October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[whymeohgodno]

pt 47. 168 scaled.

-3 LR -3 LR -4 RC -2 LG.

FML. LR won't ever keep steady. Sometimes -0 sometimes -4. Really ticks me off. I'm convinced no matter how much I practice it won't ever get consistent.

[Shammis]

For the most part, claratin and zyrtec require you build up the drug in your system for it to be effective...so you have to be taking it for a couple of days or a week in order to get the full benefit...go for the CVS stuff IMO.

[2014]

PT 58. -2 LR, -3 LR, -3 RC, -2 LG => 91 Raw, 171 actual

I'm content with the LR, would like to improve another point or two in them by test day. RC I'm fine with, I'll take -3 RC on test day for sure.

Definitely pissed about -2 LG. I finished the section 7 minutes early and was clearly confident, yet missed 2. (Turns out one was a misbubble, which given the curve wouldn't have bumped me to a 172 and the other was a stupid mistake....ugh)

This makes 7 straight tests now that I've been 170+, definitely feeling good about October.

[Eugenie Danglars]

PT 58. -2 LR, -3 LR, -3 RC, -2 LG => 91 Raw, 171 actual

I'm content with the LR, would like to improve another point or two in them by test day. RC I'm fine with, I'll take -3 RC on test day for sure.

Definitely pissed about -2 LG. I finished the section 7 minutes early and was clearly confident, yet missed 2. (Turns out one was a misbubble, which given the curve wouldn't have bumped me to a 172 and the other was a stupid mistake....ugh)

This makes 7 straight tests now that I've been 170+, definitely feeling good about October.

Good work 2014! You're going to rock the LSAT

I'm at 6 six tests over 170, so I'm right there with you. Now though, I keep thinking...gee, wouldn't a 175 be nice...

[2014]

You had a 180 PT though right?
I wish I could get that high .
While I'm extremely consistently over 170, I have only been over 173 twice with 177 being a max. Here's hoping for some improvement by game day. And on that same note, I hope you can reach perfection when it counts

[Eugenie Danglars]

Haha, I did...once. The highest since has been a 174, I think. The 180 was a combo of reading passages I knew about already and an LR section that had a lot of the questions that are better for me.

I'm sure we'll both come out ok in the end

[Adjudicator]

As for the 5 hour energy drink... Im leery on doing that because processing in can take a while,( and you have to process in and out beofre section1 and with the break) and the timed instructions can take a while... so im afraid of the "crash" occuring during section 4 or 5...... therefore no drink for me

What "crash?" There's no crash. There's no sugar. It's just caffeine, vitamins, and amino acids.

[Hedwig]

Anyone else giving themselves a really early bedtime/focusing on exercise, eating right and not being stressed? I'm focusing on making sure I walk my doggy, go to yoga (once this cold is over), get to bed by 9 (ambitious, haha), and eat yummy healthy foods.

Maybe it's going overboard, but at least I'll FEEL good on the day of the LSAT, haha, even if it doesn't contribute to a higher score.

[Kurst]

What "crash?" There's no crash. There's no sugar. It's just caffeine, vitamins, and amino acids.

Poor Adjudicator, every time you mention a sugar-free caffeinated beverage that you enjoy, you're pounced upon by detractors mindlessly echoing inapplicable received opinion. Aspartame! Crash!

[Adjudicator]

lol, you remember that?

There's so much misinformation out there about energy drinks.. someone's gotta take a stand!

[lennonist]

pt 47. 168 scaled.

-3 LR -3 LR -4 RC -2 LG.

FML. LR won't ever keep steady. Sometimes -0 sometimes -4. Really ticks me off. I'm convinced no matter how much I practice it won't ever get consistent.

Same story. Took PT 47 yesterday and PT 48 today. 168 scaled on both. LR ranges from -2 to -5.

[Blumpbeef]

Did the 43 LG today with strict timing and got -2, with one of them being a silly mistake. This is by far the best I have done so far on a timed LG. I know the 40s are some of the easier ones, but I'm still pretty happy.

[Blumpbeef]

44 LG, got -2 and finished it 6 minutes early. I had done some of these games before, so it isn't totally accurate, but I feel like I am coming along decently well.

[Adjudicator]

Yep, it sounds like you're on the right track. Just keep drilling.

[2014]

Anyone else giving themselves a really early bedtime/focusing on exercise, eating right and not being stressed? I'm focusing on making sure I walk my doggy, go to yoga (once this cold is over), get to bed by 9 (ambitious, haha), and eat yummy healthy foods.

Maybe it's going overboard, but at least I'll FEEL good on the day of the LSAT, haha, even if it doesn't contribute to a higher score.

I'm definitely going to get plenty of sleep and try to make sure I eat something that won't upset my stomach. I think I'm going to go golfing the day before too to take my mind off of the LSAT for a bit.

[Feeny]

I've come full circle. Just retook PT 57.

I took the real thing in June 2009 and bombed it. Willa Cather riding a mauve dinosaur destroyed me.
158 (-30)
-14 LG
-10 LR
-6 RC

Did much better this time.
173 (-8)
-1 LG
-5 LR
-2 RC

I'm aware that retests are not in any way representative, but this still feels pretty good. I'll be happy to have the average of those two scores in two weeks.

[afLSAT]

PT 55:

LR -0,
RC -3 (unusually poor for me)
LG -4 (totally froze up and bombed it -- nerves were killing me. Only got -4 because of lucky guessing.)

93 raw, 172 scaled. (172 is my goal for test day. Anything higher and I'll be happy.)

I'm also happy to note that I got -0 on the "experimental" LR section from one of the first 20 PT's, which I'd never taken before. So that's 75 LR Q's without an error (not even on sufficient assumption questions, which I HATE).

I think I am FINALLY getting to where I can consistently get -0 or -1 on LR, in a controlled fashion.

I have to tell you guys, for anyone who is still struggling, I think I made a bit of a breakthrough in the past week after bombing a PT and getting 164 for some reason. If anyone hasn't taken these steps with LR and is still having trouble, I highly, highly recommend that you do the following five things:


1. READ QUICKLY, BUT SLOW DOWN YOUR MIND
Before this breakthrough, found that I would read the passage extremely quickly while trying to guess the significance of every single word with regard to the other items in the stimulus. This is bad. Reading quickly is fine, but I've started trying to focus on each clause individually, so that I can ...

2. CIRCLE THE CONCLUSION, IF THERE IS ONE
3. CIRCLE THE PREMISES
4. FIGURE OUT WHICH OF THE PREMISES IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO SUPPORT THE CONCLUSION AND HOW THEY RELATE

- In my earliest PT's, I started out getting -4 to -0 on each LR section, which made me think that I could just read the stimulus, understand it, and circle the answer through brute force. But after months of practice, I was still scoring -4 to -0 on each LR, with no consistency, and no idea what I was doing wrong. It wasn't till that 164 last week that I internalized the truth of what I had already read in the LRB: each question type is probing a different aspect of how the premises relate to the conclusion, and so this relationship will almost invariably determine the correct answer choice. I don't know why it took me so long to truly realize this.

5. AFTER THE PT, GO BACK AND ANALYZE EVERY DIFFICULT LR QUESTION IN THE TEST - WHETHER YOU GOT IT WRONG OR RIGHT.
- During analysis, write down each premise according to the order in which they relate to each other logically. Then put the conclusion at the bottom. Then analyze each answer choice. Do all of this in writing. It's very time consuming, but it's worth it.

- Before last week, I was simply checking my wrong answers, coming to understand why TCR was correct, and then moving on. But that is not enough. Simply going through one or two tests' worth of LR in the way I've just described, and truly analyzing the relationship of the premises to the conclusion in each question, gave me an enormous boost in confidence and certainty during the test.

Everything I just suggested has already been suggested by someone on the board -- it's nothing new. But for anyone who's still having trouble with LR, I want you to know that it's not too late to make improvement -- all of this has happened over the past couple of days.

Now, if only I could master my nerves when it comes to LG -- I'm still unable to tackle all 4 games in a section without compromising accuracy.

Good luck yall . . . .

[Hannibal]

Just got 177 on PT 55 while in the classroom where I'll be taking my PT, and starting at 8:55 (I sat down at 8:30 and just sat here...o.o)

Apparently I don't need a snack during the break because I forgot to eat my granola bars.

[Patriot1208]

PT 52 with LG experimental from 56. 91 raw, 172 scaled. The LR has been consistently getting better. The only ones I seem to be having problems on are strengthen/weakeners. Also, my second straight test at 172+ so i'm happy especially considering my goal coming in was 170 (although now Columbia looks more attainable than ever before). Anyways breakdown.

LR -2.
LG - 0
LG (experimental) - 0
LR - 2
RC - 4 (again this just haunts me every test. I don't know why I can't read. On the brightside I this was only one of the few times i've done a comparative reading passage and I thought it was easy, missed 0 on it and got through it quickly.)

[JDeterminedF]

2 weeks people!

[psychlaw]

Tried to take the day off and I lasted until 12. Two more weeks!!

[Adjudicator]

I just did PT57 and I'm so frustrated. After missing 3 on each of the last two PTs, I missed 7 on this one, for a 174. Does anyone else think PT57 is very hard?

And I managed to ace the legendary dinosaur game, although it did hurt my brain at the time. Instead I missed 1 on the final game which was just a failure to read correctly.

I also aced RC, up until the fractal geometry passage where I missed 2.

And then missed 2 on each LR.

Ugh, and I was feeling so good coming off the 179 on PT56.

[Patriot1208]

I just did PT57 and I'm so frustrated. After missing 3 on each of the last two PTs, I missed 7 on this one, for a 174. Does anyone else think PT57 is very hard?

And I managed to ace the legendary dinosaur game, although it did hurt my brain at the time. Instead I missed 1 on the final game which was just a failure to read correctly.

I also aced RC, up until the fractal geometry passage where I missed 2.

And then missed 2 on each LR.

Ugh, and I was feeling so good coming off the 179 on PT56.

damn that 174. I mean the difference between that and a 180 probably doesn't change where you are getting in but DAMN IT. (I guess it depends on your GPA which I don't know).

[Blumpbeef]

Same exact experience(except I got a -20/163). My worst test since my initial diagnostic.

I also aced the dinosaur game, but I got a -10 on the rest of the LG section, so it was a bittersweet victory. I don't think I spent a particularly long amount of time on it either, I went over a couple minutes on the first two games and then ran out on the last one.

[ND'10]

Random question but does anyone know what test is being given at the free Kaplan practice tests around the country on Saturday?

PT 60 I hope?