October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[silly101]

I had a dream last night that I was sitting in front of a giant posterboard full of LR questions. I'd never seen those questions before, so my subconscious or whatever must have made them up. But THEY WERE SO HARD. I sat there just staring at the questions trying to figure out the answer for so long, until I somehow came to the realization that this was MY dream and I had made up these questions and therefore I must know the answer if I dig deep enough into my subconscious...

inception

[downing]

I seriously underperformed on PT 59 today. I've been constantly getting from 166-170, averaging about 168, on the last 10 tests, and suddenly I find a 164 staring me in the face. I know part of it is because I ran out of time on the LG section, and had to make 4 guesses, all of which were totally random and wrong.

Did anyone else think that pt59 was unusually difficult?

[Eugenie Danglars]

59 was not so good for me either. I'm sure it was a fluke

[downing]

We'll see

I'm going to take PT54 or 45 today after resting up, getting a bite to eat, and some review.

[xqhp82]

just completed all the PTs!! finished with PT59 and it didn't boost my confidence any bit. NOT at all. got an average score for LG and RC, although I was hoping for a better score judging by the fact that I felt relatively more comfortable with the passages. but what's really upsetting is the -9 in LR1....seriously wtf?! i haven't got such a poor score for LR for a while. I started with the average of -6 and slowly went up to -3/-4 but this...I really hope that there's no tricky LR section like this one and PT60 on our test. If I can secure both LR sections my future will be much more hopeful (currently on the edge of 164-165, possibly the most irritating score in my opinion)

[2014]

In the library to take Pt 60 w/ Games section from pt 55 as experimental.
2 minutes till 8:30...

Here's hoping that I do well and can retire to preparation. If I do poorly though I'm drilling sections tonight

[incompetentia]

Planning to do 8 sections today, all individually throughout the day. Wasn't going to scale any tests but I realized I was going to be planning to take all 4 sections from 54, so might as well see what I get.

In addition, redoing my worst sections to see if I still make the same mistakes, spot the tricks this time, or just spot them because I remember the answers. (60 RC, 60 LR1, 59 RC, 57 LR1)


If the curve is -10 or less on 61, I may have to kick a puppy, considering my raw score never varies by more than 1 it seems.

[txadv11]

Planning to do 8 sections today, all individually throughout the day. Wasn't going to scale any tests but I realized I was going to be planning to take all 4 sections from 54, so might as well see what I get.

In addition, redoing my worst sections to see if I still make the same mistakes, spot the tricks this time, or just spot them because I remember the answers. (60 RC, 60 LR1, 59 RC, 57 LR1)


If the curve is -10 or less on 61, I may have to kick a puppy, considering my raw score never varies by more than 1 it seems.

I'm hoping for another -14 test like PT 59

[incompetentia]

Oh that would be fantastic...I'd be guaranteed like 173+ or so.

[Hedwig]

Planning to do 8 sections today, all individually throughout the day. Wasn't going to scale any tests but I realized I was going to be planning to take all 4 sections from 54, so might as well see what I get.

In addition, redoing my worst sections to see if I still make the same mistakes, spot the tricks this time, or just spot them because I remember the answers. (60 RC, 60 LR1, 59 RC, 57 LR1)


If the curve is -10 or less on 61, I may have to kick a puppy, considering my raw score never varies by more than 1 it seems.

I'm hoping for another -14 test like PT 59

If another -14 means another test like #59, NO. I'll settle for a -12 and nothing that kicks my brain into tiny pieces of puddles. Unless the -14 is JUST BECAUSE of a really wicked RC section because I feel confident in RC haha.

I just printed off THREE copies of my admission ticket, because I want to print out PT 39's games and reading comprehension sections, and I don't want my printer to run out of ink haha. I've printed like 8 zillion pages of LSAT stuff and articles within the past month.

[catsparka]

Planning to do 8 sections today, all individually throughout the day. Wasn't going to scale any tests but I realized I was going to be planning to take all 4 sections from 54, so might as well see what I get.

In addition, redoing my worst sections to see if I still make the same mistakes, spot the tricks this time, or just spot them because I remember the answers. (60 RC, 60 LR1, 59 RC, 57 LR1)


If the curve is -10 or less on 61, I may have to kick a puppy, considering my raw score never varies by more than 1 it seems.

I'm hoping for another -14 test like PT 59

If another -14 means another test like #59, NO. I'll settle for a -12 and nothing that kicks my brain into tiny pieces of puddles. Unless the -14 is JUST BECAUSE of a really wicked RC section because I feel confident in RC haha.

I just printed off THREE copies of my admission ticket, because I want to print out PT 39's games and reading comprehension sections, and I don't want my printer to run out of ink haha. I've printed like 8 zillion pages of LSAT stuff and articles within the past month.

I actually really liked PT59. It was one of my better LR performances. I just finished LR1 of PT60, and I think this was harder than 59.

Also, I just downed a five-hour just before starting the section. My heart is beating so fast! But I do think it helped me wake up. I don't know if I should take it for the test. Presumably, I'll be a lot more nervous then than I am now, and I don't want my heart to pound 24323 times/minute. But I don't know how else I can feel awake and alert at 8:30AM. :<

[lparker]

I just printed a few copies of my ticket. I am taking a test drive to my test site tomorrow. I've got my ziplock bag and snacks ready to go. I took off work tomorrow. Okay... I hope I'm not missing anything!

[sgtgrumbles]

Despite warnings that PT 60 was a bastard and shouldn't be taken as a full test, I just scored a very satisfactory 176 on it. (-0 LR1, -1 RC experimental, -2 LG, -1 LR2, -2 RC, 94/99 raw) Moreover, both of my LG and RC wrong answers were from guesses due to time expiration, but I only gave myself 33 minutes per section and thus should've had time for them if it were the real deal.

I didn't find mulch too difficult. I don't know if it even slowed me down mu(l)ch.

I'm going into the test with a 175.1 average over my last ten PTs, right at my goal for the test. Hopefully with the extra two minutes that I've denied myself on recent tests I'll do even better, not having to guess and having extra time to check over uncertain answers.

We got this, guys!

[incompetentia]

4 sections down for the day so far. I'm still really having trouble slowing down enough to take the time I need especially for LR questions now. I'll finish a section in 29 minutes and then try to second-guess myself for 6 minutes to no avail...and then will average -3 because I breezed through two questions without fully comprehending them. Blah

[Adjudicator]

Also, I just downed a five-hour just before starting the section. My heart is beating so fast! But I do think it helped me wake up. I don't know if I should take it for the test. Presumably, I'll be a lot more nervous then than I am now, and I don't want my heart to pound 24323 times/minute. But I don't know how else I can feel awake and alert at 8:30AM. :<

If it affects you that much, just drink half in the morning, and save the other half for later.

[2014]

I am in meltdown mode right now. Pt 60 was a disaster, first time I haven't broken 170 in a month and I am seriously pissed. I just scored my damn diagnostic on the most recent PT two days before the test.

[Adjudicator]

I am in meltdown mode right now. Pt 60 was a disaster, first time I haven't broken 170 in a month and I am seriously pissed. I just scored my damn diagnostic on the most recent PT two days before the test.

Ouch... what part of PT60 got you? It seems like a lot of people bomb that one. I was a bit nervous about it just because of its reputation, but ironically it turned out to be my best score in months.

[incompetentia]

I bombed 60 worse than you (161 on a diagnostic of 168) and scored 174 on the very next test I took (59), so it doesn't mean anything.

I did give myself a 48-hour break before picking up the next one, though. Probably best to do individual sections between now and Saturday?

[schrute13]

I thought PT 59 was pretty difficult, especially the first LR section. I saved this one for last instead of 60 because i'd heard that 59 has a super generous curve and that 60 is really hard. But i got a 179 on 60 (-4 raw i think) and a 174 on stupid 59 (LG -1, LR -5, LR -0, RC -3). I'm a little freaked out about LR and RC, but i'm just going to tell myself that it was a fluke and that these LR and RC sections were just particularly annoying. Besides, i'd be ecstatic with a 174 on the real thing, so no complaints here

[2014]

I am in meltdown mode right now. Pt 60 was a disaster, first time I haven't broken 170 in a month and I am seriously pissed. I just scored my damn diagnostic on the most recent PT two days before the test.

Ouch... what part of PT60 got you? It seems like a lot of people bomb that one. I was a bit nervous about it just because of its reputation, but ironically it turned out to be my best score in months.

Ran out of time on LG didn't get to the last 4 questions. The mulch game didn't bother me at all, I just didn't set up the last game well.

I am in no mood to look at what I did wrong on the others yet, but I will shortly. Honestly as they always are they are retarded mistakes. I have yet to see a question where I didn't understand why the right answer was right and why my answer was worse, I just inexplicably make stupid mistakes every time.

[sgtgrumbles]

I thought PT 59 was pretty difficult, especially the first LR section. I saved this one for last instead of 60 because i'd heard that 59 has a super generous curve and that 60 is really hard. But i got a 179 on 60 (-4 raw i think -3 raw) and a 174 on stupid 59 (LG -1, LR -5, LR -0, RC -3). I'm a little freaked out about LR and RC, but i'm just going to tell myself that it was a fluke and that these LR and RC sections were just particularly annoying. Besides, i'd be ecstatic with a 174 on the real thing, so no complaints here

Nice job.

[Lasers]

took june 08 yesterday... -4 LR1, -4 LG, -1 LR2... -11 RC!!!!

wow! i hadn't gotten more than -4 or -5 on RC in a while. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

about to take pt 60 today. no -11 and i'll be ok.

[gdane]

Finally took PT 60. A generous curve saved me. 78 raw, 163 scaled.

Yet again I made stupid mistakes. My biggest problem is that in an effort to keep up with the time, I rush through questions. I have to move on/realize that sometimes its best to concentrate on the task at hand rather than simply trying to answer everything. I got -4 on LG because I rushed through the 3rd game to get to the 4th and ended up making stupid mistakes on both. If I had taken my time on the 3rd one I couldve gotten 2 more correct and I probably couldve picked up 1 point on game 4, bringing me to -1. For the record, Mulch and Stone wasnt hard. At all. I finished that game in under 5 minutes. What gave me problems was the Photo Assistant locations game. That had a lot of different possibilities and things to keep track of. I got sloppy with my work and ended up having to rediagram for a lot of questions. That in itself wasted at least 5 minutes.

In any case, 163 is good. I was hoping for at least a 165. Eliminating the stupid mistakes is easier said than done. I just have to relax. I let the clock dicatate what I do and I just cant. Its better to answer 22 correct and guess on 3 or 4 questions (and possibly pick up points there) than it is to rush and try to answer everything, but only get 18 or 20 correct.

Good luck everyone!

[Patriot1208]

PT 60. 91 raw, 173 scaled. Feeling great about this. Great way to give me confidence going into saturday. Here's the breakdown.

LR - 2
LG - 0 (thought that the mulch game was weird but not hard and the last one was hard but figured it out in time)
LR - 2 (one of these was actually a misbubble, which makes me feel even better)
RC - 4 (still have never done better than -4 on RC. It's so sad.)

So i've come a long way since my 159 cold. I had an original goal of 170 but now i'm hoping for 172. After 22 tests I have a PT average of 169. The last ten tests give me an average of 170.5. And the six most recent tests are 174, 172, 170, 172, 172, 173. Hoping to continue this trend in saturday, feeling confident.

[incompetentia]

So pumped right now. But now extremely confused as to how to approach Saturday.

I decided with PT54 (my last) to try to walk into the saloon already firing away, just sort of haphazardly going through the test and not agonizing over any one problem (this is how I took most of my tests throughout school, and I inexplicably managed okay doing it). I gave myself 90 minutes to complete 4 sections of the test, and marked off the 35 and 70-minute marks for reference. My results as follows:

RC: -1 (Harder Better Faster Stronger)
LR1: -1 (Technologic)
LG: -0 (One More Time)
LR2: -2 (Human After All)
Overall: -4, 177 (5th 177+, but first since PT38 and certainly my first 176+ on a -10 curve)

The problems I missed in RC and LR2 I probably would have gotten correct if I had allowed myself a full 140 minutes to do the same thing in a bit more relaxed fashion; however, I can confidently say that the LR1 miss would have been a miss if I had gone through it using my normal method.

This brings up a dilemma, though - was I really meant to tear through this test and close the booklet with 10 minutes to spare in each section? I've been making consistent progress using my slow-down method to try to get me to carefully consider each choice; should I abandon this entirely to go for something that has worked wonders once, and might just as easily produce a score in the mid-160s when I take PT61?

I may note that this is only the 4th time I've had a -1 or better on RC according to my spreadsheet, and my -3 on LR is above average too. Normally I'm in the -7 or -8 overall range relatively consistently with the slow-down method.

I am a splitter (my 3.71 crumbled to 3.55 when LSDAS ran it through their meat grinder), so I think it might be worth it to go for it, but I know that in the 5 minutes between when I finished and when I started to grade I was sure I'd bombed. For the real thing, I don't know if I could take that for three weeks.

Halp? (I wasn't planning on doing anything tomorrow except maybe a game or two. I really don't want to take another full test to test it out, although 51 is still available as one I haven't taken...)

More than ever, hour after: Our work is never over