Why Your Mock Scores Do Not Predict Your Real Score

You scored 58% on your last mock. You are panicking. That means you will fail the real exam, right?

Wrong. Your mock score means almost nothing about what you will score on exam day.

I know that is hard to believe when you are staring at a number that feels like proof you are not ready. But I want to be honest with you: mock scores are useful for one thing. Everything else you are using them for is probably hurting you.

Why Mock Scores Fluctuate So Much

Mock exams are not the real exam. The question difficulty varies wildly between different mocks. One mock might have mostly easy questions. Another might be disproportionately hard on criminal procedure.

Your stress level changes each time. Maybe you were calm during one mock. Panicked during another. That alone changes your score by 5-10 points.

You get sick. You sleep poorly. A thousand variables affect your mock score that have nothing to do with whether you will pass the real exam.

So when you score 58% on one mock and 72% on another, that does not mean you improved 14 points in actual knowledge. It means the mocks were different difficulty levels, your stress was different, or the mix of topics was different.

What Mock Scores Are Actually Useful For

Mock scores are useful for one thing: identifying which question types trip you up. The patterns in where you got things wrong.

If you score lower on mocks with a lot of criminal procedure questions, that tells you something. You have a gap in criminal procedure. Fix it.

If you score lower on mocks you take when you are tired, that tells you something. You need better preparation or time management on exam day.

Use mock scores for pattern recognition. Not as a prediction of your real score.

Why This Matters

What determines whether you pass is not one mock score. It is whether you have systematically worked through your weak topics, whether you understand the law, and whether you can apply it under pressure.

The Real Indicator: Your Trend

If you want to use mock scores, look at your trend over time.

If your first mock was 55%, your second was 58%, your third was 61%, your fourth was 64%, that trend matters. You are improving systematically.

If your mocks bounce between 58%, 72%, 61%, 69%, that tells you nothing about your real performance. It tells you the mocks are inconsistent or your stress level is variable.

The trend is what matters. Are you getting better at answering questions? Are your weak topics becoming less weak? Are you working through your Wrong Questions Bank systematically?

Those are the actual predictors. Not the score itself.

What You Should Do Instead

Stop obsessing over your mock score. Instead, do this:

1. Take the mock
2. Mark it
3. Review it thoroughly
4. Categorize every wrong answer: Was it a knowledge gap? A misread? Time pressure? Application confusion?
5. Fix the root cause

This matters infinitely more than the score.