June 2011 Study Group Forum

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

PT 29 is in:
LR1 21/25
LR2 21/25
LG 21/24
RC 24/27

Raw 87 Scaled 169. Hope everyone's having a solid study week!

[Eichörnchen]

October study group thread is up. Here's to none of us ever having to post in there.

oh god oh god that's terrifying.

Good job on that PT Florida! You beat me by a point on that one

[soj]

PT27
LR1: -0
LR2: -2

Yay! I feel like I'm maturing as a test-taker now. I don't lose my composure as easily if I encounter a series of tough Qs (unless it's in RC, but I always panic in RC no matter what ). Hoping to kill PT28 LR.

Surprised with the scores, though, I thought LR1 was the harder section by far. I marked 4 Qs as unsure in LR1 and 0 in LR2.

[mickeyD]

Soj are you... drilling?

I thought only mere mortals did such things..

[soj]

I thought it would be a good way of building endurance and identifying specific patterns of error. I have dozens of other PTs, so where's the harm in using a few old ones for drilling?

I want to improve in RC in any way I can. And it wouldn't hurt to be more consistent in LR--I'm doing better now on average, but every once in a while I'll relapse to my pre-improvement level.

New technique: If I've confidently eliminated 4 ACs but can't seem to justify the fifth as TCR, quickly re-read the eliminated ACs to make sure I haven't misread. If I haven't, just select the fifth AC and move on instead of struggling with a Q where I don't really have a choice anyway.

[Neatrends]

Can anyone explain PT 38, LR 1, Q9? (Resolve the Paradox)

The stimulus says what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs was a comet that could have thrown debris into the air leading to lack of sunlight leading to decreased food sources and low temperatures. The discrepancy is that the scientists have also established that the debris wouldn't have stayed in the air long enough to have had that effect.

Answer is E: That the dinosaurs were susceptible to respiratory diseases caused by the asteroid debris contaminated air.


To me it seemed like this AC would be in contradiction of that first part of the stimulus about HOW the comet led to the extinction.

Is it because the stimulus used the wording "COULD have hurled enough debris into the atmosphere to block the sunlight" meaning that this wasn't necessarily what happened? But in that case, wouldn't ANY alternative way of dying be correct (ie. answer choice D)?

Ideas?

[xjykybl]

I thought it would be a good way of building endurance and identifying specific patterns of error. I have dozens of other PTs, so where's the harm in using a few old ones for drilling?

I want to improve in RC in any way I can. And it wouldn't hurt to be more consistent in LR--I'm doing better now on average, but every once in a while I'll relapse to my pre-improvement level.

New technique: If I've confidently eliminated 4 ACs but can't seem to justify the fifth as TCR, quickly re-read the eliminated ACs to make sure I haven't misread. If I haven't, just select the fifth AC and move on instead of struggling with a Q where I don't really have a choice anyway.

Good strategy! Keep up the good work.

[tiniestdancer7]

super late to the bandwagon here, but hopefully a june 2011 taker here! or maybe i'll just end up taking it this fall hehe

[99.9luft]

Ugh, extremely annoyed.

PT44
RC: -5
RCe (PT41): -1
LR1: -3
LG: -0
LR2: -3
Raw: -11
Scaled: 169

This is what happens when you bomb both RC and LR. And worst of all, I actually thought I did pretty well in LR. I'm hoping this is a fluke. Maybe it's because I took the PT at night.

Dude, soj...don't freak out (since I am)...but I just took PT 44 and I missed exactly the same # of qs on exactly the same sections AS YOU DID ABOVE (except, i did not do an experimental).

Fucking pissed as hell. RC's 3rd passage was hell. Missed the Eucledian question again (last time in the fall). Hate life, have to hit the gym. So pissed, will take PT 45 tomorrow instead of on Sat.

[tiniestdancer7]

Ugh, extremely annoyed.

PT44
RC: -5
RCe (PT41): -1
LR1: -3
LG: -0
LR2: -3
Raw: -11
Scaled: 169

This is what happens when you bomb both RC and LR. And worst of all, I actually thought I did pretty well in LR. I'm hoping this is a fluke. Maybe it's because I took the PT at night.

Dude, soj...don't freak out (since I am)...but I just took PT 44 and I missed exactly the same # of qs on exactly the same sections AS YOU DID ABOVE (except, i did not do an experimental).

Fucking pissed as hell. RC's 3rd passage was hell. Missed the Eucledian question again (last time in the fall). Hate life, have to hit the gym. So pissed, will take PT 45 tomorrow instead of on Sat.

welp i think i'd feel silly posting my scores here. congrats on such great scores!

[99.9luft]

welp i think i'd feel silly posting my scores here. congrats on such great scores!

Thanks and welcome! Yeah, I feel silly too, esp because you can use that time to drill/review/PT.

BTW, not sure if the hot pink default font is a good idea for TLS. I've seen users get brutally mocked for it in the past by the hard-core TLSers.

[soj]

PT27
LR1: -0
LR2: -2

PT28
LR1: -3 Could/should have been worse ... I definitely did not get the mercury in Beethoven's hair Q right when I first saw it.
LR2: -0

I've gotten really good at getting the correct answer in Qs that confuse me (I'm 11 for 12 in them today), but I'm still getting Qs wrong that I completely did not expect to get wrong. I'm not really sure how to interpret that. I'll probably end up just analyzing those Qs individually (i.e. treating them as individual mistakes).

Also, excited about PT27's generous -16 curve. Let's not get -15 in RC now!

[tiniestdancer7]

welp i think i'd feel silly posting my scores here. congrats on such great scores!

Thanks and welcome! Yeah, I feel silly too, esp because you can use that time to drill/review/PT.

BTW, not sure if the hot pink default font is a good idea for TLS. I've seen users get brutally mocked for it in the past by the hard-core TLSers.

ohh alright thanks! i was just trying to match my picture lol

[soj]

Ugh, extremely annoyed.

PT44
RC: -5
RCe (PT41): -1
LR1: -3
LG: -0
LR2: -3
Raw: -11
Scaled: 169

This is what happens when you bomb both RC and LR. And worst of all, I actually thought I did pretty well in LR. I'm hoping this is a fluke. Maybe it's because I took the PT at night.

Dude, soj...don't freak out (since I am)...but I just took PT 44 and I missed exactly the same # of qs on exactly the same sections AS YOU DID ABOVE (except, i did not do an experimental).

Fucking pissed as hell. RC's 3rd passage was hell. Missed the Eucledian question again (last time in the fall). Hate life, have to hit the gym. So pissed, will take PT 45 tomorrow instead of on Sat.

We'll bounce back. I learned from my LR mistakes so I'm not too upset about it anymore. RC, though ...

[mickeyD]

Just finished the first 3 chapters of MLSAT's LR guide, about 130 pages. I must say, although I was very skeptical at first, I've actually gotten a lot out of it so far. IMO, MLSAT's explanation of necessary and sufficient assumptions is superior to the LRB's- I didn't really grasp the difference or see how important the distinction was until now.

PT55 on Saturday, gameplan is to drill about 100 assumption Q's and some timed game sections between now and then. Schoolwork is pretty heavy this weekend though, hopefully I can balance it all.

The home stretch is coming up everyone, but I think it's very important that everyone stays grounded in the coming weeks and continues to work hard at what has gotten us to this point. May is not the time to drastically change our gameplans or obsessively take PTs without review in the hopes that the scaled score improves. It's the body of work that we put in over the next 38 days that will give us the confidence to succeed, not the results of one outlier PT score. We can do this!

[Eichörnchen]

Soj are you... drilling?

I thought only mere mortals did such things..

Oh man I am trying to absorb your calming words Mickey but I must admit I'm starting to get really anxious and think about "what if I had to/should take in October..." ahhh!

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

The "am I really ready for June?" question is entering my subconscious. Someone had to say it

[tiniestdancer7]

i don't think i will be

[Eichörnchen]

Haha Florida I hope you saw above your post. Cause I said it, ok?!? I said it and I'm scared.

[tmon]

Hey now. It's one thing to be realistic about how much work this is going to take, and it's another to be straight up pessimistic! This test is beatable; we all know this. I scored a freaking 149 on my diagnostic, 157 on my first try on the real thing in June '09 after not enough studying, and just got to a 170 after a few months of doing this the right way. One month can make a huge difference.

One thing I know. If you're not confident in your ability while you're taking this test, you wont score to your potential.

MickeyD has a great point. I wont say I haven't thought of contingencies in case I haven't progressed for June, but we have until Mid-May to make a decision on our test date. Stay at it people!

[tiniestdancer7]

Hey now. It's one thing to be realistic about how much work this is going to take, and it's another to be straight up pessimistic! This test is beatable; we all know this. I scored a freaking 149 on my diagnostic, 157 on my first try on the real thing in June '09 after not enough studying, and just got to a 170 after a few months of doing this the right way. One month can make a huge difference.

One thing I know. If you're not confident in your ability while you're taking this test, you wont score to your potential.

MickeyD has a great point. I wont say I haven't thought of contingencies in case I haven't progressed for June, but we have until Mid-May to make a decision on our test date. Stay at it people!

inspirational! congrats!!! that's amazzzing

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

MickeyD has a great point. I wont say I haven't thought of contingencies in case I haven't progressed for June, but we have until Mid-May to make a decision on our test date. Stay at it people!

Great to here that improvement. On Feb 12 I went 153 and just last week hit 173. This test is more than beatable!! With that rate of change I'm hoping for a 183 test day

[bleh]

The "am I really ready for June?" question is entering my subconscious. Someone had to say it

I'm about to ask this...
so 5 weeks left till June test. I'm on 20s.
should I just abandon 20s and do 30s?
or just keep doing 20s move it up and reschedule it to Oct...

Or just do as many pts as possible. from 20s and up. and thats it?

[Eichörnchen]

MickeyD has a great point. I wont say I haven't thought of contingencies in case I haven't progressed for June, but we have until Mid-May to make a decision on our test date. Stay at it people!

Great to here that improvement. On Feb 12 I went 153 and just last week hit 173. This test is more than beatable!! With that rate of change I'm hoping for a 183 test day

Haha that's awesome- that's my issue though. I know it's learnable, but I'm just afraid I can't learn it well enough by June I think that with enough time I could totally get to mid 170s, but I really don't know if I can make it happen by June. But I realllly don't want to have to retake haha.

[BlaqBella]

MickeyD has a great point. I wont say I haven't thought of contingencies in case I haven't progressed for June, but we have until Mid-May to make a decision on our test date. Stay at it people!

Great to here that improvement. On Feb 12 I went 153 and just last week hit 173. This test is more than beatable!! With that rate of change I'm hoping for a 183 test day

Haha that's awesome- that's my issue though. I know it's learnable, but I'm just afraid I can't learn it well enough by June I think that with enough time I could totally get to mid 170s, but I really don't know if I can make it happen by June. But I realllly don't want to have to retake haha.

I understand the need to try and shoot for June but ultimately you want to sit the exam when you are consistently scoring ABOVE your goal score.