October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[gdane]

PT 45 gave me mixed results. A 75 raw score (down from yesterdays 79), but the same scaled score, 161, as yesterday. I guess the -13 curve bailed me out.

In any case my worst section was RC, -10. Came as a surprise to me because I had -4 yesterday. I found the passages very interesting and I understood the questions. I think I got too overconfident/lazy. I didnt completely think about my answers. I was making such great time that I felt I was good. Cant get too comfortable. Always have to stay alert and in complete control.

Once again, I scored -2 on LG's. Whats makes this sweeter than yesterdays -2 is that these were fresh games. I had never seen them before. Nice to know I could do well when not only when Ive seen a game before.

LR was mixed, a -8 on the first section and a -5 on the second. That has to improve considering that Ive been doing so well with LR the last few days.

Im glad to see my results have been consistent and that there havent been any major drops/fluctuations.

One question for those that have taken PT 44 and PT 45, Did you find the LG's on these tests to be "easy"?

Time to take it easy for the next day. Going to a football game tonight and having some fun! Good luck to everyone else whos doing prep!

[gdane]

Quick question. What do you guys do on days in between PTs? They always end up being lazy days for me. I review the PT but always lose concentration while drilling and just say i'll take a PT tomorrow.

I review whatever previous PT's I did. I review why I got the questions I got correct correct, I review why I got them wrong, I review what made me pick the wrong answer, etc etc. I also read and play sudoku to keep my mind busy. Main thing is to do something to keep your mind going. Dont go crazy thought. You need to relax every now and then.

[jfb]

As gdane said, go over your previous pt. I find that if I review the day after I take the pt, I have much more patience and energy to go through the test thoroughly than if I review the same day that I took it. Also, as I'm taking the pt, I always mark questions that give me difficulty, so I can pay extra attention to them when I'm reviewing. I think that reviewing one test thoroughly pays off a lot more than taking two with little review after each does.

I also review the bibles on non pt days to keep everything fresh in my mind. Sometimes I find something useful that I missed the first time through, or something useful that I had forgotten.


Took PT 56 yesterday, 172 - most points were missed in RC (-5). Doing some review stuff today and then starting with pt 43 tomorrow which i just got in the mail. There is however always the chance that my plans will change and I'll go out and get wild tonight... in that case pt 43 will have to wait until monday.

[Hedwig]

Quick question. What do you guys do on days in between PTs? They always end up being lazy days for me. I review the PT but always lose concentration while drilling and just say i'll take a PT tomorrow.

I do my reading and homework for my full course load at university? Lol. I also do section work (games, usually) randomly.

[WonkyPanda]

Do you guys approach LR in different manner than just going sequentially? Do some of you do the first 10 then work your way down from the last question? Do someone you purposely skip types of questions you know your weak at to save for later?

[Hedwig]

Sequential all the way. A hard question is going to be hard whether I encounter it in minute 18 or minute 28. Parallel Reasoning is going to suck whenever. I just blast through the questions.

Plus it would give me a false sense of completion if I was working on questions 20-26 or something before 10-14 or something... I like to go in order and "tick off" questions as I go - like, 10 down, 15 to go, halfway there, 5 left, etc. I get bored doing PTs.

[whymeohgodno]

Do you guys approach LR in different manner than just going sequentially? Do some of you do the first 10 then work your way down from the last question? Do someone you purposely skip types of questions you know your weak at to save for later?

I purposely skip parallel reasoning questions and come back to it later.

I just do this because often times I'm in a good rhythm and parallel reasoning questions tends to screw it up.

[Hedwig]

Has anyone else noticed their LSAT learning filtering into their undergrad classes? I have been using initials a lot more (lol), and today I was doing reading for my Roman History class and I NEEDED my pencil to underline and I boxed names/dates haha and I kept noticing tone words, and limiting words (like most, every, all, only) hahaha. I'm not sure if this is good or not. It's definitely active reading, though, so I guess it's good.

[dabomb75]

hey guys, just popping in to say hi and join the thread with 1 month to go before test day.

Took PT 58 today and got my lowest score since my 1st diag. so I've been moping around all day

Guess I just gotta get back on the high horse again tomorrow

[ND'10]

Screw PT #57, seriously...

Somehow I escaped with a 170 (my goal for test day and also my current PT average through about 15 PTs), but this test made me really mad. I had heard of the dino game, and it gave me some trouble as expected, but I was surprised that the other games were actually tougher in difficulty than the average game as well (IMO). For example, I thought Game 1 was the easiest on the test but was as tough as most sections' 2nd or even 3rd toughest game. The dino game wasn't "OMG that was impossible!!!" tough like a lot of people made it sound, but it took me 26 minutes to do the other 3 games, so whereas I'll usually have 12-13 mins to do the toughest game in a section, I only had 9 mins to do dinos.

Critical reading was average, if not easier than normal, but I still missed a couple on the comparative reading passage.

I had a beef with some LR questions, though. I think the PowerScore "Must be True" method failed in Section 3, Question #23, as I don't think the credited response MUST be true- its just the most strongly supported, and that really tripped me up. A couple of the other questions threw me off including #25 in that section. The #20 parallel question gave me a TON of trouble and took me about 3:30 minutes and I still missed it, causing me to have to rush through 21-25 while flustered. In all of the first LR section and the first 19 questions of the second (45 questions) I missed 3 questions. Including #20, I missed 3 of the last 6 LR questions on the test. On test day, I'm going to have to do a better job of marking and passing on tough questions, then coming back later.

Between me not liking this test and ND losing this afternoon to Michigan, I'm really not in the mood for Prep Test review tonight lol, so I'll probably just call it a night.

Its just weird how I'd gladly take a 170 on test day, but am pissed about it scoring that on a PT right now- my expectations keep on changing, which is a good thing I guess.

[Pleasye]

Screw PT #57, seriously...

Somehow I escaped with a 170 (my goal for test day and also my current PT average through about 15 PTs), but this test made me really mad. I had heard of the dino game, and it gave me some trouble as expected, but I was surprised that the other games were actually tougher in difficulty than the average game as well (IMO). For example, I thought Game 1 was the easiest on the test but was as tough as most sections' 2nd or even 3rd toughest game. The dino game wasn't "OMG that was impossible!!!" tough like a lot of people made it sound, but it took me 26 minutes to do the other 3 games, so whereas I'll usually have 12-13 mins to do the toughest game in a section, I only had 9 mins to do dinos.

Critical reading was average, if not easier than normal, but I still missed a couple on the comparative reading passage.

I had a beef with some LR questions, though. I think the PowerScore "Must be True" method failed in Section 3, Question #23, as I don't think the credited response MUST be true- its just the most strongly supported, and that really tripped me up. A couple of the other questions threw me off including #25 in that section. The #20 parallel question gave me a TON of trouble and took me about 3:30 minutes and I still missed it, causing me to have to rush through 21-25 while flustered. In all of the first LR section and the first 19 questions of the second (45 questions) I missed 3 questions. Including #20, I missed 3 of the last 6 LR questions on the test. On test day, I'm going to have to do a better job of marking and passing on tough questions, then coming back later.

Hey guys...have been periodically reading this thread but thought I'd post.

I completely agree with you ND'10 about PT 57....I am scoring much lower than you are but had trouble on a lot of the same questions! Until I read your post I didn't realize that the dinosaur game on this PT was the infamous Dino Game! I feel a little better about myself now. I found the games section on this PT pretty difficult also.

[lparker]

Has anyone else noticed their LSAT learning filtering into their undergrad classes?

I've noticed it dominating my life. As I was watching a Plavix commercial...
Me to my husband: I think I have PAD. (I often think I have ailments as drug commercials appeal to my hypochondriac side.) I should get that checked out because it increases your risk of heart attack.
Husband:You don't have PAD. The reason PAD increases heart attack is because the same thing that increases PAD increases the risk of heart attack.
Me: Did you just weaken that causal reasoning?

[judgekozinski]

LISTEN TO ME! This is hope to everybody out there studying for the LSAT. The LSAT is not an IQ test, there is a way to beat the test and substantially improve! Just study hard for this meaningless law school hurdle!

Update: Took practice test 57 today at Princeton Review. 164! This is up from my last PR test of 157 a few weeks ago and substantially up from other practice tests. The games were tough on this test too, reading comp only -3! Huge improvement, reading comp is all about finding the style that fits for you and maximizes your score.

Everybody, you can get that score you want on the LSAT, study hard!

[ArchRoark]

LISTEN TO ME! This is hope to everybody out there studying for the LSAT. The LSAT is not an IQ test, there is a way to beat the test and substantially improve! Just study hard for this meaningless law school hurdle!

Update: Took practice test 57 today at Princeton Review. 164! This is up from my last PR test of 157 a few weeks ago and substantially up from other practice tests. The games were tough on this test too, reading comp only -3! Huge improvement, reading comp is all about finding the style that fits for you and maximizes your score.

Everybody, you can get that score you want on the LSAT, study hard!

+1

[The Gentleman]

PT 50 screwed with me today. RC felt really difficult but LR was a joke IMHO. Anyone else feel this way?

[Pitcher]

Can anyone direct me to a site (Other than LSAC) that sell Practice tests? I would additionally like to acquire a logic games bible, so if anyone can point me in the right direction it would be most hopeful.

[ArchRoark]

[quote="Pitcher"] if anyone can direct me to a site (Other than LSAC) that sell Practice tests. /quote]

Amazon... When I was practicing earlier this year if you bought 3 you got the 4th one free.

[Pitcher]

Thank you.

[Nulli Secundus]

YEAH!!!

Just killed PT 48, was really concerned about this one, with an -8 curve I thought it had the potential of dragging me under my minimum for last 20 PTs (173), and the results are:


LR1: -0
LG: -0
RC: -0 (HAHAHAHA)
LR2: -1 (And I chose the right answer only to change it later, but oh well)

Raw: 100
Scaled: 180

My highest raw score to date, and my first 180 from a regular PT, the previous one was from experimental sections.

YEAH!!!

[Eugenie Danglars]

YEAH!!!

Just killed PT 48, was really concerned about this one, with an -8 curve I thought it had the potential of dragging me under my minimum for last 20 PTs (173), and the results are:


LR1: -0
LG: -0
RC: -0 (HAHAHAHA)
LR2: -1 (And I chose the right answer only to change it later, but oh well)

Raw: 100
Scaled: 180

My highest raw score to date, and my first 180 from a regular PT, the previous one was from experimental sections.

YEAH!!!

It must be a lucky day because something similar just happened to me (yes, I know that that's probably a logical flaw; alternate causes, etc. are possible.)

But ZOMG! My previous high score was 94/174, and just now on PT 44:

RC -0 (! that's a first)
LR -1
LG -1
LR -0 (also a first!)

Raw: 98
Scaled: 180!

I literally just picked my jaw up off the floor!

Congrats, nulli! We rock

[Hedwig]

Wow, congratulations, you two!

Now be prepared to be disappointed with anything below a 177 on all your future prep tests!

[Nulli Secundus]

Next up, PT 49, this one had the maize passage or?

[gdane]

Wow, congratulations, you two!

Now be prepared to be disappointed with anything below a 177 on all your future prep tests!

Hahaha!! Cute.

Although, since Ive been scoring in the low 160's lately I now feel that anything lower than 160 would be a huge disappointment and a huge step back. To be fair its much different to compare a 160-157 to a 180-177 since the latter scores are 100x better and would get you into the school of your dreams.

I cant wait to take PT 46 tomorrow! I feel good and I want to keep practicing.

[lparker]

Next up, PT 49, this one had the maize passage or?

Yes. I just finished this test... NOT a fan of that maize passage! Good luck with it! It was DEFINITELY a tough one.

[northwood]

just took prep test 51

scoring breakdown

Section 1 (LR) -10
Section 2 ( RC) -9
Section 3 ( exp LLR) -8
Section 4 (LR) -8
Section 5 (LG)-5

Raw 68

Starting to notice that the first section of the test, regardless of what it is is one of my worst ones. Have never done a warm up before the test, but will start doing one for the next 2 prep tests ( this wednesday and saturday/ sunday ish). What do you guys do for a warm up? should I do 10 lr problems, read a passage, or do a game?