Advice Forum
- Rupert Pupkin
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Re: Advice
Redoing PTs is fine. You may recognize a question and be like "ooo I remember that" but For MOST cases I highly doubt you will remember the answer and you will still have to think logically through each one unless you reviewed the exam extensively recently. Just start with your least recent PTs and do them over.
Just keep grinding. Im in a similar position with having done the Bibles then the Trainer and MH series.. I am reviewing the MH and Trainer for my weaker question types and doing a little bit of q-type drilling, but I think going through a new book on fundamentals in entirety is a waste of time and Im better off doing timed sections and PTs with extensive review.
Just keep grinding. Im in a similar position with having done the Bibles then the Trainer and MH series.. I am reviewing the MH and Trainer for my weaker question types and doing a little bit of q-type drilling, but I think going through a new book on fundamentals in entirety is a waste of time and Im better off doing timed sections and PTs with extensive review.
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- tanes25
- Posts: 85
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 2:32 pm
Re: Advice
I haven't tried but I've heard someone suggest try making all wrong AC correct for that question type. The idea is that you'll be getting practice noticing a SA AC or a particular flaw type. You mentioned you took too long on some questions. I would brush up on those question types and find out why you took too long. For me I notice that if I take too long it's because I either don't understand the passage or I'm a bit shaky on the task for the question type. I would also implement some sort of skipping strategy. You've recognized that you're spending too much time on certain questions at the expense of others so now you have to realize this much quicker and save those for the end. This is a hard one for me because most times I don't even realize that I'm spending too much time. I've heard ppl suggest recording yourself to figure this out. I haven't made it that far though.
- Rupert Pupkin
- Posts: 2170
- Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2016 12:21 am
Re: Advice
Yeah it is tough, but you gotta just re-focus. If you want to work towards a 170 and go to a T14 (or whatever your goal school is) then go for it. Dont be discouraged. If your previous PTs were that high then you definitely have what it takes and the recent PT you could have just been off your game.kiklavan wrote:Thanks for this! I also feel that re-reading books about fundamentals would be ineffective.. I really wish I had more tests at my disposal though. Today was a reality-check that I wasn't expecting.Rupert Pupkin wrote:Redoing PTs is fine. You may recognize a question and be like "ooo I remember that" but For MOST cases I highly doubt you will remember the answer and you will still have to think logically through each one unless you reviewed the exam extensively recently. Just start with your least recent PTs and do them over.
Just keep grinding. Im in a similar position with having done the Bibles then the Trainer and MH series.. I am reviewing the MH and Trainer for my weaker question types and doing a little bit of q-type drilling, but I think going through a new book on fundamentals in entirety is a waste of time and Im better off doing timed sections and PTs with extensive review.
I'm torn right now as to whether I should just assume I'm going to end with a mid 160s score or whether I'll actually end up reaching the 170s. Not sure at what point it's time to just re-evaluate top-choices for schools & such.
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- sodomojo
- Posts: 109
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:17 am
Re: Advice
Anyone have thoughts on doing fresh but super old PTs (as in from the 1990s) versus redoing recent PTs that you did 2ish months ago?
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Re: Advice
You should do the old PTs as PTs but review the more recent tests as practice/drilling. The old tests still have immense value even if a few things might be different with more recent tests. Also, in recent years there has been a reappearance of odd/pattern games that resemble what showed up on early tests, so coming across those would give you an advantage too.sodomojo wrote:Anyone have thoughts on doing fresh but super old PTs (as in from the 1990s) versus redoing recent PTs that you did 2ish months ago?
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- JazzOne
- Posts: 2979
- Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:04 am
Re: Advice
If I were prepping for a retake, and if I had exhausted all the PTs, I would spend a lot of time reviewing the last 10 PrepTests. I would go though every one of them slowly, picking apart the details and looking for patterns and shortcuts.
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- JazzOne
- Posts: 2979
- Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:04 am
Re: Advice
I got a lot of benefit from untimed drilling of questions I had already done. Since I was already familiar with the questions, I was able to focus more on process.kiklavan wrote:Any thoughts on how exactly to do this? I've been circling questions I have less than 99% certainty on (as to why the correct answer is correct or a wrong answer choice is wrong) & writing out explanations for each answer choice. Is there any approach I'm missing?JazzOne wrote:If I were prepping for a retake, and if I had exhausted all the PTs, I would spend a lot of time reviewing the last 10 PrepTests. I would go though every one of them slowly, picking apart the details and looking for patterns and shortcuts.
Whenever I repeat a game, argument, or RC passage, I ask myself, "What should I have done differently the first time?" Then, I make it a point to do that. It sounds contrived, but there's no way to predict what will be on the LSAT, so the only thing you can do is try to perfect your strategy for past exams. When I repeat games, I look for EVERY deduction, and I play out every chance to the end. When I review RC, I re-read the entire passage, annotate it, and make note of what kind of details the questions tend to focus on.
In another thread, someone suggested taking all the wrong answer choices for LR and turning them into correct answer choices. That seems like a good idea to me. Also, you could go back and do some of the PrepTests you took months ago, but give yourself 30 or 32 minutes per section instead of 35. I've heard that works well too.
Good luck!
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- Posts: 46
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Re: Advice
I'm in a similar boat.. I've exhausted all my prep material so I'm forced to do retakes. My section breakdowns seem to be similar to yours as well. I was averaging -4/5 on each LR section. What are you planning on doing to improve on LR?
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- JazzOne
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Re: Advice
In that case, I think retaking PTs is perfect for you. It's one thing to know the correct strategy. It's another thing to know it so well that you can implement it without a second thought. Pick the LR questions apart slowly, and be hyper-conscious about strategy. Articulate exactly what you're going to do and why. For example, when I read a certain question type, I already know, before I even read the argument, what kinds of patterns I'm looking for.kiklavan wrote:I also feel that I have a tendency to throw out all that I've taught myself throughout my prep in LR as I'm actually taking the test... something of a fight or flight response, particularly when I run out of time.
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- JazzOne
- Posts: 2979
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Re: Advice
PrepTest 82 should be out soon. PrepTest 83 will come out around February or so. You might even be able to get PrepTest 84 before September.kiklavan wrote:Is there any way that I can gauge where I'm at before the September test while doing retakes? It's killing me that I'm scoring 175-180 on tests I already took but that the last fresh test I took was a 166.JazzOne wrote:In that case, I think retaking PTs is perfect for you. It's one thing to know the correct strategy. It's another thing to know it so well that you can implement it without a second thought. Pick the LR questions apart slowly, and be hyper-conscious about strategy. Articulate exactly what you're going to do and why. For example, when I read a certain question type, I already know, before I even read the argument, what kinds of patterns I'm looking for.kiklavan wrote:I also feel that I have a tendency to throw out all that I've taught myself throughout my prep in LR as I'm actually taking the test... something of a fight or flight response, particularly when I run out of time.
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Re: Advice
Have you taken C2? Or even A, B, C? I know A, B, C is old, but maybe you should try seeing if your strategies are working on a fresh old pt?kiklavan wrote:Sorry I meant before December..JazzOne wrote:PrepTest 82 should be out soon. PrepTest 83 will come out around February or so. You might even be able to get PrepTest 84 before September.kiklavan wrote:Is there any way that I can gauge where I'm at before the September test while doing retakes? It's killing me that I'm scoring 175-180 on tests I already took but that the last fresh test I took was a 166.JazzOne wrote:In that case, I think retaking PTs is perfect for you. It's one thing to know the correct strategy. It's another thing to know it so well that you can implement it without a second thought. Pick the LR questions apart slowly, and be hyper-conscious about strategy. Articulate exactly what you're going to do and why. For example, when I read a certain question type, I already know, before I even read the argument, what kinds of patterns I'm looking for.kiklavan wrote:I also feel that I have a tendency to throw out all that I've taught myself throughout my prep in LR as I'm actually taking the test... something of a fight or flight response, particularly when I run out of time.
- JazzOne
- Posts: 2979
- Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:04 am
Re: Advice
Since you've already seen PT82 (your canceled test), you won't be able to take another recent PT before December. I wouldn't worry about it though. I would focus on dissecting the last 10 exams.kiklavan wrote:Sorry I meant before December..JazzOne wrote:PrepTest 82 should be out soon. PrepTest 83 will come out around February or so. You might even be able to get PrepTest 84 before September.kiklavan wrote:Is there any way that I can gauge where I'm at before the September test while doing retakes? It's killing me that I'm scoring 175-180 on tests I already took but that the last fresh test I took was a 166.JazzOne wrote:In that case, I think retaking PTs is perfect for you. It's one thing to know the correct strategy. It's another thing to know it so well that you can implement it without a second thought. Pick the LR questions apart slowly, and be hyper-conscious about strategy. Articulate exactly what you're going to do and why. For example, when I read a certain question type, I already know, before I even read the argument, what kinds of patterns I'm looking for.kiklavan wrote:I also feel that I have a tendency to throw out all that I've taught myself throughout my prep in LR as I'm actually taking the test... something of a fight or flight response, particularly when I run out of time.
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