Percentage of Drilling vs. Full Length PT's for the LSAT Forum

[bizzybone1313]

For those of you who have scored very high on the LSAT, what is the optimum ratio of drilling vs. PT's. I have read some similar threads, but thought I would create a poll to make it more clear. To make this more simple, I simply assume there are 70 prep tests, which is about right anyways. So, should we LSAT preppers drill with 70% and PT with the other 30%? Or what is the optimum ratio? Should we drill with 50 prep tests and take 20 timed ones? Should we drill with 40 and take 30 timed ones? How much full length timed practice do we need for game day? Please discuss.

[SumStalwart]

It should start out with minimal PT's and a lot of drilling and then, as you approach the test date, you should start doing an increasing amount of PT's and less drilling.

Then again, different strokes for different folks.

[Typhoon24]

a couple of my friends that got 175+ went 60 % drilling (the first 40 tests) and 40 % PTs. seems like the way to go, but what's important to emphasize is that the ultimate way to a high score is finding out where you're messing up and ACTIVELY improving those areas. This is generally done by drilling and studying the books, but it varies from person to person. Some people seem to plateau their skills and just need overall test practice and move on to PTs early while others drill 90% of the time. It's all about you and working with what you've got.

[cahwc12]

I think that you would ask this indicates you just need to start studying. Take a PT and see where you're at, then do drilling until you're comfortable with each question type. From there, take full, timed PTs and review comprehensively, while drilling specific weaknesses should you need the extra work.

There is no answer to your question.

[bizzybone1313]

It just seems like you could do too much drilling and not enough full length PT's. There has to be some kind of balance.

[ScottRiqui]

I don't feel like I learn very much doing full, timed PTs, and I'm not worried about the "test anxiety" aspect of it, so I probably won't do more than 7-10 full timed PTs, and those will be at the end. I'll use the rest of the tests to drill problems by type.

[BlaqBella]

I think it was NoodleyOne who suggested using the older PTs for drills (PT 1-38) and the newer for practice tests. I agree with this approach and plan to incorporate such into my study plan.

[nedzilla]

depends where you are in terms of score when starting off and where you want to score after your prep. match accordingly.

if you need to learn strategies to perform better on the test, then you need to do focused prep and learn how to attack each question. taking PT after PT will do nothing but kill your confidence and drive you crazy unless you already have the adequate background knowledge to score where you want to score and can then work on fine tuning, timing, mental stamina, etc.

[bizzybone1313]

The poll results are a lot more varied than I expected. Any other thoughts?

[bizzybone1313]

I am surprised with the people that think 7 full length practice tests is enough.