October 2012 Retakers Forum

[Kaytei]

This is my last chance to take the test and I am freaking out! The last two times I took the test i would consistently PT 170+ but then bombed on test day. Again, I my PT's have all been between 170 and 174 but I am freaking out that test day anxiety will set in and my dream of going to law school will be over.

I cannot handle the level of LSAT stress and it's still over a week away! I don't remember being this nervous last time. There are not enough days left to properly prepare!
Anyone else want to share in my hysteria?!

Number One: Stop freaking out. Don't let the test stress you out. Keep in mind that the ability to stay calm impacts how clearly you think. Use this time to get your nerves under control and try to focus on developing a Zen state of mind you'll find useful on the test.

Number Two: You've spent a lot of time preparing, PTing and giving up free time. You have the skills. Adding stress or focusing too much on the test will keep you from exercising the skills you developed. So, repeat Number One - stop freaking out. Get a massage, make a "last week prep plan" to calmly reinforce your strategy, review older tests and do some light drilling to maintain your confidence level.

Before the Olympics or any major meet, athletes lower the intensity of their workouts and develop their stress-reducing techniques in order to perform at their best and not lose focus under the pressure of the competitive moment. I think a similar approach should help here.

Thank you for that. I am freaking myself out for no reason. Instead of trying to cram this week, I am just reviewing areas that I sometimes struggle with.
You have no idea how much your simple words calmed me down lol Next time I feel like freaking out, I am just going to reread this!

[espressocream]

165 on PT 62 yesterday.

Still really pissed.

With a week left I'm not sure if I should postpone till Dec or just take it.

[naillsat]

having been taking PT's back-to-back since last Friday. Everyday after work, I spent ~6 hrs straight (5-11pm) in library just doing the PT's & review. Finally feeling fvcking tired today, maybe it's a good time to take a nap and review/drill my weakness tomorrow. Hopefully I'll pick up the steam again from Sunday and finish a few more PT's next week leading up to the test day - killing the biatch.

[Pocahontas]

This. Test. Will. NOT. Beat. US.

Edited

You're right. Thanks! I plan to take it easy tomorrow, as I have some friends coming in town and could use the break. But this...

PT64 on Sunday
Light Drilling on Monday,
PT65 on Tuesday
Light Drilling on Wednesday
PT66 on Thursday
Very very light drilling on Friday
Kick LSAT's ass on Saturday morning
Call the girls and "pop our backs" on Saturday night
Deal with hangover on Sunday morning

This is my plan. Good luck everyone. 1 week!

[dba415]

PT 62 earlier today

RC: -1 (I killed it, best RC I've ever had on the newer tests, and RC is my weakest)
LR1: -2
LG: -3
LR2: -5 (wtf?)

-11 for a 173

I will say that my concentration was waning in the last section, but wow. I missed #2 on BOTH of my LR sections lol.

LG was tough, the stained glass game got me, spent way too much time, luckily I was pretty clutch in the last 2 games. The last game especially I was able to finish correctly in 5 minutes.

[sinfiery]

PT #49 today

LG: -0
LR1: -3
RC: -3
LR2: -1

Raw: 93
Scaled: 173

I missed 2 questions on RC asking to find the meaning of "such and such on line xx" Feels terrible, if I spent the 5 seconds reading the surrounding sentences to that phrase, easy +2. Instead I went off memory what the words meant to me and missed em both.

1 very very very stupid mistake on LR1, 1 stupid mistake on LR2.

Oh well. PT 50 tomorrow.

[Honey_Badger]

Not a comment on your struggles with PT49, more a general piece of advice. Get to the 60s like right now. The games, RC, and LR is different enough that working anything before Pt59 in the last week is doing yourself a disservice.

Have to agree with this....RC has historically been my best area, BUT in the 60s I am doing AWFUL (like -5, -6). Ironically, my LR (which was always my WORST) has slightly improved, but there are variable conditions I could associate with that.

T-minus one week, retakers. Get it done.

Nominating Worm to start the post-apocalyptic waiting thread....

[bdeebs]

Do you guys think retaking more recent practice tests or taking fresh older (5, 6, 8, 17) tests would be more beneficial right now? I'm going to go through PT 66 today as a 1 week left exercise, but other than that I'm undecided on how to spend my time.

[seacow]

PT61 today:

LGX(PT65): -0
-
RCX(PT65): -2
RC: -4
LR: -2
-
LG: -1
LR: -0

94/101, 174

Super stoked with this one. This PT was as new as it gets for me. I only very vaguely recalled the topics of some of the RC and almost all of the LR felt completely new.

Bummed by my mistake in LG. But I smoked the last LR so it evens out to a pretty accurate representation.

Let's do work, all!

[Gisney]

Do you guys think retaking more recent practice tests or taking fresh older (5, 6, 8, 17) tests would be more beneficial right now? I'm going to go through PT 66 today as a 1 week left exercise, but other than that I'm undecided on how to spend my time.

I would stay with the recent tests. They are going to be more representative on what will be on our test.

[Gisney]

PT 64 today

Got up at 7am and was testing by 9. Tried to be really strict about timing with the 10 min break and all to conform to what it will be like come Sat.

It went okay.

LR1: -2 (one I changed the correct answer to the incorrect one )
LR2: -0
LG: -1
RC: -3 (another tough one)

Raw: 95
Scaled: 176

I would be very happy with this score on test day. But I tend to believe that your score drops 2 to 3 points from your average on test day so I want to be back to my 178-180 range for the last two tests. That way I can be confident, if that happens, I will still score what I want.

[NoodleyOne]

Just finished PT 64 myself...

LR1: -1
LG: -0
LR2: -3 (wtf)
RC: -1
Raw: 96/101
Scaled: 177

Last three tests were 178, 178, 177, so that makes me feel good. Other than that, I'm a little worried about my LR performance, as the last two tests those have been my weakest sections. Might spend some time going back over MLSAT and LRB to find where some of the holes are (I take too long on formal logic, I know, but I still finish with 5+ minutes left). RC, over the last five tests I have gone TOTAL -5, or an average of -1 per test, so that is a definite improvement, and LG is still solid. I feel ready, although this backsliding in LR is a little worrisome.

Review tomorrow at 8pm!

[sinfiery]

Not a comment on your struggles with PT49, more a general piece of advice. Get to the 60s like right now. The games, RC, and LR is different enough that working anything before Pt59 in the last week is doing yourself a disservice.

I've already taken 59-63 this month, no point in revisiting those tests again.

Saving 64-66 for Tuesday-Thursdayish

My biggest weaknesses right now are time and concentration, so I feel I still get plenty out of taking PTs 40-50s.

[bdeebs]

Just finished PT 64 myself...



Review tomorrow at 8pm!

Review of 64?

[NoodleyOne]

Just finished PT 64 myself...



Review tomorrow at 8pm!

Review of 64?

ja

[jjrialva]

I scored a peak of 171 in a late 90s test but I have been going down ever since... 166 168 165 .... the more recent ones I have only scored an average of 163... did anyone experienced the same pattern?

[Honey_Badger]

@HoneyBadger. Youre too kind. Isn't it weird that we're almost there. June simultaneously feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago.

+1,000

[ht2988]

I scored a peak of 171 in a late 90s test but I have been going down ever since... 166 168 165 .... the more recent ones I have only scored an average of 163... did anyone experienced the same pattern?

I'm in a similar boat... I averaged 171 through PT 56. Ever since then I've been getting 168-9! Not sure what to do. There doesn't appear to be any consistency in my errors.

I just took PT 63:
LR1: -1
LRx
LG: -1
LR2: -7
RC: -4

Exhaustion and frustration definitely go the best of me here. I have never missed >3 in LR, and during LR2 I got really frustrated and couldn't stop obsessing about certain q's after I had moved on. Same with RC, where I rarely missed >2 after reading the RCB... The good news is that on the last few tests, I've missed between 5-7 on LG. It seems like I'll improve significantly in one area only to bomb another. Grrr! Channeling Mimi for motivation/hope.

[jjrialva]

I scored a peak of 171 in a late 90s test but I have been going down ever since... 166 168 165 .... the more recent ones I have only scored an average of 163... did anyone experienced the same pattern?

I'm in a similar boat... I averaged 171 through PT 56. Ever since then I've been getting 168-9! Not sure what to do. There doesn't appear to be any consistency in my errors.

I just took PT 63:
LR1: -1
LRx
LG: -1
LR2: -7
RC: -4

Exhaustion and frustration definitely go the best of me here. I have never missed >3 in LR, and during LR2 I got really frustrated and couldn't stop obsessing about certain q's after I had moved on. Same with RC, where I rarely missed >2 after reading the RCB... The good news is that on the last few tests, I've missed between 5-7 on LG. It seems like I'll improve significantly in one area only to bomb another. Grrr! Channeling Mimi for motivation/hope.

It's just that the right answers arnt so obvious anymore. The 60s are LSACs counter measure to test takers' aspiness.

True... I jsut hope I can get more than the 158 I scored in June..

[bdeebs]

I scored a peak of 171 in a late 90s test but I have been going down ever since... 166 168 165 .... the more recent ones I have only scored an average of 163... did anyone experienced the same pattern?

I'm in a similar boat... I averaged 171 through PT 56. Ever since then I've been getting 168-9! Not sure what to do. There doesn't appear to be any consistency in my errors.

I just took PT 63:
LR1: -1
LRx
LG: -1
LR2: -7
RC: -4

Exhaustion and frustration definitely go the best of me here. I have never missed >3 in LR, and during LR2 I got really frustrated and couldn't stop obsessing about certain q's after I had moved on. Same with RC, where I rarely missed >2 after reading the RCB... The good news is that on the last few tests, I've missed between 5-7 on LG. It seems like I'll improve significantly in one area only to bomb another. Grrr! Channeling Mimi for motivation/hope.

It's just that the right answers arnt so obvious anymore. The 60s are LSACs counter measure to test takers' aspiness.

They aren't as immediately obvious, but once you figure them out, they are still pretty straightforward. One of my common mistakes is equating not obvious with not straightforward and being okay picking an answer I don't like. It usually turns out that the right answer was one that I crossed out because I misread it. This happens because it starts out so familiar that I assume what the rest of it will say and don't even read it (I discover this when I go back and think....WTF??!!?! That is SO obvious!)

[seacow]

I scored a peak of 171 in a late 90s test but I have been going down ever since... 166 168 165 .... the more recent ones I have only scored an average of 163... did anyone experienced the same pattern?

I'm in a similar boat... I averaged 171 through PT 56. Ever since then I've been getting 168-9! Not sure what to do. There doesn't appear to be any consistency in my errors.

I just took PT 63:
LR1: -1
LRx
LG: -1
LR2: -7
RC: -4

Exhaustion and frustration definitely go the best of me here. I have never missed >3 in LR, and during LR2 I got really frustrated and couldn't stop obsessing about certain q's after I had moved on. Same with RC, where I rarely missed >2 after reading the RCB... The good news is that on the last few tests, I've missed between 5-7 on LG. It seems like I'll improve significantly in one area only to bomb another. Grrr! Channeling Mimi for motivation/hope.

It's just that the right answers arnt so obvious anymore. The 60s are LSACs counter measure to test takers' aspiness.

They aren't as immediately obvious, but once you figure them out, they are still pretty straightforward. One of my common mistakes is equating not obvious with not straightforward and being okay picking an answer I don't like. It usually turns out that the right answer was one that I crossed out because I misread it. This happens because it starts out so familiar that I assume what the rest of it will say and don't even read it (I discover this when I go back and think....WTF??!!?! That is SO obvious!)

Yes. Something like this.

The 60s are definitely something new. It's not that they require the leaps that the early tests do, it's more that they require you to make the common sense assumptions that either the 30-50s did not or spelled out explicitly.

[jjrialva]

[/quote]

They aren't as immediately obvious, but once you figure them out, they are still pretty straightforward. One of my common mistakes is equating not obvious with not straightforward and being okay picking an answer I don't like. It usually turns out that the right answer was one that I crossed out because I misread it. This happens because it starts out so familiar that I assume what the rest of it will say and don't even read it (I discover this when I go back and think....WTF??!!?! That is SO obvious!)[/quote]

I just finish correcting one LG section in which I got an unprecedented -8 (dinosaurs test) took me 3 minutes to get the right answers!...

I won't panic on this test.. you know how many times I thought I totally failed the test and I didn't... won't let that feeling get in the way this time...

[sinfiery]

Woke up and realized I worked at 7 am, not 3 pm so I missed work today. Feels terrible combining this with asking for Oct 2-6th off to prepare.

Well, guess I should take a PT huh?

PT# 50:
RC: -8 (.............)
LR1: -2
LG: -0
LR2: -1

89
169 scaled


-4 on the last passage, based on the same inference I didn't pick up taking that same test about 1 year ago (water basins...)

sigh.

Time to go watch nights of cabiria or something. When all hope is lost, there's still hope. and then the ending. hah. damn. I just made myself sad.

[052220151]

Recently I have been shitting the bed on section of a PT, and then killing all the others. For example, I took PT 58 today and went LR1 -7, Experimental, RC -3, LG -0, LR -2 for a 169. Is anyone else noticing this? Any pointers on how to stop sucking on one section? The shitty section occurs randomly, i.e., not always at the beginning. Any help would be appreciated.

[jjrialva]

Recently I have been shitting the bed on section of a PT, and then killing all the others. For example, I took PT 58 today and went LR1 -7, Experimental, RC -3, LG -0, LR -2 for a 169. Is anyone else noticing this? Any pointers on how to stop sucking on one section? The shitty section occurs randomly, i.e., not always at the beginning. Any help would be appreciated.

What PT was it? is there a pattern or just random? if its random it might be you are starting cold... same damn thing happens to me.. most of time my worse performance is on the first section I take.. if its RC I performed even worse than what I usually do..