How Do I Minimize Score Variance?

Inconsistent practice test scores are a common frustration for LSAT students. If you have this frustration, there’s no need to worry. Score variance is a fact of life on the LSAT. 

Score variance is normal, but missing questions you could have gotten right shouldn’t be. Misreading, overlooking details, and focusing on speed over accuracy are holding you back and making you less consistent.

If you’re finding it tricky to maintain consistency on the LSAT, here’s how to reduce errors and get more questions right every time.

Score Variance

You will always experience some amount of score variance, which is totally normal. Sometimes you get lucky, which leads to a few extra points. Sometimes you get unlucky, leading to underperformance. You can take the LSAT 5 times, which gives you a great chance to experience favorable score variance at some point on the official test. With the ability to retake, score variance can be your friend. What we want to avoid is score variance caused by bad habits or a lack of understanding. 

Avoiding Misreads

Misreading passages or answer choices is a common mistake, but every time you misread, you miss an opportunity to get that question right. Misunderstanding a word, missing an important detail, or failing to grasp the full context of an argument can cause you to slip up. To avoid this, focus on reading slowly and carefully, especially with tricky language or complex arguments. This will mean doing less questions, and that’s okay. High-scoring students rarely, if ever, get a question wrong because they made a reading mistake. Speed will come if you focus on accuracy first. 

Make it a habit to check that you fully understand each sentence as you read. Don’t rely on the next sentence to clarify the previous. If you catch yourself regularly missing questions due to misreads, slow down. The few extra seconds spent on accuracy will increase your score in the short term, and help you improve at the LSAT faster to raise your score significantly in the long run.

Focus on Understanding

How effective is your review process? Many students quickly see why the right answer is correct on a second look, but this can lead to complacency. 

You need to go deep on every one of your mistakes. You haven’t finished your review if you can’t answer all of the following questions:

• Why was the answer that you picked wrong? What made you pick it? How can you avoid making that mistake in the future?

• What makes the right answer choice right? What scared you away from picking it in the first place? Why is that not a problem? How can you avoid making the same mistake again?

• Was the answer predictable? If so, where in your process did you go wrong that led you to fail to predict the answer?

This review process might take some time, but it is the most important part of your LSAT study routine. Doing tons of questions without learning anything is useless. By doing a careful review, you guarantee that no question goes to waste. 

Practice Precision to Build Consistency

Building consistency on the LSAT comes from focusing on the details. Learning to read precisely will help prevent the errors that lead to wasted time and significant score variance, which can make the difference between achieving your target score and falling short. 

Recognize that your mistakes are always a sign of incomplete understanding rather than simple score variance. When you get into the habit of addressing each mistake in-depth, you strengthen your foundational skills, which will unlock your LSAT potential.