October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[Adjudicator]

sooo I'm scoring in a range that I would be more than happy with, last four pts were 174 176 174 173 and I'm sort of at a point now where I wish test day would just come. Anyone else feeling like that?? Obviously I will milk this last month for what its worth, but I''m sort of feelin like man, lets just get this over with before I get totally burned out.

Yes, I would take the test tomorrow if I could. I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

[justadude55]

sooo I'm scoring in a range that I would be more than happy with, last four pts were 174 176 174 173 and I'm sort of at a point now where I wish test day would just come. Anyone else feeling like that?? Obviously I will milk this last month for what its worth, but I''m sort of feelin like man, lets just get this over with before I get totally burned out.

Yes, I would take the test tomorrow if I could. I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

agreed. i'd take my score now on the real test, but think i could still improve.

I just took PT 55:

Section 1 (LR): 24/25

(I got 22 wrong, and I still don't understand how the answer is E, because even if that is true, it will still lead to the result that physiological factors cause heart disease -- any notes on this q would be appreciated.)

Section 2 (RC): 25/27

I got both parallel reasoning q's wrong in here, so I know what my weakness now is in this section. I got everything else right, and finished 2 minutes early so I'm much more comfortable in this section than I was before.

Section 3 (LR): 25/25

Was a little time pressured at the end of the section. I find that I don't think as clearly when I'm under time pressure (such as having 1 minute left for a question). I think about the time too much. I still thought well enough to solve the question, but the question was much easier than I made it.

Section 4 (LG): 23/23

No notes. I never get anything wrong here. Just need to stay consistent.

Raw Score: 97/100
Scaled Score: 178

Notes for next week: Practice only reading comprehension, and take another full test next week.

[Gemini]

Pt 36 today with pt 35 section 1 experimental. Results as follows:

LR(exp): -4
LR1: -1
RC: -3
LR2: -3 (wut lol)
LG: -1

score: 173.

And nooo I don't want the test to come yet! I still have to go through PTs in the 40s and 50s.

And my experimental clearly shows I need to do a practice section before the real thing.

[Patriot1208]

PT 45 this morning. 89 raw/172 scaled. Glad i'm finally back into the 170's after three agonizing tests in the mid 160's. I really need to keep some consistency in the 170's. I did decide to revamp my RC strategy and although I still didn't do great today I was more accurate in questions I wasn't rushed in(I was rushed on one passage). Hopefully this new strategy helps me be more accurate and I can get it quicker. Breakdown.

LR - 1
RC - 5
LG - 0
LR - 4

[Eugenie Danglars]

Just took PT 37. 91/170. I had my worst RC ever- I missed an important "not" and didn't go back to check. Hubris

On the other hand, best LG section ever with -1! AND I have almost five minutes left over. That's never happened. Maybe I've turned the corner on LG

[justadude55]

PT 45 this morning. 89 raw/172 scaled. Glad i'm finally back into the 170's after three agonizing tests in the mid 160's. I really need to keep some consistency in the 170's. I did decide to revamp my RC strategy and although I still didn't do great today I was more accurate in questions I wasn't rushed in(I was rushed on one passage). Hopefully this new strategy helps me be more accurate and I can get it quicker. Breakdown.

LR - 1
RC - 5
LG - 0
LR - 4

Keep practicing RC, buddy. I was in the same boat as you when I took my first test and only got a 167. I've just done sporadic LR and RC sections ever since, and I've scored 178's on the only 2 full tests I've taken this past month. Just keep practicing RC, and keep a tab of what question types you're getting wrong in that and LR. I'd go easy on games. Once you get them, you get them.

You should also know it's not likely 11 or 12 wrong will correlate to a 172 on the real test, so keep practicing RC.

[brickman]

EIT, despite my fear of the 2nd section of PT 50, I still achieved a record best for myself, a 175!

Though the second section was certainly my big downfall, breakdown in all was: RC -1; LG -0; LR1 -1, LR2 -4!

I wonder of the question style of the second section is indicative of some of the more modern tests, though I have not yet looked at any of the other 50's, it seems like that section had a lot more subtletly to its correct answers than most. Though the wrong answers remained as wrong as ever, I couldn't help but think that the correct answers were so much more efficeintly disguised than in some previous PTs.

[Patriot1208]

PT 45 this morning. 89 raw/172 scaled. Glad i'm finally back into the 170's after three agonizing tests in the mid 160's. I really need to keep some consistency in the 170's. I did decide to revamp my RC strategy and although I still didn't do great today I was more accurate in questions I wasn't rushed in(I was rushed on one passage). Hopefully this new strategy helps me be more accurate and I can get it quicker. Breakdown.

LR - 1
RC - 5
LG - 0
LR - 4

Keep practicing RC, buddy. I was in the same boat as you when I took my first test and only got a 167. I've just done sporadic LR and RC sections ever since, and I've scored 178's on the only 2 full tests I've taken this past month. Just keep practicing RC, and keep a tab of what question types you're getting wrong in that and LR. I'd go easy on games. Once you get them, you get them.

You should also know it's not likely 11 or 12 wrong will correlate to a 172 on the real test, so keep practicing RC.

Ya, It's my plan is just to get as many timed sections as I can in the next month. BTW, though this was -10 if you look at my breakdown. Only 99 scored questions on the test. But hopefully that RC will get quicker and easier and then I get that consistency for the real thing.

[ND'10]

[quote="jfb"
I just took PT 55:

Section 1 (LR): 24/25

(I got 22 wrong, and I still don't understand how the answer is E, because even if that is true, it will still lead to the result that physiological factors cause heart disease -- any notes on this q would be appreciated.)

YES!

If anyone wants to help with this problem, it would be much appreciated. I got the problem right but it was more a guess than anything. I remember looking at this one for 20 minutes during my post-test review and still having no clue.

[Eugenie Danglars]

Let's see...

The doctor says that being quick to anger-->likely to develop HBP-->high likelihood of heart disease, thus psychological factors(being quick to anger) can cause heart disease. Since we're looking to weaken, we need an alternative cause or something that attacks one of the premises. E provides an alternative cause there's something physical (NOT psychological) that causes both anger and HBP, so the whole chain is thrown off whack and we have no evidence that any psychological factors contribute.

HTH.

[Hedwig]

How many times did you guys read the LRB/LGB? I've only read them through once. I'm thinking of just re-reading the LRB again slowly between now and the test. I always need something to read anyways, may as well read the LRB.

[Patriot1208]

How many times did you guys read the LRB/LGB? I've only read them through once. I'm thinking of just re-reading the LRB again slowly between now and the test. I always need something to read anyways, may as well read the LRB.

LGB just once. LRB once through reading everything and i've gone back and read the end review pages of each chapter to keep ideas fresh.

[jwaters]

Took PT 51 yesterday and finally broke through my low 160's plateau...got an 85 raw which is 167 scaled.

LR1: -1
RC: -1
LR2: -5
LG:-8

Super excited about the LR and RC because I had been averaging around -7 on each section until I went through the LRB again this week and changed up the way I do RC. I don't know what the hell happened on games because I usually miss no more than 3, then again I haven't practiced LG in about 10 days. Overall I feel pretty good now because I'm only a point or two away from my goal and still have a month and about 12 PT's left to go.

[whymeohgodno]

Took PT 51 yesterday and finally broke through my low 160's plateau...got an 85 raw which is 167 scaled.

LR1: -1
RC: -1
LR2: -5
LG:-8

Super excited about the LR and RC because I had been averaging around -7 on each section until I went through the LRB again this week and changed up the way I do RC. I don't know what the hell happened on games because I usually miss no more than 3, then again I haven't practiced LG in about 10 days. Overall I feel pretty good now because I'm only a point or two away from my goal and still have a month and about 12 PT's left to go.

....tell me your secret to RC.

[jfb]

How many times did you guys read the LRB/LGB? I've only read them through once. I'm thinking of just re-reading the LRB again slowly between now and the test. I always need something to read anyways, may as well read the LRB.

LGB just once. LRB once through reading everything and i've gone back and read the end review pages of each chapter to keep ideas fresh.

Read through them each once in full, but I frequently review the lrb chapter reviews at the end of each chapter.

[Sandro]

PT 43

RC - X Went out of my mind at borders and just stopped after the 1st passage due to how loud it was (got it all right) Couldn't even hear myself think at all.
LR - 2
LR - 5
LG -7

[jaydizzle]

I got my highest PT score every today on PT 52. I got a 160. This is what I want to score on test day. I got a 159 yesterday. In order to break this hump and score a 160 or over on test day I need to finish all the questions on the test. I am continuously only getting through 3 RC passages and guessing for the last one, and same for the games. I need to work faster. I feel like I got slightly faster, but I still need a lot more work. LR I am speeding up more. I am getting a lot of lopsided LR sections.


LG: -6
LR1: -2
LR2: -9
RC: -7

I had a -12 RC yesterday lol. I think I need to breeze through the passage. I will try a couple passages out this week with just breezing through them. I noticed that in LR I am constantly getting questions wrong in the 16-20 range. Games is a crapshoot. If I don't run out of time I could get a -0 to -3. If I run out of time I start seeing the -4 to -7 range.

Argh, I want to go to my state's law school. With my GPA, a 160 should be able to do the trick.

[policestate1234]

Hey guys quick question:

If you already took the June test, and you took a bunch of prep tests before, and you find yourself going through the prep tests again but getting a higher score, how much of that do you think is due to knowing the correct answer?

[Sandro]

Just looked over the second LR section on PT 43 - Questions 17-26 were all 4 stars according to Kaplan - I missed one of those. 13 14 and 15 were 3 stars and i missed all of them.

[northwood]

Just completed prep test 56 today.
Scoring breakdown:
Section 1 LR (exp) -6
Section 2 LG - 7
Section 3 LR -9
Section 4 LR-10
Section 5 RC-6

In the first `13 quesitons of all 3 LR sections, I missed a total of 10 questions. Need to get better on those, since they are traditionally the easier questions. The majority of my misses were towards the end of the section ( questions 18-25). FLaw, inference and principle were the types that I missed most frequently. Realized that I miss applied the flaw type to the question. Will go over those in the LRB this week.

LG- took way to long on the 4th game( was the 3rd i attempted) DUe to time constraints, I rushed through the last game, and didnt diagram the last game like i wanted to.

RC- liking my new approach to this section. Able to spend more time going back to the passage, than spend more time upfront.

Question: I was becoming more tired during the LR sections ( especially the 3rd section) Had more difficulty concentrating, and reading each word carefully. What should I do to help prepare for this? Should I do more LR questions ( i have some old sections that I havent used yet) in a row, without taking a break ( ex. do 52 questions in a row, then check answers- then bring up the number until my accuracy is high) Or is there another way that would work better?

[gdane]

Just completed prep test 56 today.
Scoring breakdown:
Section 1 LR (exp) -6
Section 2 LG - 7
Section 3 LR -9
Section 4 LR-10
Section 5 RC-6

In the first `13 quesitons of all 3 LR sections, I missed a total of 10 questions. Need to get better on those, since they are traditionally the easier questions. The majority of my misses were towards the end of the section ( questions 18-25). FLaw, inference and principle were the types that I missed most frequently. Realized that I miss applied the flaw type to the question. Will go over those in the LRB this week.

LG- took way to long on the 4th game( was the 3rd i attempted) DUe to time constraints, I rushed through the last game, and didnt diagram the last game like i wanted to.

RC- liking my new approach to this section. Able to spend more time going back to the passage, than spend more time upfront.

Question: I was becoming more tired during the LR sections ( especially the 3rd section) Had more difficulty concentrating, and reading each word carefully. What should I do to help prepare for this? Should I do more LR questions ( i have some old sections that I havent used yet) in a row, without taking a break ( ex. do 52 questions in a row, then check answers- then bring up the number until my accuracy is high) Or is there another way that would work better?

CUT OUT THE EXP. SECTION! Its clearly hurting you.

[northwood]

true, but since we dont know what the experimental section will be on the actual test, shouldn't you have it in anyways?

[gdane]

true, but since we dont know what the experimental section will be on the actual test, shouldn't you have it in anyways?

I find that people plan for the worst case scenarios when the worst case scenarios arent likely to happen. I read about people that take 7 section PT's next to construction zones while their bladders are about to explode and they're on the verge of fainting due to hunger. In other words, focus more on the test and not so much on the unknowns.

Sure we wont know what the exp section will be, but what we do know is that right now youre not doing as well as you should be doing.

In my opinion doing 5 sections is a strategy that should be used mainly by those that are already scoring high. If youre a low scorer, it would be more helpful to work on what youre weak in rather than irrelevent areas.

[Hedwig]

true, but since we dont know what the experimental section will be on the actual test, shouldn't you have it in anyways?

I find that people plan for the worst case scenarios when the worst case scenarios arent likely to happen. I read about people that take 7 section PT's next to construction zones while their bladders are about to explode and they're on the verge of fainting due to hunger. In other words, focus more on the test and not so much on the unknowns.

Sure we wont know what the exp section will be, but what we do know is that right now youre not doing as well as you should be doing.

In my opinion doing 5 sections is a strategy that should be used mainly by those that are already scoring high. If youre a low scorer, it would be more helpful to work on what youre weak in rather than irrelevent areas.

I think you should take a week or so to really increase your stamina in LR. I completely understand the foggy LR brain - I think it's worst with LR, especially because there are so many goddamn LR things - if I get an LR experimental, it's going to be interesting! But I try to give myself LR experimentals because it helps me train my brain to stay focused through the long hard slog of LR.

Your idea about doing 50 questions or so in a row is a good idea. Practice staying focused. Then take another 5 section PT and go for it.

[aesis]

Sigh.

PT 44
LR -3/-3, RC -1, LG -0. 93/100 Raw, 173 scaled. Can anyone offer any input on how to break this LR wall (my PTs typically involved -3 LR's). Or any advice on consistently hitting 176+? That's my goal.

I review and try to identify patterns but these usually consist of:
- picking a contender answer choice over the correct one from failure to disqualify the contender based on one or two words that are out of scope
- not having enough time
- not picking a an AC that fits but I'm turned off by because it's really general/broad

Help! Or do I just need more practice? I'm taking PTs every other day until test day.