The Official June 2017 Study Group Forum

[Platopus]

Just wanted to point out that there are some seriously high scorers in this thread. No data to back this up, but damn, everyone here is PTing at a really, really high level. Keep it up folks, 3(ish) weeks left!

[tuna_wasabi]

Anyone have any advice for rapid LG improvement beyond 7sage and PowerScore?

I'm doing better than most people on here in the 170s on the other sections but just tragic in the games, regularly double digits missed.

Radically reconsider your approach. If you usually do the "multiple scenario" set up like 7 sage, try a parsed down set up, or vice versa. Also, maybe consider spending more time in the actual set up when you are taking the test. I started going from like -4 / -5 to -0/-1 once I spent considerably more time working with the rules on each game. Not always, but sometimes a game will have a key inference, that if figured out blows the whole game wide-open. It feels like cheating, but you are meant to be rewarded for figuring it out. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I would take that as a sign that you should spend more time up front with the rules figuring out how they affect one another. Other tricks: look for logically equivalent answers, use other questions to knock out global MBT, CBT, MBF, etc.

Thanks, I'll try that. I've discovered my main issue is not knowing when to split a board (and when I specifically look for how to split it, I somehow manage to split it wrong a lot).

There are some good indications, for example "S is either in slot 1 or else in slot 7" - split that bitch. Grouping games, like the one today. There were 5 items and 2 groups, each group had to have at least 2 items. So either one had 2 and the other 3 or vice versa, split it up. For me, it was just getting comfortable taking the extra time to split the board. It seems like you're wasting time, but in most cases it makes the game way easier. Experiment with a couple of games and see if it helps.

LG for PT 14 has 2 games for which splitting the board is very useful. The decision comes down to whether you feel it'll be easier for you if you diagram most of the possible scenarios before going to the questions.

I didn't split the 4th game until I went to the second question (many MBT and CBT questions for that game).

[tuna_wasabi]

Platopus, we are on the same boat. Did PT 68 on Sunday.

LR 1: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -1
LG: -1
Score: 180

Experimentals:
PT 13.3 (RC): 0
PT 14.1 (LG): 0

Notes: If I could maintain that kind of focus during test day, it'll be great. LR: Half-guessed 2 or 3 questions and got them right. Intuitively I thought they were right, but even after doing BR I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. RC: Last passage was confusing. Wasn't completely sure of 4 of the 5 questions, so had to ruthlessly pick apart all the choices. LG: Last game was hard. Had around 13-15 minutes for the last game and still couldn't finish it. Scrambled in the last 2 minutes and managed to save 2 points, but it could have easily gone south.

Getting a 174 is still basically blowing the other team out, so if you fumbled on the 1 but still crushed the cross town rivals, that's a big win my friend. Keep it up!

Now this is blowing out the other team!!!! Wow, way to go. Haha and you were wondering if you should postpone??? Jeez, save some goat sacrifices for the rest of us.

I sacrificed one on Saturday already
In all seriousness, this score is prob a fluke.

[InterLaw]

Going to do PT 60-80 before test day. Let's do this!!!

I did 21 PTs in the last 26 days, and I'm going to do 17 PTs in the 60-80 range before test day... I'm with you bro!
That will come with a strong physical preparation: for 10 days before the test I'll wake up at 6:30 (as I'll do on test day), I'll go out for breakfast, I'll eat the same thing that I will eat that morning, I will start PTs at 9-9:30, like on test day.

Moreover, I just found out an additional workout: I'm going back and reprinting every LR question or RC-LG where I got an answer wrong. I will go to a very chaotic bar and I'll do them again, during the afternoons. It should help me in both focusing on what I got wrong and stay focused no matter what's around.

[it's allgood]

Platopus, we are on the same boat. Did PT 68 on Sunday.

LR 1: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -1
LG: -1
Score: 180

Experimentals:
PT 13.3 (RC): 0
PT 14.1 (LG): 0

Notes: If I could maintain that kind of focus during test day, it'll be great. LR: Half-guessed 2 or 3 questions and got them right. Intuitively I thought they were right, but even after doing BR I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. RC: Last passage was confusing. Wasn't completely sure of 4 of the 5 questions, so had to ruthlessly pick apart all the choices. LG: Last game was hard. Had around 13-15 minutes for the last game and still couldn't finish it. Scrambled in the last 2 minutes and managed to save 2 points, but it could have easily gone south.

Epic score!! Congrats!!!!

[Slippin' Jimmy]

Moreover, I just found out an additional workout: I'm going back and reprinting every LR question or RC-LG where I got an answer wrong. I will go to a very chaotic bar and I'll do them again, during the afternoons. It should help me in both focusing on what I got wrong and stay focused no matter what's around.

This sounds like a good idea, I'll probably try it sans bar.

[Mikey]

Platopus, we are on the same boat. Did PT 68 on Sunday.

LR 1: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -1
LG: -1
Score: 180

Experimentals:
PT 13.3 (RC): 0
PT 14.1 (LG): 0

Notes: If I could maintain that kind of focus during test day, it'll be great. LR: Half-guessed 2 or 3 questions and got them right. Intuitively I thought they were right, but even after doing BR I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. RC: Last passage was confusing. Wasn't completely sure of 4 of the 5 questions, so had to ruthlessly pick apart all the choices. LG: Last game was hard. Had around 13-15 minutes for the last game and still couldn't finish it. Scrambled in the last 2 minutes and managed to save 2 points, but it could have easily gone south.

Holy crap, nice!!

Also, RC:-1/-0 HOW

[ngogirl12]

Going to do PT 60-80 before test day. Let's do this!!!

I did 21 PTs in the last 26 days, and I'm going to do 17 PTs in the 60-80 range before test day... I'm with you bro!
That will come with a strong physical preparation: for 10 days before the test I'll wake up at 6:30 (as I'll do on test day), I'll go out for breakfast, I'll eat the same thing that I will eat that morning, I will start PTs at 9-9:30, like on test day.

Moreover, I just found out an additional workout: I'm going back and reprinting every LR question or RC-LG where I got an answer wrong. I will go to a very chaotic bar and I'll do them again, during the afternoons. It should help me in both focusing on what I got wrong and stay focused no matter what's around.

Damn. How did that work out for you? Were you consistent in your score range? Are you doing 5 section tests?

[saf18hornet]

I just got a 166 on PT 75, absolutely bombed RC and LR1. I feel physically sick, this is my 2nd lowest score post diagnostic and is my lowest in 2 months.

Heyyyy I took this one yesterday too, I got a 165, also my lowest since probably March. Got a -8 in RC so that was a lot of it, but also -5 LR1 and -4 LR2. All of my mistakes are on questions I didn't mark for BR either, so my goal today is to figure out what I'm missing.

I did a 7sage analysis of my trend using only the 3 exams in the 70's (75, 78, 79) that I've taken and it tells me a very different story than what I've found historically in the past.

My 2 worst LR types in the 70's are Argument Part (33% accuracy!) and Method of Reasoning (60%). I'll have to really do some hard core drilling of these over the next few days. It's the answer choices that really trip me up on these.

Next comes strengthen/weaken questions at ~80% accuracy. I think I'm noticing that the PT's in the 70's have multiple flaws on many strengthen/weaken questions? And i'm focusing on the wrong one and not picking the choice that MOST strengthen/weaken. Need to do some more digging to see if that is true....

[WutSheOrder]

What are people's plans for the weekend before the test? Total break from study? Light drilling? Full 5 section PT and BR?

[MediocreAtBest]

Platopus, we are on the same boat. Did PT 68 on Sunday.

LR 1: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -1
LG: -1
Score: 180

Experimentals:
PT 13.3 (RC): 0
PT 14.1 (LG): 0

Notes: If I could maintain that kind of focus during test day, it'll be great. LR: Half-guessed 2 or 3 questions and got them right. Intuitively I thought they were right, but even after doing BR I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. RC: Last passage was confusing. Wasn't completely sure of 4 of the 5 questions, so had to ruthlessly pick apart all the choices. LG: Last game was hard. Had around 13-15 minutes for the last game and still couldn't finish it. Scrambled in the last 2 minutes and managed to save 2 points, but it could have easily gone south.

Sheesh, I think this is the first 180 pt I've seen on here. What's your secret on LR? I can match your LG and RC but I'm pretty inconsistent with LR, I can go anywhere from -2 to -7 combined.

[Future Ex-Engineer]

Going to do PT 60-80 before test day. Let's do this!!!

I did 21 PTs in the last 26 days, and I'm going to do 17 PTs in the 60-80 range before test day... I'm with you bro!
That will come with a strong physical preparation: for 10 days before the test I'll wake up at 6:30 (as I'll do on test day), I'll go out for breakfast, I'll eat the same thing that I will eat that morning, I will start PTs at 9-9:30, like on test day.

Moreover, I just found out an additional workout: I'm going back and reprinting every LR question or RC-LG where I got an answer wrong. I will go to a very chaotic bar and I'll do them again, during the afternoons. It should help me in both focusing on what I got wrong and stay focused no matter what's around.

I could be totally wrong here, but I thought June test started at 12:30?

[Mikey]

Going to do PT 60-80 before test day. Let's do this!!!

I did 21 PTs in the last 26 days, and I'm going to do 17 PTs in the 60-80 range before test day... I'm with you bro!
That will come with a strong physical preparation: for 10 days before the test I'll wake up at 6:30 (as I'll do on test day), I'll go out for breakfast, I'll eat the same thing that I will eat that morning, I will start PTs at 9-9:30, like on test day.

Moreover, I just found out an additional workout: I'm going back and reprinting every LR question or RC-LG where I got an answer wrong. I will go to a very chaotic bar and I'll do them again, during the afternoons. It should help me in both focusing on what I got wrong and stay focused no matter what's around.

I could be totally wrong here, but I thought June test started at 12:30?

it is

[tuna_wasabi]

Holy crap, nice!!

Also, RC:-1/-0 HOW

THIS I'd like to know too. Last 5 PT's for RC is: -6, -4, -1, -3, -1. (PT 73, 74, 77, 65, and 68, respectively), so it's definitely not a consistent thing. PT. 68 is prob just due to luck.

Sheesh, I think this is the first 180 pt I've seen on here. What's your secret on LR? I can match your LG and RC but I'm pretty inconsistent with LR, I can go anywhere from -2 to -7 combined.

For my last 5 PT's (barring this one), I can go anywhere from -2 to -5 combined, so we're in the same boat Again, probably just lucky with the 2-3 questions I half-guessed. Platopus is the most consistent for LR.

[Mikey]

Holy crap, nice!!

Also, RC:-1/-0 HOW

THIS I'd like to know too. Last 5 PT's for RC is: -6, -4, -1, -3, -1. (PT 73, 74, 77, 65, and 68, respectively), so it's definitely not a consistent thing. PT. 68 is prob just due to luck.

still, those -1's and -3 is amazing. what is your strat? notations? just reading?

[NavyNuke]

.

[heyduchess]

Platopus, we are on the same boat. Did PT 68 on Sunday.

LR 1: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -1
LG: -1
Score: 180

Experimentals:
PT 13.3 (RC): 0
PT 14.1 (LG): 0

Notes: If I could maintain that kind of focus during test day, it'll be great. LR: Half-guessed 2 or 3 questions and got them right. Intuitively I thought they were right, but even after doing BR I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. RC: Last passage was confusing. Wasn't completely sure of 4 of the 5 questions, so had to ruthlessly pick apart all the choices. LG: Last game was hard. Had around 13-15 minutes for the last game and still couldn't finish it. Scrambled in the last 2 minutes and managed to save 2 points, but it could have easily gone south.

TEACH US HOW TO RC.

[heyduchess]

Platopus, we are on the same boat. Did PT 68 on Sunday.

LR 1: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -1
LG: -1
Score: 180

Experimentals:
PT 13.3 (RC): 0
PT 14.1 (LG): 0

Notes: If I could maintain that kind of focus during test day, it'll be great. LR: Half-guessed 2 or 3 questions and got them right. Intuitively I thought they were right, but even after doing BR I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. RC: Last passage was confusing. Wasn't completely sure of 4 of the 5 questions, so had to ruthlessly pick apart all the choices. LG: Last game was hard. Had around 13-15 minutes for the last game and still couldn't finish it. Scrambled in the last 2 minutes and managed to save 2 points, but it could have easily gone south.

TEACH US HOW TO RC.

Wait, jk. This is the one I did well, too. Disregard.

[heyduchess]

Platopus, we are on the same boat. Did PT 68 on Sunday.

LR 1: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -1
LG: -1
Score: 180

Experimentals:
PT 13.3 (RC): 0
PT 14.1 (LG): 0

Notes: If I could maintain that kind of focus during test day, it'll be great. LR: Half-guessed 2 or 3 questions and got them right. Intuitively I thought they were right, but even after doing BR I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. RC: Last passage was confusing. Wasn't completely sure of 4 of the 5 questions, so had to ruthlessly pick apart all the choices. LG: Last game was hard. Had around 13-15 minutes for the last game and still couldn't finish it. Scrambled in the last 2 minutes and managed to save 2 points, but it could have easily gone south.

TEACH US HOW TO RC.

Wait, jk. This is the one where I had -1, too. Disregard.

[NavyNuke]

.

[dm1683]

Platopus, we are on the same boat. Did PT 68 on Sunday.

LR 1: 0
LR 2: 0
RC: -1
LG: -1
Score: 180

Experimentals:
PT 13.3 (RC): 0
PT 14.1 (LG): 0
gr
Notes: If I could maintain that kind of focus during test day, it'll be great. LR: Half-guessed 2 or 3 questions and got them right. Intuitively I thought they were right, but even after doing BR I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. RC: Last passage was confusing. Wasn't completely sure of 4 of the 5 questions, so had to ruthlessly pick apart all the choices. LG: Last game was hard. Had around 13-15 minutes for the last game and still couldn't finish it. Scrambled in the last 2 minutes and managed to save 2 points, but it could have easily gone south.

Well, shit, there goes my claim to highest pt score in the thread. Major congrats, and how the hell did you score that high on that RC (the one with adam smith)?

[mwells56]

PT79

LR1: -1
RC: -5
LG: -5 (screw the virus game)
LR2: -2
169

This was the September 2016 test which I actually sat for but didn't really remember much. Remembered nothing from LR, the basic topics of a couple of the RC passages but none of the questions, and only that the virus game existed but didn't remember how I approached it or anything. Of course the virus game screwed me again, went -3. And then of course I made a dumb error on the first game which took me all of about 3 minutes, if I had even half paid attention to that question I would've gotten an even 170. Still, glad to see I've improved upon the 161 from the last time I took this test, lol.

This was both encouraging and discouraging for me. On the one hand, my last few PTs have been a steady increase (163-166-167-169), but on the other hand I'm still not breaking 170 (and came oooh so close on this one). I still have tests 77, 78, and 80 to go. Hopefully that's enough to push me over the edge and let me peak at the right time.

[MediocreAtBest]

Forcing yourself to do a PT when you're not focused is a huge waste of time. Don't know why I did that.

[Barry grandpapy]

.

[Mint-Berry_Crunch]

Man I'm just not feeling it today.