October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[Pleasye]

Random question but does anyone know what test is being given at the free Kaplan practice tests around the country on Saturday?

PT 60 I hope?

I doubt that it's PT 60...they usually give a test in the 30's (don't remember which one, sorry) as their "free" one. No idea if this has changed.

[Patriot1208]

Random question but does anyone know what test is being given at the free Kaplan practice tests around the country on Saturday?

PT 60 I hope?

I doubt that it's PT 60...they usually give a test in the 30's (don't remember which one, sorry) as their "free" one. No idea if this has changed.

When I took a free one there in the spring and it was 54.

[2014]

It was 36, I took it today.

[Sinra]

I just did PT57 and I'm so frustrated. After missing 3 on each of the last two PTs, I missed 7 on this one, for a 174. Does anyone else think PT57 is very hard?

And I managed to ace the legendary dinosaur game, although it did hurt my brain at the time. Instead I missed 1 on the final game which was just a failure to read correctly.

I also aced RC, up until the fractal geometry passage where I missed 2.

And then missed 2 on each LR.

Ugh, and I was feeling so good coming off the 179 on PT56.

I think 57 was particularly hard myself.

I took PT 49 today and got 167 scaled.
LG -1
LR -1
RC exp -1
RC -6!!!!!
LR -5!!!!!

I think I figured out that I apparently totally lose focus after the third section. I looked back on the tests I scored over 170+ on and surprise surprise the LG were last or 4th and I had both my LR sections within the first three. Good god!!

Adjudicator, do you think a 5 hr energy would help me get my pep back for the last two sections? I'm obviously not having trouble with the concepts--and I looked back at all my tests and sure enough...I fall apart after section 3.

[whymeohgodno]

I just did PT57 and I'm so frustrated. After missing 3 on each of the last two PTs, I missed 7 on this one, for a 174. Does anyone else think PT57 is very hard?

And I managed to ace the legendary dinosaur game, although it did hurt my brain at the time. Instead I missed 1 on the final game which was just a failure to read correctly.

I also aced RC, up until the fractal geometry passage where I missed 2.

And then missed 2 on each LR.

Ugh, and I was feeling so good coming off the 179 on PT56.

I think 57 was particularly hard myself.

I took PT 49 today and got 167 scaled.
LG -1
LR -1
RC exp -1
RC -6!!!!!
LR -5!!!!!

I think I figured out that I apparently totally lose focus after the third section. I looked back on the tests I scored over 170+ on and surprise surprise the LG were last or 4th and I had both my LR sections within the first three. Good god!!

Adjudicator, do you think a 5 hr energy would help me get my pep back for the last two sections? I'm obviously not having trouble with the concepts--and I looked back at all my tests and sure enough...I fall apart after section 3.

What's up with the RC? I find that most people almost always score steadily on RC sections unless they have a major fuck up

Anyways I'm going to take PREPTEST C today. If I don't get 170+ or 90+ raw score, I'll most likely go out tonight and drown my sorrows in liquor.

[Adjudicator]

Adjudicator, do you think a 5 hr energy would help me get my pep back for the last two sections? I'm obviously not having trouble with the concepts--and I looked back at all my tests and sure enough...I fall apart after section 3.

Well, obviously I can't say how it will affect you, but 5 Hour Energy does have several ingredients that are believed to positively affect concentration and cognition, including vitamin B12, caffeine, and citicoline.

If you've never taken one before, I would try it now to see how you like it. Don't wait until the day of the test to try something new.

[Sandro]

5 hour energy pumped me up too fast before the test. Try not to take it right before the test but rather an hour or so before.

[Adjudicator]

5 hour energy pumped me up too fast before the test. Try not to take it right before the test but rather an hour or so before.

They also say on the bottle that you might consider drinking half of it at first, and then half a bit later. That might work for some people.

[Sandro]

5 hour energy pumped me up too fast before the test. Try not to take it right before the test but rather an hour or so before.

They also say on the bottle that you might consider drinking half of it at first, and then half a bit later. That might work for some people.

might not be a bad idea

[Patriot1208]

I take caffeine pills.

[2014]

Just graded my 36 that I took at the proctored Kaplan session.

-5 LR
-4 LR
-1 RC
-1 LG

That's my best RC ever and the LG mistake was a stupid one, but WTF LR? It has been nearly a month since I've done that badly on an individual LR section or both combined like that. I'm baffled by it.

Regardless it was a 90 raw, 171 converted and I'll take that under my first proctored PT (with experimental too).

[CGI Fridays]

Just graded my 36 that I took at the proctored Kaplan session.

Does Kaplan offer any single-day test simulations? That don't entail a full class?
I just wanna show up and take a PT with a bunch of people.

[CGI Fridays]

I think I figured out that I apparently totally lose focus after the third section. I looked back on the tests I scored over 170+ on and surprise surprise the LG were last or 4th and I had both my LR sections within the first three. Good god!!

Judging by "last or 4th", I take it you're adding a 5th? Are you taking a full 15 minute break after 3rd?

This is my exact problem as well. Concentration burnout.
I've been toying with a new method for LR, whereby the moment I feel less than 100%, I'll stop, look up, take a slow deep breath and quickly clear my mind, then go back and slowly exhale while reading.

It seems to be effective in getting me through the questions in a timely manner, but I've also noticed a trade-off in accuracy, because I generally tend to read faster with a bit of an oxygen buzz, and get a couple of those "wtf? why did I get this wrong? Why did I misread 'legal' as 'illegal' etc" types of situations. I really hope to tame the technique.
It's still not totally effective after a while, but it postpones the burnout for sure.

I left myself enough PTs to do one every day until test day and, after failing to do one today, now have an additional 3 to use for experimental sections. I really wanna use older tests for a 6th section on the last 7 days if possible.

[CGI Fridays]

Hee. Since a too-generous curve will give me an over-inflated sense of my performance so I usually gauge by raw score.

::head scratch::
Too-generous curves are probably due to a too-difficult test. Vice versa for too-difficult curves.
You're not being graded in a competition against the test. You're being graded in a competition against your fellow test-takers.
In my opinion, raw is totally irrelevant, and scaled is 100% of what matters. Judging by the number of people that report raw/scaled, I seem to be in the extreme minority.

[Sinra]

Adjudicator, do you think a 5 hr energy would help me get my pep back for the last two sections? I'm obviously not having trouble with the concepts--and I looked back at all my tests and sure enough...I fall apart after section 3.

Well, obviously I can't say how it will affect you, but 5 Hour Energy does have several ingredients that are believed to positively affect concentration and cognition, including vitamin B12, caffeine, and citicoline.

If you've never taken one before, I would try it now to see how you like it. Don't wait until the day of the test to try something new.

I'm going to try it out tomorrow. Take a few sips before the test begins and then take some more after the third section. All this time I've been looking for patterns of question types...come to see that the pattern is that I can manage -2 on the first three sections and fall apart during the last two.

I drink a few cups of coffee in the morning so I'm going to try this tomorrow.

[Sinra]

I think I figured out that I apparently totally lose focus after the third section. I looked back on the tests I scored over 170+ on and surprise surprise the LG were last or 4th and I had both my LR sections within the first three. Good god!!

Judging by "last or 4th", I take it you're adding a 5th? Are you taking a full 15 minute break after 3rd?

This is my exact problem as well. Concentration burnout.
I've been toying with a new method for LR, whereby the moment I feel less than 100%, I'll stop, look up, take a slow deep breath and quickly clear my mind, then go back and slowly exhale while reading.

It seems to be effective in getting me through the questions in a timely manner, but I've also noticed a trade-off in accuracy, because I generally tend to read faster with a bit of an oxygen buzz, and get a couple of those "wtf? why did I get this wrong? Why did I misread 'legal' as 'illegal' etc" types of situations. I really hope to tame the technique.
It's still not totally effective after a while, but it postpones the burnout for sure.

I left myself enough PTs to do one every day until test day and, after failing to do one today, now have an additional 3 to use for experimental sections. I really wanna use older tests for a 6th section on the last 7 days if possible.

Yes. I've been doing 5 sections since the beginning. And I'm so dense I only really started to see the last few tests that I can consistently score -1 or -2 on the first LR and RC but if they're on the last 2 sections, I tend to always (and I mean every time!) get at least -4 or -5 generally.

What I notice is that when I'm taking the first LR I see the wrong answers right away---it sticks out--and vice versa with the correct response. I get the feeling that "wow, this test is easy!" then I get to the second LR and all of a sudden at question 7 or 8 I get a bit confused/out of focus. By the time I get to question 20 I've had the same thing happen 2 or 3 times and almost, just almost run out of time--also sacrificing accuracy towards the end for the same reason.

I also note that during the test I know I'm right when in the first three and also "know" I'm going to mess up towards the end.

I think I proved it to myself because I looked at the tests where I have scored over 170 and the LG is section 4 or 5 and RC and LR more heavily concentrated in the front.

[Sandro]

Sinra - try doing 1-10, 25-20, and 11-19 in that order. This lessens the chance you run into some of the trickier ones around 10 and it ruins the end of your test. More often than not 1-10 are pretty easy, and your best chance of a tough ones that end up killing your time towards the end are 11-19. This way you get the comparatively easiest 15 out of the way, and should have time to finish without risking a blowout. Its worked for me atleast.

[2014]

Is anyone else worried about getting RC as their experimental? The thought of doing 2 RC sections on the real deal is nauseating to me

[Sandro]

Is anyone else worried about getting RC as their experimental? The thought of doing 2 RC sections on the real deal is nauseating to me

Not as nauseating as getting 3 LR sections in a row like I did Sep 09 and then my worst section, LG to finish the test off after the LR marathon.

[Patriot1208]

Is anyone else worried about getting RC as their experimental? The thought of doing 2 RC sections on the real deal is nauseating to me

Yes, Yes I am. GOD I HATE YOU RC.

[northwood]

Is anyone else worried about getting RC as their experimental? The thought of doing 2 RC sections on the real deal is nauseating to me

Yes, Yes I am. GOD I HATE YOU RC.

I know I am probably in the minority, but I want the RC as my experimental. Im not afraid of it, and I look forward to reading about some random person, historical event/ ancient creature, scientific issue or literature/ law.

RC is going down like charlie brown.

[whymeohgodno]

LR experimental. Please.

Or a really really really really really easy LG experimental.

[Patriot1208]

Is anyone else worried about getting RC as their experimental? The thought of doing 2 RC sections on the real deal is nauseating to me

Yes, Yes I am. GOD I HATE YOU RC.

I know I am probably in the minority, but I want the RC as my experimental. Im not afraid of it, and I look forward to reading about some random person, historical event/ ancient creature, scientific issue or literature/ law.

RC is going down like charlie brown.

Please LG experimental. LG is my bitch. All my tests combined my LG average is probably like -.2

[almostthereee]

PT 55:

LR -0,
RC -3 (unusually poor for me)
LG -4 (totally froze up and bombed it -- nerves were killing me. Only got -4 because of lucky guessing.)

93 raw, 172 scaled. (172 is my goal for test day. Anything higher and I'll be happy.)

I'm also happy to note that I got -0 on the "experimental" LR section from one of the first 20 PT's, which I'd never taken before. So that's 75 LR Q's without an error (not even on sufficient assumption questions, which I HATE).

I think I am FINALLY getting to where I can consistently get -0 or -1 on LR, in a controlled fashion.

I have to tell you guys, for anyone who is still struggling, I think I made a bit of a breakthrough in the past week after bombing a PT and getting 164 for some reason. If anyone hasn't taken these steps with LR and is still having trouble, I highly, highly recommend that you do the following five things:


1. READ QUICKLY, BUT SLOW DOWN YOUR MIND
Before this breakthrough, found that I would read the passage extremely quickly while trying to guess the significance of every single word with regard to the other items in the stimulus. This is bad. Reading quickly is fine, but I've started trying to focus on each clause individually, so that I can ...

2. CIRCLE THE CONCLUSION, IF THERE IS ONE
3. CIRCLE THE PREMISES
4. FIGURE OUT WHICH OF THE PREMISES IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO SUPPORT THE CONCLUSION AND HOW THEY RELATE

- In my earliest PT's, I started out getting -4 to -0 on each LR section, which made me think that I could just read the stimulus, understand it, and circle the answer through brute force. But after months of practice, I was still scoring -4 to -0 on each LR, with no consistency, and no idea what I was doing wrong. It wasn't till that 164 last week that I internalized the truth of what I had already read in the LRB: each question type is probing a different aspect of how the premises relate to the conclusion, and so this relationship will almost invariably determine the correct answer choice. I don't know why it took me so long to truly realize this.

5. AFTER THE PT, GO BACK AND ANALYZE EVERY DIFFICULT LR QUESTION IN THE TEST - WHETHER YOU GOT IT WRONG OR RIGHT.
- During analysis, write down each premise according to the order in which they relate to each other logically. Then put the conclusion at the bottom. Then analyze each answer choice. Do all of this in writing. It's very time consuming, but it's worth it.

- Before last week, I was simply checking my wrong answers, coming to understand why TCR was correct, and then moving on. But that is not enough. Simply going through one or two tests' worth of LR in the way I've just described, and truly analyzing the relationship of the premises to the conclusion in each question, gave me an enormous boost in confidence and certainty during the test.

Everything I just suggested has already been suggested by someone on the board -- it's nothing new. But for anyone who's still having trouble with LR, I want you to know that it's not too late to make improvement -- all of this has happened over the past couple of days.

Now, if only I could master my nerves when it comes to LG -- I'm still unable to tackle all 4 games in a section without compromising accuracy.

Good luck yall . . . .

Gonna give this a whirl... see how much I can improve this next week. Cautiously optimistic... Thanks for the advice.

[ND'10]

I'm beginning to think that reviewing past tests, even in the very comprehensive manner suggested above, can only take you so far. I've been following a very thorough schedule of reviewing after PTs (it takes me about 7-8 hours to review a full PT, usually spread over the two days after a PT), and seem to still be stuck in the 168-170 range (with current tests at least, I've gotten 168-170 on the 6 tests in the 50s I've taken, but have gotten numerous 171-174 in the 30s).

It seems like whenever I'm taking a test there's just so much time pressure and my mind just goes into "READ FAST!!!" mode in the final 6-8 problems of a section and I usually miss 2-3 of them. After the test when my reading pace is normal and unpressured, I immediately recognize past patterns from past test reviews, but I just choked in the heat of the moment. I'll say "well, duh" to about 3-4 questions after the test because its just so hard to simulate that time pressure unless you're actually in a test.

I'm hoping that these last 5 or so PTs before the exam can slow my brain down a bit and keep me from dropping those 3-4 problems, but its really hard to figure out how to not cause myself to rush in the last few problems.