The Official September 2017 Study Group Forum

[digitality]

PT 65 today

LR1 -2 (BR -1)
LG -5 (BR -4, kinda bummed about this one)
RC -4 (BR -4, ditto)
LR2 -0 (didn't even circle anything for BR)

172 (BR 174)

for the first time i struggled to finish RC in time, and just knowing i was in a time crunch really rattled me. the games score is kinda depressing, but i don't mind drilling games so at least the outlook is okay.

i REALLY felt myself hunker down and focus on that last LR, but i don't know how i did it. reached question 18, thought to myself, "wow, you're flying," checked my watch and sure enough i had 20 minutes left. i wish i know what i did to turn things around mentally. that ever happen to anyone else? any tricks for putting yourself in that state of mind/turning things around that aren't just dumb luck?

[Gluteus]

Ugh my eyes are killing me

My eyes are aching whenever I focus on something and I feel like I'm starring into space all the time

Looks like my eyes are burning out before I do smh. This sucks

[digitality]

Ugh my eyes are killing me

My eyes are aching whenever I focus on something and I feel like I'm starring into space all the time

Looks like my eyes are burning out before I do smh. This sucks

just my $0.02 — 30 games in a single day sounds like a lot. i definitely could not focus for that many + review, so i wouldn't get down on yourself for physically not being able to keep up. could be your body speaking up before your brain fries.

[CottonHarvest]

PT 65 today

LR1 -2 (BR -1)
LG -5 (BR -4, kinda bummed about this one)
RC -4 (BR -4, ditto)
LR2 -0 (didn't even circle anything for BR)

172 (BR 174)

for the first time i struggled to finish RC in time, and just knowing i was in a time crunch really rattled me. the games score is kinda depressing, but i don't mind drilling games so at least the outlook is okay.

i REALLY felt myself hunker down and focus on that last LR, but i don't know how i did it. reached question 18, thought to myself, "wow, you're flying," checked my watch and sure enough i had 20 minutes left. i wish i know what i did to turn things around mentally. that ever happen to anyone else? any tricks for putting yourself in that state of mind/turning things around that aren't just dumb luck?

I also took 65 today and struggled uncharacteristically on RC.

[presidentspivey]

Big strides on LG today. Went -2 on several full timed sections in the 40s today, which is my best score on an games section. I think I've got a solid strategy for diagramming the more difficult grouping games and most of my improvements came in those games. I could still use some more speed. Most of my mistakes now are silly little things in sequencing or I/O games that I catch easily upon review, but are probably caused by time pressure. I guess the answer is just to practice more, or to just, well, write faster. My LR and RC scores suggest that if I can get to -1/-0 on LG I can crack 175 consistently. I'll probably get at it again tomorrow and take all of Sunday off.

[presidentspivey]

Ugh my eyes are killing me

My eyes are aching whenever I focus on something and I feel like I'm starring into space all the time

Looks like my eyes are burning out before I do smh. This sucks

just my $0.02 — 30 games in a single day sounds like a lot. i definitely could not focus for that many + review, so i wouldn't get down on yourself for physically not being able to keep up. could be your body speaking up before your brain fries.

Seconded. I probably did about 20 today and I'm pooped. 30 definitely sounds like too much.

[digitality]

Big strides on LG today. Went -2 on several full timed sections in the 40s today, which is my best score on an games section. I think I've got a solid strategy for diagramming the more difficult grouping games and most of my improvements came in those games. I could still use some more speed. Most of my mistakes now are silly little things in sequencing or I/O games that I catch easily upon review, but are probably caused by time pressure. I guess the answer is just to practice more, or to just, well, write faster. My LR and RC scores suggest that if I can get to -1/-0 on LG I can crack 175 consistently. I'll probably get at it again tomorrow and take all of Sunday off.

on my good days (not today, lol) i'm usually around that -2 range, too. i also struggle with time. till now i've been all in on splitting into as many sub gameboards as possible, but i'm starting to think that's costing me precious time. i'm just so much more comfortable having the rules visualized like that, though, and if i can get several sub boards down i usually don't even need to sketch boards for each individual question.

[ScamMan101]

My initial cold diagnostic was a 148.... in May. I just took test 59 today (July 28) and got a 174. I've seen tremendous progress and really grinded. I'm wondering if anyone who scores in the 170's has any feedback on how to keep the score going up... / on test day not drop lower.

50 Days till September Test legooooo

[ScamMan101]

PT 65 today

LR1 -2 (BR -1)
LG -5 (BR -4, kinda bummed about this one)
RC -4 (BR -4, ditto)
LR2 -0 (didn't even circle anything for BR)

172 (BR 174)

for the first time i struggled to finish RC in time, and just knowing i was in a time crunch really rattled me. the games score is kinda depressing, but i don't mind drilling games so at least the outlook is okay.

i REALLY felt myself hunker down and focus on that last LR, but i don't know how i did it. reached question 18, thought to myself, "wow, you're flying," checked my watch and sure enough i had 20 minutes left. i wish i know what i did to turn things around mentally. that ever happen to anyone else? any tricks for putting yourself in that state of mind/turning things around that aren't just dumb luck?

Thats funny I'm the opposite ! Haven't missed 1 on LG in 8 practice tests. My RC is ass though... got PR today of -3 usually -6...

[mnbv9876]

Would love some input on this:
I've been consistently getting 170s on timed PTs, and am noticing LG are my biggest struggle both ability wise, and psychologically.
If I get freaked out at the beginning game/feel like I am taking too long for example, it will mess me up the whole test, and twice already this has brought my overall test performance down by almost 10 whole points overall. I'm really worried it will happen on test day...
My LG is still not that strong, -6 on last PT. But I worry that if I focus too much on LG this close to the test, I will neglect the other areas that are actually my relative strengths...
Has anyone had this type of difficulty? Should I stop doing full PTs and just drill logic games for two weeks straight, then go back to full PTs? I've been aiming for 3 full PTs per week, but feel that this detracts from potentially focusing more on LG. already majorly feeling the time crunch >.<

[Par0lEvid3nce]

Sorry if this question was already asked/answered but are the LR sections from the early practice test comparable to the more recent PTs in terms of difficulty? The LR sections prior to PT 50 seem a little less challenging but its also totally possible that I've improved? LOL.

I hope everyone is making the progress they want! ^_^

[HesusChrist]

Would love some input on this:
I've been consistently getting 170s on timed PTs, and am noticing LG are my biggest struggle both ability wise, and psychologically.
If I get freaked out at the beginning game/feel like I am taking too long for example, it will mess me up the whole test, and twice already this has brought my overall test performance down by almost 10 whole points overall. I'm really worried it will happen on test day...
My LG is still not that strong, -6 on last PT. But I worry that if I focus too much on LG this close to the test, I will neglect the other areas that are actually my relative strengths...
Has anyone had this type of difficulty? Should I stop doing full PTs and just drill logic games for two weeks straight, then go back to full PTs? I've been aiming for 3 full PTs per week, but feel that this detracts from potentially focusing more on LG. already majorly feeling the time crunch >.<

Drill LG. It's affecting your confidence and is an easy way to improve. You don't have to completely neglect LR either, do some sections to maintain. But getting into the 170s without 20+ on LG is very difficult.

[digitality]

Thats funny I'm the opposite ! Haven't missed 1 on LG in 8 practice tests. My RC is ass though... got PR today of -3 usually -6...

i'm typically lights out on RC, -2 tops, so i haven't studied for it at all. now i'm a little worried that maybe my beginner's luck is wearing off. in either case, it's probably easier and more fun working on eliminating these crappy games days.

also, i never could have gone -0 on a LR section if not for making eliminating wrongs my top priority. mike kept hitting that point in the trainer and though i took mental note of it by the time i got into the thick of a timed section or a PT i would usually pull the trigger as soon as i saw what i thought was a right answer. if you're like me and you think it takes too long: it doesn't, it absolutely doesn't. should never have doubted mike lol.

[littlewing67]

.

[creed]

Drilled some assumption questions, went 45/45. Felt great and decided I should focus on LG.

Does anyone have any tips on grouping? There's just something about grouping that's frustrating me. When I came back to do linear the second time, I could feel it get easier. Isn't happening on grouping.

[Impressionist]

Drilled some assumption questions, went 45/45. Felt great and decided I should focus on LG.

Does anyone have any tips on grouping? There's just something about grouping that's frustrating me. When I came back to do linear the second time, I could feel it get easier. Isn't happening on grouping.

For in/out grouping games specifically I feel like breaking them down by subgroups makes them trivially easy, like how 7sage does it in their videos. In/out were my bane at the start and now i look forward to easy points and a sub 6-7min game when I see them now.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Drilled some assumption questions, went 45/45. Felt great and decided I should focus on LG.

Does anyone have any tips on grouping? There's just something about grouping that's frustrating me. When I came back to do linear the second time, I could feel it get easier. Isn't happening on grouping.

I think it just comes down to repetition over and over again. 7Sage videos! thats what im doing rn

[creed]

Thanks for the responses.

Just PT'd

PT 42: 172

LG: -1 (finally)
LR1: -3
RC: -4
LR2: -1

Thoughts:

LG: Very happy that I've gotten LG down to the -1 range. I dinged the last question because of time, unfortunately.

LR: Didn't make any dumb mistakes, which is good. Two of the four I missed were flaw questions, so I'm going to drill those this upcoming week.

RC: Frustrating. This is my first test in the 40's, so I believe this is around when RC began to change (though not when it picked up comparative). I missed 3 of my 4 on a brutal art section. (Not sure if anyone remembers it, but it's the section about the comic book-ish art guy who apparently had some relationship with abstract expressionism that I couldn't comprehend well enough). But I think this was likely to happen-- I started around -1/-2 on RC and have ignored it so far. So it looks like it's back on the RC grindstone for me.

Overall: Changed a couple answers that I shouldn't have. Not happy that I'm down from a 174 on my last test, but I'm glad it's within a range I'm happy with. My last few tests have indicated that the shift I'd like to make into the upper 170's may be more a matter of stamina than anything else. Happy Saturday!

[twiix]

I think I'm finally realizing that there is no hope for RC and I'm fucked for September. I can't make progress and the further up I go with recent tests, the worse I get. In the 50s I managed to scrape by with some -5 to -7, and now in the 60's it seems like I'm lucky to hold on to -10. With LG at -0 and LR fluctuating between -1 and -4 per passage, I'm convinced there is no god because RC is fucking stupid.

Anyone want to sign up at the same test center for me and do my RC and I'll do your lG? That's the only way I can see myself getting through this fucking test. I'm ready to just give up.

[Rupert Pupkin]

PT 46

RC = -2
LR = -4
LR = -5
LG = -0

168
(-9 curve ouch)

Only scored it in 7sage, going to blind review LR Monday. This is the best I have done in terms of the raw number of questions wrong (-11) overall. Also didn't realize my phone was not on airplane mode during the 3rd sections and got like a million phone calls, bit distracting since I had it on vibrate.

Oh and forgot for LG, I finished with 7 minutes to spare and went back and checked all my answers and caught a wrong answer and fixed it lol.

Ugh I feel like I am not making gains in time for Sept

Awesome work! You are right there

[abujabal]

Any tips on pushing LG from -2/-3 to -0? Seems like the final push and those extra points would be amazing to have given my LR scores

[tapenade]

Decided to finish PT 30, first section was an untimed drill a few days ago and the rest was timed in one sitting. My score is lower than the past few untimed PTs, but still close to my goal score (165-168).

LG: -3 (untimed)
LR: -8
RC: -8
LR: -4
Raw 78, scaled 164.

Really disappointed with RC, as it's usually relatively easy for me.

Edit: is anyone else not feeling ready for September? Retaking in December is not the end of the world by any means, I know.

[augustyyy]

did my first PT since June test, PT61 scored 173 BR 179

RC -7 (which is normal for me fml)
LR -0 (never had that before)
LG -1 (super stupid mistake)

I don't know what to say to the score... before the June test my highest PT was 174 and I only hit that once. I drilled RC for a whole week then took the test which seems like the drilling makes no difference lol. For LR I felt like having blur memories for some questions, not remember the exact answer choices but like remember this is a hard/tricky question so I put extra efforts in that question. the memory of a retaker really makes me worried
gonna try another PT tomorrow see how that goes

[twiix]

did my first PT since June test, PT61 scored 173 BR 179

RC -7 (which is normal for me fml)
LR -0 (never had that before)
LG -1 (super stupid mistake)

I don't know what to say to the score... before the June test my highest PT was 174 and I only hit that once. I drilled RC for a whole week then took the test which seems like the drilling makes no difference lol. For LR I felt like having blur memories for some questions, not remember the exact answer choices but like remember this is a hard/tricky question so I put extra efforts in that question. the memory of a retaker really makes me worried
gonna try another PT tomorrow see how that goes

I'm with ya. I'm a few points behind on that LR, but RC is the bane of my existence. Did you find that constant RC drilling helped at all? I feel like there's something that I need to change fundamentally before RC will really start improving, but I'm at a loss for what to do

[augustyyy]

:

I'm with ya. I'm a few points behind on that LR, but RC is the bane of my existence. Did you find that constant RC drilling helped at all? I feel like there's something that I need to change fundamentally before RC will really start improving, but I'm at a loss for what to do

I don't really know but I probably gonna keep drilling a bit, since timing is a huge problem for me. If I could improve speed then I have at least some damage limitation.
Also I find that RC before PT70 or even before PT65 are not as challenging as the recent ones. I have some deep fear for the 70s RC...