy or hard at a glance (I'm not even sure I could do it with 100% accuracy). This is because it's not just the stimuli that determine difficulty, but the answers too, and to properly cull problems based on difficulty requires more than a surface glance. It also strikes me as somewhat time-wasting, and then when you consider that the first 10 problems tend to be easier on the whole, it seems like a better approach would be to simply do the first 10-12 in each LR section, then if needed skip certain questions once you see the stimulus looks rough. How does that sound?

Last, I'm not actually overly concerned about your current score and you shouldn't be worried about it either. One reason is that you have a decent amount of time remaining, and the second is that scores can move significantly in short periods of time (both up and down) while you are learning ideas. One breakthrough can jump your score quickly. What I want to focus on instead is where you are running into problems currently, which means I want you to fun thought the steps/tests in Item #4 of this article: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/retaki ... your-score. Let's see if we can isolate where you are going wrong in each section; if we can fix those areas, your score will start to rise

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[TargTru99^]

Hello Dave,

Thanks so much for the response. I have started to get at least some sense on how to move forward in this, though I still have another inquiry. For this third practice test, in which I did use the strategy of starting with the easiest questions on the Logical Reasoning sections, I did get a total of 21 LR questions correct, which is my best recorded LR score from my practice tests. Yet, as I implemented that same speed strategy for Logic Games and Reading Comprehension, my scores on those sections ended up being much worse on this third practice test than my previous practice test; in fact, for this third practice test, I got my worst recorded Reading Comprehension score. Even with these results, do you still recommend me that I stick to the strategy of starting with the easiest first for both Logic Games and Reading Comprehension and sticking with going roughly in order in Logical Reasoning?

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Targ,

Keep experimenting with different approaches is my advice. The reason is that the results of any individual LSAT are not a pattern, and could simply be a random coincidence. This time it might not have worked in LG/RC but maybe the next 5 times it does. For what works best for you, we can't be certain yet, so you need to keep working on it until you hit on the approach that's best for you. The seeming randomness of this test is something I wrote about here: Welcome to the LSAT Casino, and it's because of this effect that we cna't say that this one test is definitive. So, let's try it again and see what happens. If it again yields low RC/LG results, we'll go to a a different approach. Do keep in mind that in Lg, often the first game is one of the two easiest though, so it's usually a decent starting point

Thanks!

[TargTru99^]

Hello Dave,

Also, with regards to taking practice tests in LSAT test taking conditions, what is your advice for me from here going forward? Should I not take another timed full practice test until I finish up this live online prep course and touched on all of the concepts discussed in this course? Or should I take my next practice test sometime later when I'm going through the latter part of the course? I watched the Lesson 4 supplemental video by Jon Denning about studying, and if I remember correctly, he emphasized on the need to focus first on understanding and mastering the concepts before focusing on the timing aspect.

I did look up #4 on the article you attached in one of your last posts, and along with Jon Denning's advice, it has started to help me better approach studying by focusing on improving rather than making the same mistakes. Should I only have to follow that advice of yours in #4 of that article in analyzing what I need to improve on, or would you advise me instead to do more before taking my next practice test such as touching on and learning more of the concepts presented in the prep course I'm currently taking?

Also, you said that you weren't too concerned about the score on my third timed practice test because you said that I have a decent amount of time between now and July 15, which is when I prefer to take my first official LSAT. You also said that along through hard work, there would be a breakthrough that can occur that can shoot my score significantly in a short amount of time. I have been wanting to score at least close to a 180 when I take the July 15 LSAT. How much of a significant improvement would a typical breakthrough bring about? Would it really depend on the breakthrough itself in terms of mastering the concepts?

[Dave Killoran]

Hello Dave,

Also, with regards to taking practice tests in LSAT test taking conditions, what is your advice for me from here going forward? Should I not take another timed full practice test until I finish up this live online prep course and touched on all of the concepts discussed in this course? Or should I take my next practice test sometime later when I'm going through the latter part of the course? I watched the Lesson 4 supplemental video by Jon Denning about studying, and if I remember correctly, he emphasized on the need to focus first on understanding and mastering the concepts before focusing on the timing aspect.

There's no reason to not take practice tests, but I'd give it two weeks minimum before thinking about another one. Regular testing is good because it keeps you in touch with the time constraints needed to perform well on the exam and with the fatigue factor. what we don't want to see is constant testing with no learning in between. Tests should be taken when you feel like you know more than before

I did look up #4 on the article you attached in one of your last posts, and along with Jon Denning's advice, it has started to help me better approach studying by focusing on improving rather than making the same mistakes. Should I only have to follow that advice of yours in #4 of that article in analyzing what I need to improve on, or would you advise me instead to do more before taking my next practice test such as touching on and learning more of the concepts presented in the prep course I'm currently taking?

That was just one piece of the puzzle, but #4 contains a lot of drills to try out, so it should help. But just because it can cover a lot of ground doesn't mean it's the entirety of what you should do. And you should always be trying to learn the concepts as well as possible, so that should constantly be in your mix.

Also, you said that you weren't too concerned about the score on my third timed practice test because you said that I have a decent amount of time between now and July 15, which is when I prefer to take my first official LSAT. You also said that along through hard work, there would be a breakthrough that can occur that can shoot my score significantly in a short amount of time. I have been wanting to score at least close to a 180 when I take the July 15 LSAT. How much of a significant improvement would a typical breakthrough bring about? Would it really depend on the breakthrough itself in terms of mastering the concepts?

The potential here has everything to do with you, and your ultimate score is never easy to predict unless I'm teaching you directly (you need to see people do questions to get a really good sense of potential). I do know this, however: scoring close to 180 is extremely difficult for anyone, but the students I've had who got there always worked hard and worried less about scores than they did about learning. If you focus on scores constantly, it becomes a distraction. Learning the ideas, getting faster, and mastering the smooth application of ideas is what leads to the score. The analogy I use is about shooting free throws at the end of the championship game: sure you want to win (or get a perfect score), but if you focus on winning, you'll overthink the shot and often miss it. If you instead focus on the act of shooting (studying and learning), your chances of hitting the shot go way up.

So, keep studying and learning, and make mastering the ideas and your analysis of the questions your goal. Good luck!