zigzag pattern score in the 50s Forum

[xqhp82]

I've taken several PTs from the 50s so far with PT47 and PT48 as experimentals and the scores have been wildly inconsistent (163, 162, 168, 163, 167, 160, 167, 160) whenever I get a bad score, it's either I get destroyed by one RC section or I score average in all sections (not getting -0 in LG). I only have 3 PTs left until test day, how can I break this weird pattern?

[JJDancer]

Are you spending enough time reviewing each test? Not just questions you got wrong but sometimes you might put an answer and it ends up being correct but you weren't 100% on it when you chose it. You need to review things like these and see what was it about the RC/LG that tripped you up. Was it a science passage? Was it having 28 ques in RC? Was it a hybrid game?

[Lokomani]

You are fundamentally misunderstanding the point. PT's aren't for plotting a graph with your LSAT scores, the point is to analyze weaknesses in reasoning throughout the test, as well as pitfalls to which one is susceptible. From the information you provided, we can tell almost nothing about what you are getting right or wrong. Why did you post this if you aren't giving any detail? What answer could we possibly give you that would automatically boost all your scores into the high 160's and 170's on your last 3 PT's?

[xqhp82]

yea, i'm sorry for leaving out the details. I do review my PTs thoroughly, normally I take a PT in the morning and spend about 3 hours in the afternoon reviewing it. For LR there is no specific questions that I always get wrong, it's mostly misreading words in the stimulus or answer choices (e.g. indicator words). For LG, I often get stumped by questions that involve many hypotheticals, those that I need to test every single answer choice. I just run out of time. I'm also bad at dealing with rules like "either X is before Y, or X is after Z, but not both". As for RC, I don't have problems with science passages, I have problems with long and complex questions and tone/attitude questions. Also I tend to spend 10-11 mins on the passage with most questions, and having about 6 mins for the last one with 5-6 questions. With only one week left, should I concentrate on one particular section to improve on, or drill for each section and keep doing the last 3 PTs?

[xqhp82]

yea, i'm sorry for leaving out the details. I do review my PTs thoroughly, normally I take a PT in the morning and spend about 3 hours in the afternoon reviewing it. For LR there is no specific questions that I always get wrong, it's mostly misreading words in the stimulus or answer choices (e.g. indicator words). For LG, I often get stumped by questions that involve many hypotheticals, those that I need to test every single answer choice. I just run out of time. I'm also bad at dealing with rules like "either X is before Y, or X is after Z, but not both". As for RC, I don't have problems with science passages, I have problems with long and complex questions and tone/attitude questions. Also I tend to spend 10-11 mins on the passage with most questions, and having about 6 mins for the last one with 5-6 questions. With only one week left, should I concentrate on one particular section to improve on, or drill for each section and keep doing the last 3 PTs?

[The Gentleman]

With only one week left, should I concentrate on one particular section to improve on, or drill for each section and keep doing the last 3 PTs?

This one seems fairly obvious to me. If you're taking the LSAT next week, then you should do the last 3 PTs. And if you have additional time, I would recommend the reviewing the explanations in the Superprep. There are some real LSAT gems of wisdom in that book. Also, I wouldn't characterize your scores as being remarkably inconsistent. Variation happens.

[thesybarite]

Maybe take a day just to do drills? Write out in full the LR questions you got wrong (are you sure there's no specific category you get wrong more often?), and re-drill old games. Then do your last prep tests.
Also - don't crash and burn. Go and smell the roses for a while...

ps come back to our foreign thread

[xqhp82]

thanks for the advice. I think I will go over Superprep some time. I didn't do too well in those 3 tests, Superprep B was ok but Superprep C was bad. But those were more than a month ago, I expect to see some improvement:)

I also redid all the games from PT44-54 today. I could finish one section in 20 mins, so they're not bad at all. Though the games started to get harder after 54, I will try to redo 55-60 before test day if I have time.

going to take PT58 tomorrow, i'll see how it goes!