October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[brickman]

Has anyone taken PT 46? I have a question from S2 Q11. It is about popular career advice being wrong.

The correct answer, A, talks about two groups. Are the two groups employers and managers? If so isn't it a reasonable assumption that those two are synonymous?

The sample advice is for employees, the sample observed is employers talking to employees. Subtle, but big!

[Adjudicator]

I did PT49 in full today, as I prepare to do 50-60 in September. On 49, I scored 177 (-4). When I was grading it I thought it was going to be bad because I missed 2 in section one (LG) and 2 in section two (LR), but then it turned out that I aced the RC and the second LR section.

So, that is solidly in the range that I am aiming for (175-180). However at this point, even missing 4 problems makes me upset. Especially missing 2 on LG when I finished it with plenty of time. No excuse!

[Hannibal]

I did two sections today, -3 and -3. I feel like I'm getting more distracted because I'm feeling time pressure when I didn't before. Had to guess on a few questions because I ran out of time. Maybe because I was so hot or I didn't really care? Really frustrating. Had one misbubble too.

[Patriot1208]

Ok, sucked it up and went and took superprep C. Got a 172. Happy with that I guess. I was hoping to continue my upward trend and break 175. One thing to note is that before the Superprep book I was getting almost none wrong on LG and now have gotten a couple wrong on all the LG sections in superprep. Is superprep LG considered harder than recent tests?

Breakdown

LG - 2
LR - 5 (I dunno why I bombed this section)
LR - 2
RC - 3 (still haven't done better than -3 on any RC section)

Also, noticed the curves were slightly bigger on the superprep tests than some more recent ones, should I worry about this as well?

[Adjudicator]

Ok, sucked it up and went and took superprep C. Got a 172. Happy with that I guess. I was hoping to continue my upward trend and break 175. One thing to note is that before the Superprep book I was getting almost none wrong on LG and now have gotten a couple wrong on all the LG sections in superprep. Is superprep LG considered harder than recent tests?

Breakdown

LG - 2
LR - 5 (I dunno why I bombed this section)
LR - 2
RC - 3 (still haven't done better than -3 on any RC section)

Also, noticed the curves were slightly bigger on the superprep tests than some more recent ones, should I worry about this as well?

I did the LG from SuperPrep C recently and I hated that last game with the different types of cars. And I don't think it's even really that hard, I just totally failed to make the basic inferences. I don't even know why.

So I'm not a big fan of SuperPrep C.

[3|ink]

Ok, sucked it up and went and took superprep C. Got a 172. Happy with that I guess. I was hoping to continue my upward trend and break 175. One thing to note is that before the Superprep book I was getting almost none wrong on LG and now have gotten a couple wrong on all the LG sections in superprep. Is superprep LG considered harder than recent tests?

Breakdown

LG - 2
LR - 5 (I dunno why I bombed this section)
LR - 2
RC - 3 (still haven't done better than -3 on any RC section)

Also, noticed the curves were slightly bigger on the superprep tests than some more recent ones, should I worry about this as well?

Grats dude. That's a hard test.

[Hannibal]

Ok, sucked it up and went and took superprep C. Got a 172. Happy with that I guess. I was hoping to continue my upward trend and break 175. One thing to note is that before the Superprep book I was getting almost none wrong on LG and now have gotten a couple wrong on all the LG sections in superprep. Is superprep LG considered harder than recent tests?

Breakdown

LG - 2
LR - 5 (I dunno why I bombed this section)
LR - 2
RC - 3 (still haven't done better than -3 on any RC section)

Also, noticed the curves were slightly bigger on the superprep tests than some more recent ones, should I worry about this as well?

Grats dude. That's a hard test.

Agreed. Superprep C destroyed me.

[brickman]

Ok, sucked it up and went and took superprep C. Got a 172. Happy with that I guess. I was hoping to continue my upward trend and break 175. One thing to note is that before the Superprep book I was getting almost none wrong on LG and now have gotten a couple wrong on all the LG sections in superprep. Is superprep LG considered harder than recent tests?

Breakdown

LG - 2
LR - 5 (I dunno why I bombed this section)
LR - 2
RC - 3 (still haven't done better than -3 on any RC section)

Also, noticed the curves were slightly bigger on the superprep tests than some more recent ones, should I worry about this as well?

holy hell, I forgot how massive that curve was. Yea, I think I did equally less well on this test, like others suggested, this was a tough muderfugger.

[aesis]

Coming down from my 180 on PT 35 I did relatively well on PT 36 tonight:

-3 LR -1 RC -3 LR -1 LG = 172.

Geez, that curve was not nice.
AND LR IS A BIATCHHH.

[Eugenie Danglars]

Just took a PT and got a 171...and was sad it was less than my last at 173. I realized, that, in the grand scheme of things, a 171 OR a 173 is GREAT, and I'd be happy with either on test day.

Perspective is good.

[brickman]

Just took a PT and got a 171...and was sad it was less than my last at 173. I realized, that, in the grand scheme of things, a 171 OR a 173 is GREAT, and I'd be happy with either on test day.

Perspective is good.

It seems more reasonable to focus on the raw score, that is the number of questions you get wrong. We can't control what the scale is, but you sure is hell can make sure you get as few questions as possible wrong.

171 v 173 on many scales is negligible, maybe A point, so focus on that RAW shit.

[gdane]

Ive seen some people on here say that they havent gotten their PT 60 from LSAC yet. I ordered mine last Monday Aug 23rd and received it 5 minutes ago, August 27th.

Just wanted to let people know that they are out there. So if you havent gotten yours definitely look into it. Also, it has a new look to go along with LSAC's redone website.

One last thing, I know nothing about this test whatsoever and I'd like to keep it that way. Please dont post spoilers about the games, RC passages or even the order of the sections. Thanks!!!

[Rik Smits]

I feel fairly confident with the progress I've made on LR and LG, but my RC is leaving a lot to be desired. I've seen people discuss treating RC passages like extended LR stimuli, but are there any other methods that work for you? I don't want to have to spend time/money on the RC Bible if I don't need to...

[Patriot1208]

I feel fairly confident with the progress I've made on LR and LG, but my RC is leaving a lot to be desired. I've seen people discuss treating RC passages like extended LR stimuli, but are there any other methods that work for you? I don't want to have to spend time/money on the RC Bible if I don't need to...

I may not be the best person to take advice from, but repetition has been the thing that has improved my RC. I'm doing like -3 or -4 right now, but I was doing -6 to -8 at first. RC is definitely my worst but i'm just trying to do as many sections as possible.

[Rik Smits]

I feel fairly confident with the progress I've made on LR and LG, but my RC is leaving a lot to be desired. I've seen people discuss treating RC passages like extended LR stimuli, but are there any other methods that work for you? I don't want to have to spend time/money on the RC Bible if I don't need to...

I may not be the best person to take advice from, but repetition has been the thing that has improved my RC. I'm doing like -3 or -4 right now, but I was doing -6 to -8 at first. RC is definitely my worst but i'm just trying to do as many sections as possible.

Yeah, I'm hoping that more practice will help. About 40% of the time, I don't miss a question in a section, but around 20% of the time I miss 3 or more. I think it just has to do with becoming more familiar with the structure of passages and the types of questions.

[Hedwig]

This is my Reading Comprehension strategy delineated. I usually don't get more than 2 wrong, between 0-1 usually.

1. Underline or use some sort of notation technique in order to help you read actively. Find out what works for you through experimentation. I favor underlining and occasional circling.

2. Pretend you're really, really interested in the material. Carbohydrates? AWESOME. Primates? AWESOME. Volcanoes? AWESOME.

3. Once you read the passage, you're not done reading actively. READ those goddamn questions clearly. When a question refers to a certain paragraph, go back and number the paragraphs to make sure you're referring to the right paragraph, right idea (the second proposal). Make sure you know what you're trying to find in the answers - it's subtle, but for a question that asks for what the proponents of a claim in the third paragraph sure as hell contains an answer that would be right if they asked what the proponents of the third claim would like. A question that asks for the best objection to the CRITICS of a claim will sure as hell have answers that have the best objection to the PROPONENTS of a claim. They're like reverse answers in LR, but trickier, because they depend on you misreading the question just slightly and then LOOKING for the wrong answer - you'll come away thinking you have it.

4. Main point answers are really a matter of scope as well as attention. Every answer will likely be discussed in the passage, they're all A point of the argument - just most aren't the right point.

5. Read for context. When you are asked what the legal scholars mentioned in lines 15-19 believe, read 10-25. When you are asked which little "phrase" accurately describes the attitude, read the sentence, not just the fragment pulled out.

6. Don't be scared to refer back to the passage. In fact, referring back to the passage is often an absolute must, at least for detail questions.

7. If you are a slow or a bad reader, start reading a lot on the side. It doesn't matter what (although you'll probably find things like Shakespeare written in archaic language isn't the best) in my opinion - but a lot of people recommend the Economist or things like that.

[Nulli Secundus]

Reading fast is important but of course you should not read fast for the sake of reading fast, you should retain info as well. I am not a native speaker and here is what works for me:

- Read carefully, underlining names, opinion cues (some scholars, some experts, that dude etc.), certain phrases (for example), words reflecting author' opinion (X rightly thought that etc.).
- Read once, return to the beginning of a sentence only if it made no sense at all. (This happened to me once in 33 PTs, a passage about someone's ideas about legal objectivism and some such? Some analogy about winning a game which had illegal rules or sth, cannot remember now)
- When you get to the questions, the question forms are pretty much same for all passages, if it asks main point think about the whole passage, eliminate answers that encompass only one paragraph of the text, unrelated ones etc; if it was a passage with a lot of opinion shifts, counterexamples and what not, usually the longest answer wins. (Despite evidence to the contrary bla bla bla yarr yarrrr )
- If it asks author's opinion, go to words you underlined, let us take a look, (Newton was awesome), firm support or something like that should do it.
- Similarly just refer to words you underlined and related areas of the passage that you imprinted on your mind during your first pass, that's it.

[3|ink]

- Read carefully, underlining names, opinion cues (some scholars, some experts, that dude etc.),

I pray for the day when I see a reading comp that says 'that dude says...'. Anyway, yeah. Keeping track of opinions is the most tested part of Reading Comp these days.

[Hedwig]

Reading fast is important but of course you should not read fast for the sake of reading fast, you should retain info as well. I am not a native speaker and here is what works for me:

I agree. Read better/smarter, not faster, if anything. Active reading (what gets shoved down your throat in high school) is not by nature the fastest way to read a text, but it helps you absorb it more, to the point where you should be able to understand the author's tone without even having to reference the tone words you circled, you know?

[gdane]

- Read carefully, underlining names, opinion cues (some scholars, some experts, that dude etc.),

I pray for the day when I see a reading comp that says 'that dude says...'. Anyway, yeah. Keeping track of opinions is the most tested part of Reading Comp these days.

You must not be familiar with the Lil' Wayne LR question...

[3|ink]

- Read carefully, underlining names, opinion cues (some scholars, some experts, that dude etc.),

I pray for the day when I see a reading comp that says 'that dude says...'. Anyway, yeah. Keeping track of opinions is the most tested part of Reading Comp these days.

You must not be familiar with the Lil' Wayne LR question...

Good lord. What PT?

[Rik Smits]

Thanks for the tips! I'm definitely going to try these.

[Anaconda]

- Read carefully, underlining names, opinion cues (some scholars, some experts, that dude etc.),

I pray for the day when I see a reading comp that says 'that dude says...'. Anyway, yeah. Keeping track of opinions is the most tested part of Reading Comp these days.

You must not be familiar with the Lil' Wayne LR question...

You and your Lil' Wayne question. Kanye West RC passage this year FTW.

[gdane]

- Read carefully, underlining names, opinion cues (some scholars, some experts, that dude etc.),

I pray for the day when I see a reading comp that says 'that dude says...'. Anyway, yeah. Keeping track of opinions is the most tested part of Reading Comp these days.

You must not be familiar with the Lil' Wayne LR question...

You and your Lil' Wayne question. Kanye West RC passage this year FTW.

Hahaha! I know. Im trying to see how many people I can fool with this. So far I have you, 3link and some other random people. I love it!

[lamentable]

For RC I constantly missed main point questions. Someone suggested doing MP questions after all of the other questions so that your understanding of the passage deepens. Not sure if that will help anyone else but I rarely miss them any more.