The Official February 2015 Study Group Forum

[leslieknope]

Oooh ooh, me too! Approve of my life choices!

Monday: LR drilling by type, review yesterday's PT, read RC guide
Tuesday: PT 68 (LG retake), LR drilling by type or read RC guide
Wednesday: PT 71 or 73 (LG retake), LR drilling by type or read RC guide, review yesterday's PT
Thursday: off
Friday: review Wednesday's PT, about 45 minutes of drilling in each section

[Blueprint Ben]

Hey guys,

I saw that my post was reproduced above, and I just wanted to stress something for those of you who are turning up the heat this week:

Taking a PT every day this week will NOT put you in a good position to score your highest on Saturday. If you wanted to do that kind of intense prep schedule, you should have done it last week and the week before. Now is not the time. The week before the test should be about tapering, maintenance, and recovery. Don't try to make any huge breakthroughs this week. Make your huge breakthrough on Saturday, when it counts.

Best of luck! Feel free to reach out via PM or the BP thread if you need anything.

Would retaking certain PTs this week still be disadvantageous?

Don't get me wrong: Taking PTs this week is fine. And retakes are always a good idea.

I'm just saying that taking a PT every day this week without a rest day is an objectively terrible idea. Saturday is the test that matters. Don't over-study this week! You'll be doing yourself a huge disservice.

Best of luck everyone! If you study smart, you'll all kill it on game day.

[Blueprint Ben]

Can you approve my study schedule? It will assuage by anxiety. Please!!

Monday, Tuesday: Drilling LG (one or two sections), Hard Questions LR (probably about 30 a day?), Hard RC (maybe 4 a day?)
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: PT 74
Friday: Same as Mon, Tues

This is a solid schedule, sfoglia. I approve! Try to make the most of your Wednesday off; go get a massage or something. And if you feel any fatigue at all on Friday, don't hesitate to lighten the load. Still be sure to drill, but it doesn't have to be as heavy as Monday/Tuesday.

[sfoglia]

Can you approve my study schedule? It will assuage by anxiety. Please!!

Monday, Tuesday: Drilling LG (one or two sections), Hard Questions LR (probably about 30 a day?), Hard RC (maybe 4 a day?)
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: PT 74
Friday: Same as Mon, Tues

This is a solid schedule, sfoglia. I approve! Try to make the most of your Wednesday off; go get a massage or something. And if you feel any fatigue at all on Friday, don't hesitate to lighten the load. Still be sure to drill, but it doesn't have to be as heavy as Monday/Tuesday.

Thank you so much!!

Wednesday massage sounds like a great idea...

[m27]

Thanks for the advice Ben.

As for today, I'm going to take PT 74 (first time since the real deal in December) and crush it for that morale boost.

[Smallville]

Guys, I just spent half an hour teaching my coworker (who has been here a smidge longer than I have) how to do a subpoena. Ten minutes were spent with me teaching her the proper spelling of February. She is also a college graduate.

I'm not an asshole, am I?

Leslie: I can't wait to have LOLSAT nightmares again! The PTSD is too real.

love merging docs... don't need to know how to spell Feberary

[Smallville]

Can you approve my study schedule? It will assuage by anxiety. Please!!

Monday, Tuesday: Drilling LG (one or two sections), Hard Questions LR (probably about 30 a day?), Hard RC (maybe 4 a day?)
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: PT 74
Friday: Same as Mon, Tues

This is a solid schedule, sfoglia. I approve! Try to make the most of your Wednesday off; go get a massage or something. And if you feel any fatigue at all on Friday, don't hesitate to lighten the load. Still be sure to drill, but it doesn't have to be as heavy as Monday/Tuesday.

gunna show my sister this... she's a massage therapist

[brusselsprouts]

Thanks for the advice Ben! I'm going to finish up BP's LR clinic today and do the RC clinic. I'm only planning on one full PT this week on Wednesday and doing timed sections on Tuesday and maybe Friday. I don't really know what to do on Friday..any suggestions? Maybe some repeat sections? I want to get a good review in but don't want to blow my confidence, obviously

[Big Red]

I'm planning on PTing Tuesday and then just kind of doing what I feel up for on the rest?

I

[ilikebaseball]

OH MY GOD GUYS MOST DIFFICULT LR IS SO FREAKIN HELPFUL

[ilikebaseball]

PT 69 (average scores 2 pt's ago were -10 LR, -1 LG, -6 to 8 RC)

LA-4 (30 min)
RC-8 (lol so gay)
exp LR-4 (32 min)
LG-0 (25 min)
LR- 1!!!!!!!! (30 min)

169. Tough RC passages but JFC that's absurd.

But, before I went through most difficult, my combined LR on 2 sections was -10. I took 3 today and got -9. Wow.

edit: as I'm going through it, it turns out one of my missed answers was circled correctly. I just had a brain fart and didnt transfer it correctly. Bad excuse, and it totally could happen on game day, but, bubbling aside, I actually went -8 in 3 LR sections.

[Blueprint Ben]

Thanks for the advice Ben! I'm going to finish up BP's LR clinic today and do the RC clinic. I'm only planning on one full PT this week on Wednesday and doing timed sections on Tuesday and maybe Friday. I don't really know what to do on Friday..any suggestions? Maybe some repeat sections? I want to get a good review in but don't want to blow my confidence, obviously

No problem, brussel! Timed sections would be fine. I definitely recommend doing timed sections on your non-PT days early in the week. But if you're feeling fatigued on Friday, you could opt instead to do targeted drilling by question type.

I recommend getting through at least 3 sections' worth of material on Friday -- ~25 LR, 4 games, and 4 passages -- just enough to get you in the zone for all 3 sections, but not so much that it tires you out.

[msp8]

PT 69 (average scores 2 pt's ago were -10 LR, -1 LG, -6 to 8 RC)

LA-4 (30 min)
RC-8 (lol so gay)
exp LR-4 (32 min)
LG-0 (25 min)
LR- 1!!!!!!!! (30 min)

169. Tough RC passages but JFC that's absurd.

But, before I went through most difficult, my combined LR on 2 sections was -10. I took 3 today and got -9. Wow.

Great job!

Remind me... you went through all of Most Difficult? And all untimed, right?

[Smallville]

can today be Thursday? Perfect day to go mess around in the snow since the weather decided to make up for Juno's lack of heft, dont wanna study

[ilikebaseball]

PT 69 (average scores 2 pt's ago were -10 LR, -1 LG, -6 to 8 RC)

LA-4 (30 min)
RC-8 (lol so gay)
exp LR-4 (32 min)
LG-0 (25 min)
LR- 1!!!!!!!! (30 min)

169. Tough RC passages but JFC that's absurd.

But, before I went through most difficult, my combined LR on 2 sections was -10. I took 3 today and got -9. Wow.

Great job!

Remind me... you went through all of Most Difficult? And all untimed, right?

Well, i did it untimed until I got to around question 250. Then, I tried to speed it up a little. My timing has always been really good on every section though, so I wasn't really worried about it.

[msp8]

Question, why are test dates so different for Asia? June test date is June 28th, for example, whereas in N.America it's June 8th.

[sfoglia]

PT 69 (average scores 2 pt's ago were -10 LR, -1 LG, -6 to 8 RC)

LA-4 (30 min)
RC-8 (lol so gay)
exp LR-4 (32 min)
LG-0 (25 min)
LR- 1!!!!!!!! (30 min)

169. Tough RC passages but JFC that's absurd.

But, before I went through most difficult, my combined LR on 2 sections was -10. I took 3 today and got -9. Wow.

edit: as I'm going through it, it turns out one of my missed answers was circled correctly. I just had a brain fart and didnt transfer it correctly. Bad excuse, and it totally could happen on game day, but, bubbling aside, I actually went -8 in 3 LR sections.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! -1 LR is always soooooo exciting (and unfortunately sooooo rare).

[NL2424]

..

[Rigo]

[nlee10]

Guysssss, I feel so lazy today.

[sfoglia]

People still use the word "gay" as a substitute for dumb, annoying, etc?

Do they?

ETA: Rolling my eyes at said people, not you. I have no tolerance for ignorance, obvs.

ETA2: I should read closer.

[Shakawkaw]

People still use the word "gay" as a substitute for dumb, annoying, etc?

[Big Red]

People still use the word "gay" as a substitute for dumb, annoying, etc?

As much as I hate the BACKWERDS Texas jokes, it's very common in the vocabulary there and it took me longer than it should to where I completely stopped using it

[sfoglia]

Can someone explain PT 73, LR2, #26 to me? I had chosen A originally, then changed to B, with the idea that if wildlife populations are not likely to recover with any reduction of insecticide, then the argument falls apart. I mean, A makes sense to me, but I felt like the argument hinged more on B at the time... I know I'm wrong but I can't articulate why. Can someone help?

[Big Red]

Can someone explain PT 73, LR2, #26 to me? I had chosen A originally, then changed to B, with the idea that if wildlife populations are not likely to recover with any reduction of insecticide, then the argument falls apart. I mean, A makes sense to me, but I felt like the argument hinged more on B at the time... I know I'm wrong but I can't articulate why. Can someone help?

Heh, you guys found the other question I missed both times. My understanding of B is that even if you assume that less fertilizer use will help the wildlife populations, the switch to the engineered crops alone doesn't require that less fertilizer will be used.