Progress and Sudden Regression

marcorrep

Ive been studying throughout the summer taking PTs once a week and i was making good progress. I started at 158 in may, climed through the 160s throughout the summer and reached 171 and 174 two weeks ago. This past week and this week, however, I have dropped back into the 160s on three tests and dont know what to do, I feel like ive regressed, I was going to take it in september but now I think i have to delay it. What can i do?

smorua1202

I would review the preptests to see whats going wrong. Maybe your just really worried while taking the preptest because you dont want to see 160 again and you're not able to focus entirely on the questions (Maybe take it untimed to see if its that). You should check to see if the issue is something youve worked on in the past but maybe have stopped because you got better at it. Maybe just revisit things that used to stump you. Sometimes taking a day away is helpful too - I included the other two first because I know I personally wouldnt be able to stop studying when the test date is close.

natemanwell1

tests tend to cluster in style in groups of around 5. so if you take 10 tests in chronological order then you generally improve over the first 5, then your scores can dip over the next few before coming back up. I would suggest taking the tests in random order to see if that helps