The Official February 2015 Study Group Forum

[nlee10]

I like it! More ppl to brainwash shitpoast with I like our random bouts of rambling interspersed with on topic advice, we're such helpful crazies

OT poast: Went 22/24 on PT 37 LG because of careless mistakes. Got it upon BR. Oh well. Still doing pretty well on timed sections so far.

[kang]

Kang, I agree with Peppermint, sounds a little like burnout, how many days in a row have you been going/how long have you been stuck on this plateau? I see you said for 5 PTs now but how many days were those spread out over?

Yeah, I think you guys are right. I'm burnt out. I've been stuck at this plateau for the past three weeks. Tried taking two PTs a week, but noticed that I wasn't making any progress. So I just recently decided to slow down on the full PTs.

I want to raise my RC score, but I have no idea where to start! I went from scoring -4 to -6/7. I've neglected this section as I wrongly assumed that the RC section was my strongest section, and now its kicking my ass for some attention...

[NL2424]

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[kang]

If you're only taking two full PT a week I doubt you're burnt out. Unless you're doing work in your in between days too. What has your past three weeks consisted of (roughly)?

Well I was working when I first started studying, but the last three weeks I was free of any obligations. I tried to fit around 6 hrs of studying... I did get sidetracked every once in a while though.

So the first two weeks I had the same schedule:

M: Drill / PT afternoon
T: BR / BR cont + review
W: review cont / drill afternoon
TR: Drill all day
F: Drill/ PT afternoon
S: BR/BR cont + review
Sun: review cont / drill afternoon

Then seeing that I've made no progress, I just tried drilling:

M: LG Drill
T: LR Drill
W: RC Drill

And so on..

took my most recent PT on Saturday and BRed Sunday to see still no progress Got a 169, but -6 on RC. (78% accuracy ) I was lucky since this PT had a pretty generous curve..

I was scared last week to concentrate solely on RC because I didn't want my LG/LR scores to drop. But now I'm debating whether or not I should just devote this entire week on drilling RC sections? What do you think?

[nlee10]

took my most recent PT on Saturday and BRed Sunday to see still no progress Got a 169, but -6 on RC. (78% accuracy ) I was lucky since this PT had a pretty generous curve..

I was scared last week to concentrate solely on RC because I didn't want my LG/LR scores to drop. But now I'm debating whether or not I should just devote this entire week on drilling RC sections? What do you think?

You certainly have the basics down if you are PT'ing 165+. Have you thought about taking some rest days? Have you been studying hard over Thanksgiving/Christmas/this week?

[NL2424]

..

[flawyers]

yea, i think its pretty hard for many of us to take days of and not feel guilty, especially this close to the test, but if you need it, take it. I took a rest day yesterday and only just half assing some LG today.

Before the DEC I was going for that batshit crazy strategy where you take a PT a day for like a month before the test (something like 20 tests in 25 days). Though I dont really regret it now and feel like it helped somewhat I also think I didnt gain as much as I would have if I had gone slower. I also felt really stressed and mentally fatigued going into the test (though the week before I did take a few days off).

[NL2424]

..

[nlee10]

Can someone clarify the term drill for me

When you do a LR question type, LG game type, RC passages in repeated fashion. Typically done in conjunction with Cambridge packets that uses materials from PT 1-38.

[kang]

You certainly have the basics down if you are PT'ing 165+. Have you thought about taking some rest days? Have you been studying hard over Thanksgiving/Christmas/this week?

Yeah. I studied through all the holidays, which actually makes it harder to rest on such a random day...lol And on top of that, it scares me to to even think of resting this close to the test... I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up guilt-tripping myself back into studying...

You're definitely burnt. After I got home from finals I was like yes, this is it, time for me and my PTs. And I took one each day from Monday through Saturday. I started Monday with a 154 and ended Saturday with a 174. Then I took Sunday off and figured I'd start the same thing all over again the next week. But then I started out Monday with a 170, then tuesday with a 167, and wednesday with a 164. It was freaking me out. I realized I was burnt out. So I stopped. I took some days off. Now I'm not overloading myself and it's showing. You need to do the same. Just relax, take some days off. And I know that sounds scary as fudge to take a few days off this close to the test, but in reality it's worth it. I took a full PT Saturday and only took 2 sections each on Sunday and Monday and now I'm resting tomorrow. You have to realize the importance of rest. And stop worrying about your score! Look at a low score as "wow awesome, today I was challenged with areas of the test I'm not too famaliar with, good, now I have somewhere I can improve on so I can be ready for the real thing."

But Zacboro you're right, I'm going to try and rest until Jan 1. Going from 174 to 164?? Holy hell, I think just the idea of that is good enough to scare me into resting. haha. Maybe just do some review of hard questions in the interim...

yea, i think its pretty hard for many of us to take days of and not feel guilty, especially this close to the test, but if you need it, take it. I took a rest day yesterday and only just half assing some LG today.

Before the DEC I was going for that batshit crazy strategy where you take a PT a day for like a month before the test (something like 20 tests in 25 days). Though I dont really regret it now and feel like it helped somewhat I also think I didnt gain as much as I would have if I had gone slower. I also felt really stressed and mentally fatigued going into the test (though the week before I did take a few days off).

that schedule sounds intense! I tried doing that earlier in my studies, but taking a PT every other day. But everyday?! Sounds like the perfect recipe for a burnout.

See you all in Jan! Honestly, I'll probably be lurking on this forum tomorrow..

-young blood out.

[flawyers]

see you on the other side, my man.

[NL2424]

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[nlee10]

23/25 on LR2 PT 37

Add up dem section totals for this PT and I got a 170.
23/26 RC
23/26 LR1
22/24 LG
23/25 LR2

Going to do PT 38 full tomorrow. Hoping for 168+.

[peppermint]

.

[nlee10]

You got this, nlee! Ace it tmrw! And I'm so proud of you for getting that 170

If I do well tomorrow, I will know that my "less is more" approach worked.

[Rigo]

[I<3ScholarlySweets!]

Nlee, did u take that timed or untimed?
And I only see four sections. We are a month away from the test. Everyone ITT should be doing at least five sections

[NL2424]

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[nlee10]

Nlee, did u take that timed or untimed?
And I only see four sections. We are a month away from the test. Everyone ITT should be doing at least five sections

Timed sections over 2 days.

Chill out.

[I<3ScholarlySweets!]

Over 2 days?! You didn't take it in one sitting? JFC I am growing ulcers on my forehead

[Rigo]

[NL2424]

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[I<3ScholarlySweets!]

When you do PrepTest you don't "retain" information. Lol wtf? You take it and next day blind review. Figure out why you got what you got wrong. What were you thinking at the time? Is this consistent with previous preptests? Have you encountered this type of question before? Is said question incomprehensible to me? Why?

Repeat.

[JackelJ]

Guys, I thought we agreed not to poke the bear

[Rigo]