seeking advice about retaking the LSAT

hey! stats: 3.82 UGPA/162 LSAT/nURM.

i've sat for 2 LSATs so far – october 2025 and this most recent february 2026 – and haven't performed the way i'd hoped (162 on my first and 161 on my second – a one point decrease from the first lol). my PTs are consistently in the 166–170 range, and i know that a general rule of thumb is to assume you will score around 5 points lower than your highest practice test on the real exam, but i know that i can do better, and i want to keep trying! i get super anxious in testing settings and i think this could be a part of the situation. however, i know i can also improve in my accuracy/understanding of the test, so i am thinking of changing my approach/study strategy and taking more PTs under high pressure in order to deal with the extreme anxiety i experience each time i've sat down to take the test, as well as going back to the basics and making sure i really understand the fundamentals of logic and reading comprehension – i think that if i can practice clearing my mind and being calmer during the actual test-taking experience, as well as making sure i am understanding both why i get questions right and why i get them wrong, i can greatly improve my test day score. but i have a few questions:

1. can anyone offer advice that helped them to overcome a hurdle like this? i'm thinking of buying a 7sage subscription (for these past two tests, i have only been self-studying using Lawhub) and reading Mike Kim's LSAT Trainer, but would love other specific suggestions or general advice.

2. if my goal is eventually to apply to T20/even T14 (my goal is to break 170 and ideally to break 175, which i truly believe is possible with the right combination of deep study/review and test-day anxiety management), will three retakes – with a score decrease from 162 to 161 between the first and second – look bad enough for a high score not to carry as much weight? or, if i can really lock in my study strategy and score in the mid170s, which again i believe to be possible with intense commitment and humble review (i may be delusional but i still want to give it my best), could this high score "cancel out" whatever negative impression might come from these two earlier attempts (and the fact that the score decreased by a point)? opinions welcome...

thank you so much!