Hitting a Slump

[acatac]

hi all,

so i took the lsat in february and got a 167 and decided to re-take in october. i have been studying for the re-take since june and was regularly scoring in the mid 170s, but in the past two weeks I have hit a slump back to the mid-high 160s. does anyone have any tips on how to work through this?? thanks in advance!

[Kels]

Thats interesting. I'm probably not one to talk to about this but what tests were you taking and what tests are you taking now - in terms of how recent they are. Because my only guess is that you are just now taking the more recent tests???

[flip side]

or the reverse could be true.  for me i do much worse on lr on older tests (pre pt30) and my shift in scores is almost the same as yours, going from 170s on newer tests down to 168ish on older ones.

[Kels]

or the reverse could be true.  for me i do much worse on lr on older tests (pre pt30) and my shift in scores is almost the same as yours, going from 170s on newer tests down to 168ish on older ones.

thats true

[blairchuckalways]

I'm actually having the exact same issue -- acatac I think we're twins here. I started leveling out in the upper 160s on a variety of PTs, most recent and then the oldest (7-14), then randomly kept going up and down between 177 (high) and 168 (low) on 14-20 (I'm up to PT 20, 174).

I know that some people are saying the more recent tests are easier, but the curve is "harder" so that could account for the sudden drop -- perhaps you were scoring in the mid-170s on the older tests, but dropped with the stricter scale? Do you notice your score changing but your number of incorrect answers staying constant? Any particular sections seeming to shift in right/wrong answers?

I found that my jumps reflect more scale shifts than actual number of incorrect answers changing. If that's not the case for you, maybe it's just burnout. I took a couple weeks off after I started walling at 169, and when I came back refreshed, started hitting mostly above 170 again.

HTH!

[acatac]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your advice. I am going to go back and look at my raw and scaled scores as well as the preptest numbers. I have kind of been jumping about between old and new tests.

In general, I think that my problem is that I am speeding through these sections. Before I had some time management issues in terms of not having enough time left, but now I think I am having the opposite problem which leads to really silly mistakes. ANy recommendations on how to make yourself slow down?

I am also going to go over the bibles again and hope that if I have some time away from the tests maybe I'll come back re-energized. With about a month until the test, I am just getting a little nervous...

[DerekShiHarvard]

Try to stay motivated by thinking that either a very large scholarship, or enormous debt, is riding on your success on this test.

[blueskies6]

Try to stay motivated by thinking that either a very large scholarship, or enormous debt, is riding on your success on this test.

Haha, way to take the pressure off

[DerekShiHarvard]

Try to stay motivated by thinking that either a very large scholarship, or enormous debt, is riding on your success on this test.

Haha, way to take the pressure off

lol I guess that was a little harsh huh

[acatac]

I mean its true.. I am only re-taking the LSAT because of said scholarship money and debt, so fair point.