October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[OklahomasOK]

Started up (again) yesterday evening. RC is just fine, I'm not going to worry about trying to hone in much more. Much to my chagrin, I took PT50 again today and didn't remember any of the articles except the last one (Riddled Basins) and I still missed a couple there. LR seems pretty consistent. LG is my only concern now. My timing still isn't great. I'm finishing, but I'm used to finishing in under 30, and going back to rework the hardest games.

I feel fine overall, it won't take much for me to score higher than my June score. I even believe if I took it cold, I could still beat a pathetic 162. I think nerves played a huge part. I'm all about not overloading and not burning out at this point. I cut my class hours to 12, and only have class two days a week. Been taking time off to complete most of my law school apps.

Still shooting for a 167, 5 point increase, shouldn't be that tough.

[Nulli Secundus]

My test center is kinda far, 300 miles from where I live.

Although, I reserved a room in a 5 star hotel with gym for the night before the test and my plan is to go there the day before and to facilitate sleep perform an insane workout scheme, exhausting every muscle in my body.

Oh another sucky thing: I am supposed to report to test center @ 2 PM. So it is likely the test will start 3+ PM, possibly 4. I am open to suggestions regarding how to keep my brain awake at the perfect afternoon nap time.

[Classygal87]

PT 43 - 163
LG - 0
RC - 9
LR - 13

Reading comp was worse than usual I'm usually only around -5 (But I also find reading comp the hardest to improve). Any suggestions are welcome.
I really wanna get my LR missed # down. I've done the bible and Im going back through it but its frustrating me that I just can't get it.
If I can get LR down I feel like I will be fine on test day.
Advice?

Thanks

[gdane]

Took PT 41 today. 160. Good results, but they were probably distorted. I had seen 2 of the logic games before (Dresses on racks and Rhino Rock) and I did better than I usually do on the LG section because of this.

I did poorly on the 1st LR section, -9, but did better on the second one, -5. RC was -6, but I ran out of time and had to rush through the last 4 or so questions. Ironically enough, I got 3 of them correct. I find that when I rush through a passage and its questions, I dont do as poorly as one would think. I tend to get most of them correct. Same thing happened the other day with some African American feminist passage.

Im glad that Im practice testing in the high 150's/low 160's range, but I want to do better. I also feel really uncomfortable with LR sometimes. I dont feel like Im flowing with the questions. Today on both sections I only had about 5 minutes for the last questions. I took too long with the first ones. I also didnt get them all correct. Out of the first 15 on both sections I got 3 wrong on each section. Not good.

Tomorrow is my day off, but Ill come back and do PT 42 on Wednesday. Again, I need to learn time management and I need to relax. I watch the clock too much.

[northwood]

hey gdane: good job with the prep test!
Dont worry about seeing the games before, If you have done a lot of the games, the setups become similar, and just the finer points change. I hear you about LR: Those sections are difficult to get a feel for how you are doing: i would say just keep on keeping on and continue with the lr prep. As for RC: i think it may be better to read faster and get an overall idea about the passage's main point and structure, and just recognize where new speakers/ ideas are, and key words so you can reference them faster.

the more practice, the better and confident you will become. Keep it up!

[Nulli Secundus]

Hey guys, I have a problem. I am addicted to Logic Games, its like a Sudoku for me atm, what will I do once LSAT is over? Suggestions please.

[northwood]

just keep doing them.. ill second that, they are actually fun to do

[Patriot1208]

Preptest 46 today. 90 raw/170 scaled. Happy with this actually because i'm hopefully getting my consistency into the 170's and this was a tougher than normal curve (-9). And again my RC looked a little better since I have implemented my new RC strategy. 3 of the 4 I missed on RC were simply because I ran out of time. So hopefully as I get more comfortable with my new RC strategy that will only improve. Breakdown looks like this:

RC - 4
LR - 3
LR - 2
LG - 0

[northwood]

decided to only use a -7 curve from here on out on my prep tests. That way I can focus soley on the number right. Plus, on the actual test day I will end up "scoring" higher than I expected I would.

[CalBear2011]

Just finished PT. 53 at Barnes and Noble under timed conditions: Raw: 91 = 172!

LR: -3
LG: -0
LR: -0
RC: -6

Doing the preptests from 7 all the way up to 53 it seems to me that they give less logic games now per section than they used to, also, the games are ridiculously easy. No more used/new pop/rock/folk/jazz stuff lol. Reading comprehension has gotten harder and 99% of the time has 26+ questions per section--this is the only section I'm struggling with at this point.

[OklahomasOK]

PT50: RC -4 (Riddled Basins, -3), LR1 -3, LG -0, LR2 -3 = 90/ 170.

Solid. Very good effort all around for me today. All far under time. Snagged up on the riddled basins article, and the 3rd logic game. Pretty good performance for me seeing as this is one of only a handful of full pt's I've taken since June 7th, and the first under strict timing for each section.

Back to working on applications!

[Adjudicator]

I just had a majorly disappointing performance on PT53. On my past 5 PTs I had been averaging 177 and not scored lower than 175, but today on PT53 I scored -9 (-4 LR, -1 LG, -1 LR, -3 RC) for a score of 172.

I haven't missed more than 2 on an LR or RC section in the past 5 tests, and I frequently miss only 1. So this was hugely disappointing.

I also found it very hard to focus during RC and nearly ran out of time, which never happens.

Perhaps it was just an off day. But I probably won't feel better until I score back in my target range on the next test.

[brickman]

I can't remember if this was hannibal's getting ready to study song or eit's, either way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLDSE7RHvno

[Hedwig]

I can't remember if this was hannibal's getting ready to study song or eit's, either way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLDSE7RHvno

Ack I went and listened to that to see if it was mine, and NO IT IS NOT, that's the one that makes me anxious haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2FQ40_f ... re=related

That's a much better one. Haha.

[Hannibal]

I can't remember if this was hannibal's getting ready to study song or eit's, either way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLDSE7RHvno

That was mine, and LOL.

[brickman]

I can't remember if this was hannibal's getting ready to study song or eit's, either way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLDSE7RHvno

Ack I went and listened to that to see if it was mine, and NO IT IS NOT, that's the one that makes me anxious haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2FQ40_f ... re=related

That's a much better one. Haha.

haha, my bad! also your song is so unbelievably upbeat, I love it.

[3|ink]

Hey guys, I have a problem. I am addicted to Logic Games, its like a Sudoku for me atm, what will I do once LSAT is over? Suggestions please.

Since you're clearly a masochist, I recommend watching 'Jersey Shore'.

[brickman]

Hey guys, I have a problem. I am addicted to Logic Games, its like a Sudoku for me atm, what will I do once LSAT is over? Suggestions please.

Since you're clearly a masochist, I recommend watching 'Jersey Shore'.

that seems more like misogyny than masochism.

[Adjudicator]

Does nobody feel my pain? Or it is just hard to feel sorry for someone who is in agony over scoring a 172 on a PT?

[brickman]

Does nobody feel my pain? Or it is just hard to feel sorry for someone who is in agony over scoring a 172 on a PT?

I'll empathize, though the margin of error at that level is very small, lots of tiny little things can play a difference, how was your energy level relative to how you normally are. I can't really think of anything that would affect it other than this, if you are scoring in that range, it is not a lack of understanding that is contributing to a lower score, the only difference is focus and energy level, at least that is what it is for me.

[Adjudicator]

Does nobody feel my pain? Or it is just hard to feel sorry for someone who is in agony over scoring a 172 on a PT?

I'll empathize, though the margin of error at that level is very small, lots of tiny little things can play a difference, how was your energy level relative to how you normally are. I can't really think of anything that would affect it other than this, if you are scoring in that range, it is not a lack of understanding that is contributing to a lower score, the only difference is focus and energy level, at least that is what it is for me.

Thanks for responding... it may be lame, but I'm really bummed out about this. I definitely feel like it was an atypical performance; I was up 'til 4am last night and slept on the floor because we're moving and our bed is packed up, so perhaps I wasn't well rested, but I didn't think it would make such a difference.

I only felt a lack of focus on the RC at the end, which definitely contributed to two of the misses... I missed 2 on the last passage because I was running out of time.

I don't know what happened with the -4 on the first LR, but I didn't feel very sharp today. I just hope that I do better on the next one. I'll have to make sure I'm well-rested next time.

[brickman]

Does nobody feel my pain? Or it is just hard to feel sorry for someone who is in agony over scoring a 172 on a PT?

I'll empathize, though the margin of error at that level is very small, lots of tiny little things can play a difference, how was your energy level relative to how you normally are. I can't really think of anything that would affect it other than this, if you are scoring in that range, it is not a lack of understanding that is contributing to a lower score, the only difference is focus and energy level, at least that is what it is for me.

Thanks for responding... it may be lame, but I'm really bummed out about this. I definitely feel like it was an atypical performance; I was up 'til 4am last night and slept on the floor because we're moving and our bed is packed up, so perhaps I wasn't well rested, but I didn't think it would make such a difference.

I only felt a lack of focus on the RC at the end, which definitely contributed to two of the misses... I missed 2 on the last passage because I was running out of time.

I don't know what happened with the -4 on the first LR, but I didn't feel very sharp today. I just hope that I do better on the next one. I'll have to make sure I'm well-rested next time.

There are definitely days when my mind feels cloudy and my score often reflects it. Though I'm certain you are already familiar with such advice, I find eating well, a touch of caffeine, moderate exercise, and a little warm-up via some analysis of lr problems is helpful before taking a test.

I wouldn't stress overly about it in any case, the negative side effects of focusing on worrying are only contributory to anxiety and stress that you are looking to generally reduce to a minimum at this point. My advice is to focus on things you can control by providing yourself with the physiological and psychological conditions to do as well as you can. Clear your mind of any nervousness, just instill a sense of calm focus, I know it sounds "camp-counselor-ee", but it is helpful to keep you on task and in a positive state of mind, which is exactly what you need for this test.

Such a satisfying 180'th post!

[Adjudicator]

Great advice. Thank you, that did help me feel better. And you're right; I think some exercise might be just the thing I need. That, and higher quality sleep.

I always want to think that sleep doesn't matter, but it probably does make a big difference in cognitive function.

[Hedwig]

Great advice. Thank you, that did help me feel better. And you're right; I think some exercise might be just the thing I need. That, and higher quality sleep.

I always want to think that sleep doesn't matter, but it probably does make a big difference in cognitive function.

I was scoring in the 170's consistently and then took a test on a day I hadn't gotten much sleep. Hello 160's.

It definitely affects me - there are just days where you know your focus is way out of kilter. I think some days like that it's worthwhile trying to do well despite of it - because you never know if that's going to be what you feel like on the day of the exam (god forbid, knock on wood).

In other news, I'm excited for PT 47 tomorrow. I want to just viciously kill it. Or score really high. They're the same thing, right?

[psychlaw]

My test center is kinda far, 300 miles from where I live.

Although, I reserved a room in a 5 star hotel with gym for the night before the test and my plan is to go there the day before and to facilitate sleep perform an insane workout scheme, exhausting every muscle in my body.

Oh another sucky thing: I am supposed to report to test center @ 2 PM. So it is likely the test will start 3+ PM, possibly 4. I am open to suggestions regarding how to keep my brain awake at the perfect afternoon nap time.

Are you sure about that time? Unless you are located out of the states Im pretty sure all tests start at 8:30 am for the October date. All tests have to be taken under the same conditions, cus they are standardized, otherwise you cant really compare the scores against each other.