December 2012 Re-takers Forum

[M.M.]

Started trying to do 15 LR in 15 minutes ... last 3 sections have been -0, -1, -2 compared to my usual -3 or so. I really, really hope this trend keeps up. The -2 was also because I was rushing TOO much ... I got to 21 by like the 24th minute, though did use all the time allotted ... but I missed #9, which I don't remember being particularly hard. Fuuuuuu please please please please keep up. My work is finally paying off in LG; I'm now getting around -4 when I was stuck at -8 forever .... and if I can get that down to ~-2 or 3 consistently I'll certainly be happy. RC is a consistent -4 and doesn't change much, though I feel that giving myself only ~7 mins for easy passages and ~10 for hard ones could help me there ...

If I keep getting ~-1 or ~-2 on LR, assuming I get -3 total on test day, -3 on LG, and -4 on RC, I will be perfectly within range of the 170 I want so much. For the first time in a long time, I'm starting to enjoy studying for this again.


Edit: for PT 54, lr2 #9 ... I picked C, the correct choice was A. Even after seeing the correct answer, I don't clearly see why A is right, though I guess it sort of matches more closely than C, which introduces the "not wrong to to do so" part without support.

Can anyone put it into words why it was wrong, and A was right?

[GabeQuixote]

Another series of four RC sections. Another -1, -1, -1, 0.

>:(

four 35-minute sections with -1 on three and -0 on one?

that seems really good and consistent.

Passages at 7 minutes each.

The -1 is usually a detail question, or a flustered miss.

[gguuueessttt]

This. I check my answers every section, given enough time. I'd rather take a chance at missing one by relying on my skills than missing the last 15 questions because I mis-bubbled.

I usually spot check as I go and tend to only fill in 2-3 at a time. Idk, I've never had a bubbling error before, so I'm not very paranoid about it.

I spot-check and bubble in after every page. I've also never had an error but I'm EXTREMELY paranoid for whatever reason. I can just imagine myself being that one person who misses a question and then misbubbles the entire rest of the section.

[Lenahan3]

This. I check my answers every section, given enough time. I'd rather take a chance at missing one by relying on my skills than missing the last 15 questions because I mis-bubbled.

I usually spot check as I go and tend to only fill in 2-3 at a time. Idk, I've never had a bubbling error before, so I'm not very paranoid about it.

I answer every question then bubble/transfer everything in at one time once I finish or hit the 5-minute mark.

[HawkeyeGirl]

This. I check my answers every section, given enough time. I'd rather take a chance at missing one by relying on my skills than missing the last 15 questions because I mis-bubbled.

I usually spot check as I go and tend to only fill in 2-3 at a time. Idk, I've never had a bubbling error before, so I'm not very paranoid about it.

I spot-check and bubble in after every page. I've also never had an error but I'm EXTREMELY paranoid for whatever reason. I can just imagine myself being that one person who misses a question and then misbubbles the entire rest of the section.

Can't let stuff like that stress you out. At some point you just have to be confident in yourself and your 2nd grade skillz

[HawkeyeGirl]

This. I check my answers every section, given enough time. I'd rather take a chance at missing one by relying on my skills than missing the last 15 questions because I mis-bubbled.

I usually spot check as I go and tend to only fill in 2-3 at a time. Idk, I've never had a bubbling error before, so I'm not very paranoid about it.

I answer every question then bubble/transfer everything in at one time once I finish or hit the 5-minute mark.

I'm a nerd. But I did an experiment once to see what was the optimal way to bubble if you're looking to maximize time. Doing it after every page was the fastest (and less error prone - during the experiment when I transferred all of them like you do Len, I ended up having to spend time erasing bc I had flipped two pages at once on accident), though I forget by how much. After every question was obviously the slowest.

[gguuueessttt]

This. I check my answers every section, given enough time. I'd rather take a chance at missing one by relying on my skills than missing the last 15 questions because I mis-bubbled.

I usually spot check as I go and tend to only fill in 2-3 at a time. Idk, I've never had a bubbling error before, so I'm not very paranoid about it.

I spot-check and bubble in after every page. I've also never had an error but I'm EXTREMELY paranoid for whatever reason. I can just imagine myself being that one person who misses a question and then misbubbles the entire rest of the section.

Can't let stuff like that stress you out. At some point you just have to be confident in yourself and your 2nd grade skillz

I think I'm gonna go ahead and not stop doing it. I tend to have extra time at the end of sections so it's NBD I suppose. I think spending one of those minutes making sure I didn't misbubble anything is a decent idea if only for peace of mind.

[HawkeyeGirl]

I think I'm gonna go ahead and not stop doing it. I tend to have extra time at the end of sections so it's NBD I suppose. I think spending one of those minutes making sure I didn't misbubble an entire section is a decent idea if only for peace of mind.

Obviously if you have extra time you should definitely check, just don't stress out about it. Stress = bad.

[Lenahan3]

This. I check my answers every section, given enough time. I'd rather take a chance at missing one by relying on my skills than missing the last 15 questions because I mis-bubbled.

I usually spot check as I go and tend to only fill in 2-3 at a time. Idk, I've never had a bubbling error before, so I'm not very paranoid about it.

I answer every question then bubble/transfer everything in at one time once I finish or hit the 5-minute mark.

I'm a nerd. But I did an experiment once to see what was the optimal way to bubble if you're looking to maximize time. Doing it after every page was the fastest (and less error prone - during the experiment when I transferred all of them like you do Len, I ended up having to spend time erasing bc I had flipped two pages at once on accident), though I forget by how much. After every question was obviously the slowest.

My way is the fasted, I'd say. My way is also the most potentially catastrophic as well though. I mis-bubbled once during a PT in LG and ended up missing 16 questions. That's the only time it's happened to me though.

Definitely not a method for the faint of heart.

[gguuueessttt]

My way is the fasted, I'd say. My way is also the most potentially catastrophic as well though. I mis-bubbled once during a PT in LG and ended up missing 16 questions. That's the only time it's happened to me though.

Definitely not a method for the faint of heart.

I'd agree your way is fastest. And checking that you bubbled correctly probably makes the chance of error almost 0. Maybe I'll start doing that.

[Lenahan3]

My way is the fasted, I'd say. My way is also the most potentially catastrophic as well though. I mis-bubbled once during a PT in LG and ended up missing 16 questions. That's the only time it's happened to me though.

Definitely not a method for the faint of heart.

I'd agree your way is fastest. And checking that you bubbled correctly probably makes the chance of error almost 0. Maybe I'll start doing that.

I haven't ever timed it to experiment, but I wouldn't be surprised if it saved about a minute versus transferring per answer.

[gguuueessttt]

My way is the fasted, I'd say. My way is also the most potentially catastrophic as well though. I mis-bubbled once during a PT in LG and ended up missing 16 questions. That's the only time it's happened to me though.

Definitely not a method for the faint of heart.

I'd agree your way is fastest. And checking that you bubbled correctly probably makes the chance of error almost 0. Maybe I'll start doing that.

I haven't ever timed it to experiment, but I wouldn't be surprised if it saved about a minute versus transferring per answer.

I transfer per page because I think it (ideally) provides a good balance of speed and accuracy. But I'd bet that if you add in checking answers at the end, your way is fastest and just as accurate.

[HawkeyeGirl]

My way is the fasted, I'd say. My way is also the most potentially catastrophic as well though. I mis-bubbled once during a PT in LG and ended up missing 16 questions. That's the only time it's happened to me though.

Definitely not a method for the faint of heart.

I'd agree your way is fastest. And checking that you bubbled correctly probably makes the chance of error almost 0. Maybe I'll start doing that.

I haven't ever timed it to experiment, but I wouldn't be surprised if it saved about a minute versus transferring per answer.

When I did the experiment, I messed up the transferring so that obviously killed a lot of time, but I'd guess if you do it right, it might be more than a minute. Maybe like a minute 10 seconds.

Really though, it all comes down to what you're comfortable with and what your routine is. Definitely don't want to be mixing things up on test day!!

[sinfiery]

My way is the fasted, I'd say. My way is also the most potentially catastrophic as well though. I mis-bubbled once during a PT in LG and ended up missing 16 questions. That's the only time it's happened to me though.

Definitely not a method for the faint of heart.

I'd agree your way is fastest. And checking that you bubbled correctly probably makes the chance of error almost 0. Maybe I'll start doing that.

I haven't ever timed it to experiment, but I wouldn't be surprised if it saved about a minute versus transferring per answer.

I transfer per page because I think it (ideally) provides a good balance of speed and accuracy. But I'd bet that if you add in checking answers at the end, your way is fastest and just as accurate.

I did this. It is a very good balance of speed and accuracy. Also,
You also get a break between every few LR questions which is a bonus where you don't have to think and you just bubble.
In LG and RC, you don't have to stop between every question within the section which can cause you to lose focus on the whole of the problem that develops as you go from question to question. You still get a break between passages/games which is once again very nice.

[M.M.]

What do you guys think of just filling in bubbles at the 5 minute warning?

Obviously if there is no 5 minute warning that could mean trouble, but ...

[HawkeyeGirl]

I did this. It is a very good balance of speed and accuracy. Also,
You also get a break between every few LR questions which is a bonus where you don't have to think and you just bubble.
In LG and RC, you don't have to stop between every question within the section which can cause you to lose focus on the whole of the problem that develops as you go from question to question. You still get a break between passages/games which is once again very nice.

!nerdalert! Sometimes I get too excited when I know I got the answer 100% correct that I bubble it right away...

[M.M.]

Started trying to do 15 LR in 15 minutes ... last 3 sections have been -0, -1, -2 compared to my usual -3 or so. I really, really hope this trend keeps up. The -2 was also because I was rushing TOO much ... I got to 21 by like the 24th minute, though did use all the time allotted ... but I missed #9, which I don't remember being particularly hard. Fuuuuuu please please please please keep up. My work is finally paying off in LG; I'm now getting around -4 when I was stuck at -8 forever .... and if I can get that down to ~-2 or 3 consistently I'll certainly be happy. RC is a consistent -4 and doesn't change much, though I feel that giving myself only ~7 mins for easy passages and ~10 for hard ones could help me there ...

If I keep getting ~-1 or ~-2 on LR, assuming I get -3 total on test day, -3 on LG, and -4 on RC, I will be perfectly within range of the 170 I want so much. For the first time in a long time, I'm starting to enjoy studying for this again.


Edit: for PT 54, lr2 #9 ... I picked C, the correct choice was A. Even after seeing the correct answer, I don't clearly see why A is right, though I guess it sort of matches more closely than C, which introduces the "not wrong to to do so" part without support.

Can anyone put it into words why it was wrong, and A was right?

Also, this.

[Cobretti]

I did this. It is a very good balance of speed and accuracy. Also,
You also get a break between every few LR questions which is a bonus where you don't have to think and you just bubble.
In LG and RC, you don't have to stop between every question within the section which can cause you to lose focus on the whole of the problem that develops as you go from question to question. You still get a break between passages/games which is once again very nice.

!nerdalert! Sometimes I get too excited when I know I got the answer 100% correct that I bubble it right away...

so you always bubble right away??

[HawkeyeGirl]

I did this. It is a very good balance of speed and accuracy. Also,
You also get a break between every few LR questions which is a bonus where you don't have to think and you just bubble.
In LG and RC, you don't have to stop between every question within the section which can cause you to lose focus on the whole of the problem that develops as you go from question to question. You still get a break between passages/games which is once again very nice.

!nerdalert! Sometimes I get too excited when I know I got the answer 100% correct that I bubble it right away...

so you always bubble right away??

I wish! I only get excited when I sit there and have to think about a question for a long time and then have a breakthrough and figure it out...

[chadbrochill]

Started trying to do 15 LR in 15 minutes ... last 3 sections have been -0, -1, -2 compared to my usual -3 or so. I really, really hope this trend keeps up. The -2 was also because I was rushing TOO much ... I got to 21 by like the 24th minute, though did use all the time allotted ... but I missed #9, which I don't remember being particularly hard. Fuuuuuu please please please please keep up. My work is finally paying off in LG; I'm now getting around -4 when I was stuck at -8 forever .... and if I can get that down to ~-2 or 3 consistently I'll certainly be happy. RC is a consistent -4 and doesn't change much, though I feel that giving myself only ~7 mins for easy passages and ~10 for hard ones could help me there ...

If I keep getting ~-1 or ~-2 on LR, assuming I get -3 total on test day, -3 on LG, and -4 on RC, I will be perfectly within range of the 170 I want so much. For the first time in a long time, I'm starting to enjoy studying for this again.


Edit: for PT 54, lr2 #9 ... I picked C, the correct choice was A. Even after seeing the correct answer, I don't clearly see why A is right, though I guess it sort of matches more closely than C, which introduces the "not wrong to to do so" part without support.

Can anyone put it into words why it was wrong, and A was right?

Also, this.

I just did this today, I had this circled and it definitely took me longer than I'd like. I too was debating between A & C since both seem to have components that fit the argument.

The thing that stuck out to me about A though was it contained more relevant components (laudable, helpful, and wrong). These are all things that aren't brought up until after the "Thus..." of the stimulus so all these terms could use justification. C on the other hand justifies "helpful" and "laudable" but never touches on what makes something "wrong". On LSATQA, about 60% got it right with about 30% picking C so definitely hard question with a trap answer. Lemme know if I can clarify anything better.

[chadbrochill]

My way is the fastest, I'd say. My way is also the most potentially catastrophic as well though. I mis-bubbled once during a PT in LG and ended up missing 16 questions. That's the only time it's happened to me though.

Definitely not a method for the faint of heart.

I also wait till the end to bubble. This means when I finish with 5 minutes left, its really more like 3.5 minutes.
Some benefits I like about it are:
1. I get a birds-eye view of my entire LR section and get a better sense of how many questions I circled to go back to.
2. I sometimes have a tendency to start bubbling at the bottom of previous section. (Filling #'s 27,28,29,30..etc) so this helps.

The biggest negative though is in RC...I'm usually reading the last passage when 5 minutes is called. Knowing I need 1.5 of those minutes to do a perfect bubble to prevent getting life-pwned is ALOT of pressure lol. I'm gonna work on switching this to by-passage.

[Lenahan3]

My way is the fastest, I'd say. My way is also the most potentially catastrophic as well though. I mis-bubbled once during a PT in LG and ended up missing 16 questions. That's the only time it's happened to me though.

Definitely not a method for the faint of heart.

I also wait till the end to bubble. This means when I finish with 5 minutes left, its really more like 3.5 minutes.
Some benefits I like about it are:
1. I get a birds-eye view of my entire LR section and get a better sense of how many questions I circled to go back to.
2. I sometimes have a tendency to start bubbling at the bottom of previous section. (Filling #'s 27,28,29,30..etc) so this helps.

The biggest negative though is in RC...I'm usually reading the last passage when 5 minutes is called. Knowing I need 1.5 of those minutes to do a perfect bubble to prevent getting life-pwned is ALOT of pressure lol. I'm gonna work on switching this to by-passage.

It works for me in both LR and RC. LR I'm normally finishing bubbling with about 5 minutes, ish, and RC I'm usually finished bubbling with about 3-4 minutes left to go.

You're right about the bird's eye though. While I'm bubbling I'll make a note about my marked problems and since there aren't tons of them, I'll remember where they are which keeps me from wasting time looking for them.

[CR2012]

Wow, you guys are really killing your PTs. I hope I can make some more gains. It is a little unnerving to see you guys hitting in the high 170s. Motivates me though.

Does any one else bubble the way I do? I wait to bubble until after a RC passage, Logic Game, or with respect to LR, after each of the two pages. I feel like it is more efficient and less time is wasted after each question. Maybe its just me.

Also, in the past, though now it seems like I have gained speed, I had trouble with getting all the questions done, so I developed the strategy to start each LR section on question 6, then work my way to the end. When 5 minutes was called, or after I finished all the other questions, I went back to finish 1-5. The theory behind it being that when you are in a time crunch it is better to have easy questions left than medium-hard. Knowing that the last 5 mins will be dedicated to the first 5 questions calms me down some when I am taking more time on parallel reasoning questions.

Anyway, keep up the good work everyone.

[Psib337]

What do you guys think of just filling in bubbles at the 5 minute warning?

Obviously if there is no 5 minute warning that could mean trouble, but ...

Depends on where you are, if you just started the last logic game or reading comp passage then picking a letter and filling it in is better than leaving it blank since chances are you won't get to finish the entire thing. For LR I think it depends, if I have 3 or 4 questions left I'll just read faster and hope for the best (I get mixed results that way but it's better than leaving them blank or guessing blindly) or if there's a long question coming up I just fill in a bubble and move on and come back to it if I have time.

Does any one else bubble the way I do? I wait to bubble until after a RC passage, Logic Game, or with respect to LR, after each of the two pages. I feel like it is more efficient and less time is wasted after each question. Maybe its just me.

I don't but I have a friend that bubbles that way, I think it's a personal thing. I know Powerscore says that bubbling this way is faster but I just feel more comfortable bubbling after every answer just because that's how I've always done it...I'm also scared I'll accidentally misbubble.

[PickledPanda]

You also get a break between every few LR questions which is a bonus where you don't have to think and you just bubble.
In LG and RC, you don't have to stop between every question within the section which can cause you to lose focus on the whole of the problem that develops as you go from question to question. You still get a break between passages/games which is once again very nice.

I had not thought about the break it provides. Interesting idea.