December 2012 Re-takers Forum

[Alorain]

Sorry Sugar. Its done.

I can pm you proof, or PW at your convenience, and you will see that clean-shaven is the way to go for just about every man. Except Mrizza. Shaving that glorious beard would be a crime against humanity.

Oh my FUCKING god.

A more relevant .gif there never was.

[bitsy]

What up guys,

QUESTION. I know that reviewing your wrong answers is one of the single most imporant aspects of studying, but here's my problem. I tend to get a question wrong, look at the right answer, say "OH OK THAT MAKES SENSE", and then move on. Literally takes me 4 minutes to go over the whole test.

I NEED A NEW STRATEGY GUYS. How does everyone go about reviewing wrong answers? I guess it's sort of hard for me to pinpoint exactly where i went wrong on a question, nahmmmsayin?

Any help would be great y'all

I do my PTs in pencil, and then grade them in pen. For every missed question or questionable guess, I write out why the wrong answer that tempted me is wrong, and why the correct answer is right. Even if it's super obvious afterwards or I could just write it off as a reading error, I don't skip this step.

Sorry Sugar. Its done.

I can pm you proof, or PW at your convenience, and you will see that clean-shaven is the way to go for just about every man. Except Mrizza. Shaving that glorious beard would be a crime against humanity.

Oh my FUCKING god.

A more relevant .gif there never was.

+10000000

[Cobretti]

What PT do you guys want for Sunday? I was thinking 61? Thoughts.

I can do 61.

Also, for the RC focused ppl do you guys want to pick a bunch of sections from the cambridge set and review those in sinfiery sized chunks on another day?

[megagnarley]

What PT do you guys want for Sunday? I was thinking 61? Thoughts.

In this vein. Does anyone have a specific schedule for PT's?

I did every single one before the Oct test and now am unsure how far back to go and how many to do before hte retake...

[annet]

Damnit, I'm in. Just paid the fee. Ordering the Cambridge LR bundles now (I'm fine on LG and RC). Will kill many trees tonight.

Even if I only pick up a few points I won't be all "omg what if?!?" when it comes to scholarship negotiations. I can do LR drilling while the dinner rolls proof for Thanksgiving, right? Right?

[gguuueessttt]

Damnit, I'm in. Just paid the fee. Ordering the Cambridge LR bundles now (I'm fine on LG and RC). Will kill many trees tonight.

Even if I only pick up a few points I won't be all "omg what if?!?" when it comes to scholarship negotiations. I can do LR drilling while the dinner rolls proof for Thanksgiving, right? Right?

You could probably wait until February if you're just looking to gain leverage in scholarship negotiations.

[bitsy]

What PT do you guys want for Sunday? I was thinking 61? Thoughts.

I can do 61.

Also, for the RC focused ppl do you guys want to pick a bunch of sections from the cambridge set and review those in sinfiery sized chunks on another day?

+1

although I think they aren't organized by sections

[HawkeyeGirl]

Can we do early afternoon on Sunday or Saturday? I have to go to Detroit on Sunday night for work and I'd like to be part of the review. Thanks

[annet]

Damnit, I'm in. Just paid the fee. Ordering the Cambridge LR bundles now (I'm fine on LG and RC). Will kill many trees tonight.

Even if I only pick up a few points I won't be all "omg what if?!?" when it comes to scholarship negotiations. I can do LR drilling while the dinner rolls proof for Thanksgiving, right? Right?

You could probably wait until February if you're just looking to gain leverage in scholarship negotiations.

Hrm... now that is not something I'd considered. Lols. This would be so much easier if my job hadn't broken my brain recently. Gonna have to ponder that, I guess.

[gguuueessttt]

Damnit, I'm in. Just paid the fee. Ordering the Cambridge LR bundles now (I'm fine on LG and RC). Will kill many trees tonight.

Even if I only pick up a few points I won't be all "omg what if?!?" when it comes to scholarship negotiations. I can do LR drilling while the dinner rolls proof for Thanksgiving, right? Right?

You could probably wait until February if you're just looking to gain leverage in scholarship negotiations.

Hrm... now that is not something I'd considered. Lols. This would be so much easier if my job hadn't broken my brain recently. Gonna have to ponder that, I guess.

If you think you can get accepted or wait listed at your goal schools without re-taking, but you don't think you will get enough scholarship money, then re-taking in February is likely a good idea. You'd have more time to study, you'd probably be able to improve your score more significantly, and you can gain more scholarship $$$ and/or get off wait lists when you get your Feb. score.

EDIT: but if you think your score from October is going to get you outright rejected from your goal schools, you should probably re-take in December and wait to apply (or ask that schools hold your application) until you get that score.

[Alorain]

Wait wait wait. Are we only doing 1 PT a week?

[Techsan23]

I haven't posted on TLS in a while but I finally made my jump from the 160s to 170s. I thought I'd share what helped me. I was having trouble with LR. What made the difference for me was talking about the stimulus with someone and reviewing the answer choices on a deeper level. I also made the switch from stem first to stimulus first and it has helped me out tremendously because I'm able to better focus on the stimulus and not think about what I should be trying to do.

This is how I now review LR:
1)I read a stimulus and separate it into context info, premise, and conclusion.
2)I go through each answer choice and decide what makes a choice wrong and right in relation to the stimulus. I don't compare and look for a better answer.
3)Finally this is what helped me the most. I would go through the wrong answers and try to figure out what the stimulus would have had to look like for that answer choice to be correct. This way you really understand what makes an answer choice wrong and right.

For RC I really keep in mind what the author's purpose is. For everything I read, I ask myself "why is the author telling me this?" Think about the big picture.

I hope that helps!
And don't ever give up! I started at a 149 cold. Be flexible and open to change. I started out stimulus first, then moved to stem first, and now I'm back to stimulus first.

[GabeQuixote]

If on test day I had:

Gone -0 on RC I would have scored a 171

Gone -0 on LR I would have scored a 171

Gone -0 on both I would have scored a 178.

Yet I spent all day yesterday going over LR because I'm stupid I suppose?

[M.M.]

Was posting in the Dec study group thread, but I figured here would be better... so, in. I've really hated the test lately ... but today I forced myself to go and study and got my first ever -1 on LG, and my first ever -0 on LR... nothing like a little motivation via success

Does anyone know if older LR sections are easier? I did PT 35s first LR section

Yay, congrats!! I haven't found older LR easier, just kind of different. They don't have the two part questions anymore.

Thanks for the reply. To everyone else:

When I went -0 on LR for the first time, it was the first time I tried doing the first 15 LR in 15 minutes. Way back when I was doing my Princeton Review course, I noticed a big jump in LR when I tried doing 10 in 10. How much do you think I should attribute going -0 for the first time to this newly adopted strategy? I usually go ~-3. Two other variables were that yesterday I was insanely tired and couldn't focus, and it was an older section (PT 35) ... I really thought I'd do terribly on that LR section. I've also noticed before I do better on LR when I'm not focusing as much as odd as that sounds, I've always been prettty good at LR naturally, and it seems my intuitions are usually right... so how much do you think these various factors played a role?

Obviously, I'm going to keep using the 15 in 15 strategy and see if it keeps getting me a better score, but I'm perrrrtty excited for the prospect of it allowing me big gains in LR.

[gguuueessttt]

For RC I really keep in mind what the author's purpose is. For everything I read, I ask myself "why is the author telling me this?" Think about the big picture.

This is a really good tip. Sometimes RC passages seem to veer off in unexpected ways, and if I am caught off guard by a paragraph or a sentence, it always helps me to ask myself a few questions. I always take a few seconds to say to myself, "Why is the author telling me this?" "How does this relate to the previous sentences/paragraphs?" "Where is the author going to go with this in the rest of the passage?" Answering these questions in my head whenever I get caught off guard helps me read with a purpose and helps me not to zone out or get confused about the main point.

[bitsy]

the fee waivers have been flooding my inbox today.

[gguuueessttt]

the fee waivers have been flooding my inbox today.

lol!
not mine :/

[Cobretti]

the fee waivers have been flooding my inbox today.

What'd you get? I got UCLA and UVA, plus a bunch of TTTs

[bitsy]

What'd you get? I got UCLA and UVA, plus a bunch of TTTs

same, plus a few that i think are specific to my UG

[Cobretti]

What PT do you guys want for Sunday? I was thinking 61? Thoughts.

I can do 61.

Also, for the RC focused ppl do you guys want to pick a bunch of sections from the cambridge set and review those in sinfiery sized chunks on another day?

+1

although I think they aren't organized by sections

Ya I was thinking we could just say like... last 5 passages in Humanities, for example.

Can we do early afternoon on Sunday or Saturday? I have to go to Detroit on Sunday night for work and I'd like to be part of the review. Thanks

I'm going down to SD on Saturday (sup chad), but I can do Sunday.

[Cobretti]

What'd you get? I got UCLA and UVA, plus a bunch of TTTs

same, plus a few that i think are specific to my UG

Including your UG?

[sinfiery]

I got UVA and NYU hidden


love that gif lol

[bitsy]

Can we do early afternoon on Sunday or Saturday? I have to go to Detroit on Sunday night for work and I'd like to be part of the review. Thanks

I'm going down to SD on Saturday (sup chad), but I can do Sunday.

lol i'm traveling to KC on Saturday, but I can do Sunday as well.

[Cobretti]

Can we do early afternoon on Sunday or Saturday? I have to go to Detroit on Sunday night for work and I'd like to be part of the review. Thanks

I'm going down to SD on Saturday (sup chad), but I can do Sunday.

lol i'm traveling to KC on Saturday, but I can do Sunday as well.

K let's say 1PM CST on Sunday, and go over the last 5 passages in Humanities and last 5 from Natural Sciences in Cambridge.

[GabeQuixote]

What'd you get? I got UCLA and UVA, plus a bunch of TTTs

same, plus a few that i think are specific to my UG

I got nothing.