score decrease practice test #3 -> practice test #4

[katherine.kane]

hello,

on my first 2 practice tests, i scored a 580. i was extremely dissapointed with the 2nd test, as i had put in a lot of work between tests (however mostly reading the strategy guides rather than actual OG problems). my instructor explained it wasn't uncommon to see a flat or even decreased score on the 2nd test due to lack of OG practice. i was thrilled to score a 660 on my 3rd practice test two weeks later. by then i had done about 15%-20% of the orange OG guide, but still hadn't cracked the verbal and quant OG guides.

unfortunately my score decreased to a 620 on my 4th exam (in both quant and verbal) in spite of many hours of OG problems over the past 2 weeks since the 3rd test. i am wondering if i burnt myself out this week leading up to the test this morning? or maybe i should have done a quick review of the strategy guides prior to the test, to refamiliarize myself with formulas? they weren't coming easily to me this morning. certainly OG practice is helping me with timing, but i don't necessarily feel that doing problems each day is keeping each topic fresh for me. maybe it will take time for that to happen?

question is, is it normal to see a drop in score between tests when you are putting in the work? was i having an off day? i am eager to take another test to wipe this one away, but am concerned about burnout. my goal score is a 710.

thanks in advance for any advice.
kate

[StaceyKoprince]

I wouldn't be worried about a small score decrease. The test has a pretty wide standard deviation - our practice tests have an SD of about 50 and the real test has an SD of about 30. So, on our test, a 40-point difference is not actually a statistically significant difference.

This SD is largely due to the adaptive nature of the test - you're going to get a mix of different questions and topics, and sometimes you'll get a few more in your areas of strength, sometimes a few more in your areas of weakness. There's a small element of luck on test day and, unfortunately, there's not a lot we can do to influence that. So we just do our best with what we can influence!

Assume that you are now in the mid-600 range generally, which means that you're making good progress but you still have some work to do to reach your goal. Also, practice tests at this point should be much more about identifying your strengths and weaknesses and setting your study priorities accordingly - worry less about a specific score / score improvement until after you've finished the course / reviewed all of the material at least once.