low/mid --> upper 170's? Forum

[amkid100]

tips? i find that i'm making a lot of stupid mistakes that don't seem to have any pattern to them. i basically get 2 wrong a section, although sometimes fewer on rc.

is it realistic to try to push into the upper 170's for my PTs before october? i want a cushion to account for the typical test day score drop.

[Sandro]

tips? i find that i'm making a lot of stupid mistakes that don't seem to have any pattern to them. i basically get 2 wrong a section, although sometimes fewer on rc.

is it realistic to try to push into the upper 170's for my PTs before october? i want a cushion to account for the typical test day score drop.

There has to be a reason why you are making the mistakes. Maybe misreading question, not reading stimulus carefully enough... its easy to chalk up missing question #5 in LR as a "stupid mistake" but its how you learn from it that will determine if you keep making those same mistakes...

[Sandro]

and lets face it, once you start hovering around the upper 160's - the difference between a 175 and 170 are probably just "stupid mistakes" and who makes the least.

[St.Remy]

Once you get into the 170s the conventional logic does break down somewhat. Every test has one or two very hard questions, and as far as I'm concerned there is no way to always get them correct. Nobody takes 10 PTs and gets 10 180s. Unlike in the 160s a single question in the 170s can set you back multiple points. Nobody has a catch-all solution for going from a 172 to a 178, because frankly even high scorers hit a wall eventually (also not a huge number of people have this dilemma). My recommendation is to keep at it, always go over the questions that you missed or found difficult, and prepare yourself mentally and physically for test day.

[Adjudicator]

Once you get into the 170s the conventional logic does break down somewhat. Every test has one or two very hard questions, and as far as I'm concerned there is no way to always get them correct. Nobody takes 10 PTs and gets 10 180s. Unlike in the 160s a single question in the 170s can set you back multiple points. Nobody has a catch-all solution for going from a 172 to a 178, because frankly even high scorers hit a wall eventually (also not a huge number of people have this dilemma). My recommendation is to keep at it, always go over the questions that you missed or found difficult, and prepare yourself mentally and physically for test day.

While practicing I often mark the questions I find most difficult, and oddly, I seem to almost always get them right. The ones that I do miss tend to be ones that I did not remember as being difficult.

Which one of the following, if true, best helps to resolve this apparent discrepancy?

A) ....


Just kidding.

[St.Remy]

While practicing I often mark the questions I find most difficult, and oddly, I seem to almost always get them right. The ones that I do miss tend to be ones that I did not remember as being difficult.

Which one of the following, if true, best helps to resolve this apparent discrepancy?

A) ....


Just kidding.

If you are finding that you regularly finish with time to spare you might try deliberately slowing yourself down during the first 10-15 questions (I'm assuming this is the range wherein you miss questions that you thought you nailed). Otherwise I just advocate practice practice practice. I had a similar problem approaching test day but I found that the more frequently I did PTs the more rare instances of stupid mistakes were.

I remember during prep when all the humor section of my brain did was think up LSAT jokes. God am I glad that that's over.

[amkid100]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I am going to try to slow down on the first 10-15 and see how that goes. I also just reviewed 2 LG sections and found that I misread the questions (could vs. Must etc). Next PT I'm going to circle the operative word to make sure I don't mess it up. Goal is to keep improving and not hit the proverbial wall.