October 2010 Test Prep Forum

[gdane]

I took PT 57 this morning.

LG (exp.): -4, LG: -3, LR1: -1, LR2: -4, RC: 1. Raw: 92. Scaled: 172.

The dino game definitely slowed me down; all of my wrong LG answers were from rushing through the last game. Fractals was a tricky passage, but my only error came from the passage about the female novelist... excuse me, narrative-ist! One, maybe two of my LR mistakes were from misreading the stimulus or stem. Why do I still do that?

In my defense, I had some annoying distractions during the test. I was interrupted by a coworker (had to take it at the office right before work) and was running around the office doing work during my break. Hopefully that explains the poor performance.

My last ten PTs have been 171, 175, 176, 176, 180, 174, 171, 174, 178, 172. Why can't I consistently score above 175? I would really love if my next three PTs were 175-180, but I'm going to try to remain calm if that doesn't happen. For what it's worth, I only gave myself 33 minutes per section for my two most recent PTs and 34 minutes for the seven before that. I've been doing that to account for test-day nerves, but after seeing that someone on here did 28 minute sections I realize I'm only doing the lightweight version.

You make me feel sad about my scores...

In all seriousness, youre gonna do great!

[Pleasye]

You make me feel sad about my scores...

In all seriousness, youre gonna do great!

I feel you...most of TLS makes me feel sad about my scores

[lparker]

I got PT60 yesterday. I'm going to take PTs 59 and 60 this weekend. Then next week I'm just going to do timed sections from PTs56-58 (they're all I have left). I am so excited that it's the last weekend I have to study!!

[psychlaw]

You make me feel sad about my scores...

In all seriousness, youre gonna do great!

I feel you...most of TLS makes me feel sad about my scores

AMEN!

[Patriot1208]

You make me feel sad about my scores...

In all seriousness, youre gonna do great!

I feel you...most of TLS makes me feel sad about my scores

AMEN!

Ya, but without TLS I would have never been so 170 OR BUST. And now with my 169 (166-174 is the range) PT average i'm freaking out.

[northwood]

took prep test 58 this morning

scored a 161.
- 7 RC
- 4 LG (made one bad inference on the last game attempted- didnt catch it until the 1 m inute warning..... blammo what was a perfect game, became an epic failure of a game)
- 12 combined on LR

Not too upset with this score. While its not the best score on this thread( and probably one of the lowest.. ha!.. im really happpy with my progress from a diagnostic of 143.

[Pleasye]

took prep test 58 this morning

scored a 161.
- 7 RC
- 4 LG (made one bad inference on the last game attempted- didnt catch it until the 1 m inute warning..... blammo what was a perfect game, became an epic failure of a game)
- 12 combined on LR

Not too upset with this score. While its not the best score on this thread( and probably one of the lowest.. ha!.. im really happpy with my progress from a diagnostic of 143.

Whenever I get through a game quickly I'm scared I made an incorrect deduction

Congratulations on your improvement! I started with a similar diagnostic and finally broke 160 so some of us are on the same page

[northwood]

thanks.... i was nervous about that last game i attempted... I was running low on time, and knew i was rushing... the worst part was that i had a brain fart during the setup of game 4... i had trouble diagraming nor and its contrapositive.... hemmed and hawed for a couple of minutes... ( eventually took a 30 second breather) and went on my way... ha! better to do that now than on game day!!

by the way on both sections of LR my misses were all on questions 16- 25...On one section i dubiously missed the last 3 questions... but got them parallel ones right!! whoo hoo!!!

anyways... back to the library after making chicken marsala for dinner!

[CGI Fridays]

Seriously, how do they come up with these scales?

Wouldn't that be nice to know? From what I understand there are two variables: Bell Curve (normalizing the distribution) and what LSAC believes the test difficulty was. I'm guessing the normalization factors more heavily but that's based on no quantifiable empirical evidence whatsoever.

[CGI Fridays]

And for those of you using the free LSAT Cacophony MP3, does it sound like someone is having a reluctant orgasm about 5 minutes in? ("UUUOOOHHHH") To prepare for the possibility of someone actually making this noise on test day, I am putting a paper weight in my gallon plastic baggie. I will not hesitate to hurl that thing at a noise making individual.

Aside from a few ridiculous things like that, here are my genuine problems with it:
1) It's around 34:56, NOT 35:00. If my proctor cuts us short I will attack.
2) It has long periods of silence, which is just not possible. At the very least people will be underlining & bracketing & bubbling answers.
3) There's only one section (unless I'm missing something???)

There's some other picky stuff, like not simulating various distances from distraction sources, but those three are my only big ones.

[2014]

...after making chicken marsala for dinner!

mmm good call

[Patriot1208]

And for those of you using the free LSAT Cacophony MP3, does it sound like someone is having a reluctant orgasm about 5 minutes in? ("UUUOOOHHHH") To prepare for the possibility of someone actually making this noise on test day, I am putting a paper weight in my gallon plastic baggie. I will not hesitate to hurl that thing at a noise making individual.

Aside from a few ridiculous things like that, here are my genuine problems with it:
1) It's around 34:56, NOT 35:00. If my proctor cuts us short I will attack.
2) It has long periods of silence, which is just not possible. At the very least people will be underlining & bracketing & bubbling answers.
3) There's only one section (unless I'm missing something???)

There's some other picky stuff, like not simulating various distances from distraction sources, but those three are my only big ones.

lol at four seconds. You shouldn't still be bubbling at fours seconds left.

[CGI Fridays]

PT 50. 171.
Really feel like LR has reached its apex. Thanks to Sandro & Gdane for disagreeing with my "diagram 'em" response to LSPlease's "parallel reasoning" question. Turns out I don't need to do that anymore, & I totally wouldn't have tried it without otherwise. Finished both LR's with at least 2 mins left.

-6 on RC (Riddled Basins with a few assists). Starting tomorrow I'll be using RC as experimentals. I'm just not comfortable reading with a combination of such high speed/closeness. My speed pickup has caused a drop in accuracy.

[Patriot1208]

PT 50. 171.
Really feel like LR has reached its apex. Thanks to Sandro & Gdane for disagreeing with my "diagram 'em" response to LSPlease's "parallel reasoning" question. Turns out I don't need to do that anymore, & I totally wouldn't have tried it without otherwise. Finished both LR's with at least 2 mins left.

-6 on RC (Riddled Basins with a few assists). Starting tomorrow I'll be using RC as experimentals. I'm just not comfortable reading with a combination of such high speed/closeness. My speed pickup has caused a drop in accuracy.

I've actually decided to forego my Preptests tonight and tomorrow and just drill RC. I've been doing around 170 with the vast majority of my wrong answers coming from RC.

[Sandro]

can someone tell me what a -12 on PT 55 would be scaled?

[WonkyPanda]

PT 57 is in the books: (LG -5, LR1 -2, LR2 -4, RC -6). Raw 84, scale 166.

Funny thing about this, i actually only got 1 wrong on the mauve game, though it did take me a bit longer, but i missed TWO FREAKING QUESTIONS on the first game because of a diagram I botched. WOW, that games wasn't even freaking hard. I did miss 2 on the last game though which were guesses because mauve definitely ruined my timing.

Was it me or was freaking LR a beast on this one? I swear that some of the 1-10s seriously had me go '0_0' and it was one of the earlier ones!!!! -6 overall is not bad and I usually shoot for -3- -6 for my LR so I was within my range. RC has been progressing but slowly. I've gone from -8 to -5 or -6 on the RC since the early 50s. I really want this to be down to a consisten -4 but test day but I am not sure if that's plausible. What do you guys think?

Overall, I am bit saddened that I never crossed 170 (highs are 169s) and my avg has gone down a bit from 168 to 166 since the 50s (mainly attributable to RC). I am worried about test day and scoring lower than what I am. I REALLLY want at a bare minimum a 165 and I feel like I am scoring way too close to that right now with my average on the 50s. That being said, i've had an upwards trend in the 50s so I think there MAY be a light at the end of the tunnel. My games are consistently between -0 and -3 (though today was a sham) and my LR has gotten A LOT better. I am talking from -12 to about -3 or -6 combined. My best ever was a -2 total. RC has continued to stop me from breaking 170 and I fee like i am being cornered now. I just either run out of time or get to frantic with it and botch it. I dunno, I am not ranting and I apologize to you if you're still reading.

Good luck everyone and keep your spirit high!

[WonkyPanda]

http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/ls ... rsion.html

booya Sandro!

[Sandro]

Thanks. I f***** hate 50s RC. It used to be LG was keeping me from 170+ in the 30s, now its RC from 170+

PT 55
LR -2 (missed #4 about vaccum cleaners, once again trying to outsmart the lsat fail)
RC -5 awesomeeeeee
LR -1
LG -4

88/167 RC screws me once again, though had some tough time on LG due to thinking a simple ordering game was more than what it was.. LR is solid though.

[CGI Fridays]

I can't stand when there's a logical error in an LSAT question. Edit: Episode III: PT50.

Section 2. Q #19.

"The statement that fat in one's diet is generally unhealthy plays which one of the following roles"...?

A! "It is mentioned as a reason for adopting a dietary practice that the dietician provides a reason for not carrying to the extreme."

Dear LSAC,
The statement that "fat in ones diet is generally unhealthy" has absolutely nothing to do with why one should adopt the dietary practice in question, namely eating a lil' fat with yer natural foods. The reason is actually that we can't make the most of at least one natural food (carrots - beta carotene - Vitamin A) without also consuming fat.
The statement that fat is generally unhealthy is actually the reason provided for not carrying the dietary practice to the extreme.
As always, I'd love to hear where I've gone wrong. This is 3 times in 4 PTs since I started keeping tabs. If this happens on PT 61 & I fall one Q short of 170 I will post nasty things about you online.

[CGI Fridays]

I've actually decided to forego my Preptests tonight and tomorrow and just drill RC. I've been doing around 170 with the vast majority of my wrong answers coming from RC.

This would be awesome if I had a big book of RC passages. Problem is, I didn't copy any from the three sets of 10. So I only have the ones from Cambridge LSAT, which is less than ideal.
I support your decision!

[CGI Fridays]

Edit: whoops, someone already told him, & the avatar lives!

[Classygal87]

Realized I skipped PT 51, didn't have a practice test planned today but figured it was a good idea.
Score: 164
LR- 15 (I cant believe this I was just -8 consistently!)
RC - 4
LG- 0

I am actually very happy with my RC even though its 4 missed, if I do that on test day I will be happy. But LR really?
I cant believe how bad. Does anyone thing going back through the bible's at this point is still worth it?
Shooting for high 160's though doubting if it will be possible at this point even though I've hit 166 a few times and 165 A LOT.

[2014]

Pt 51 is going down tonight. I haven't taken one for 4 days and expect the break to make my scores skyrocket! Please...

[Classygal87]

Pt 51 is going down tonight. I haven't taken one for 4 days and expect the break to make my scores skyrocket! Please...

Goodluck! Just kicked my behind.

[lennonist]

Took PT 51 earlier today.

-6 LR
-5 RC
-0 LG

Total: -11 (170)

If i could only get -0 on RC (hell, at least -1) once, just once, I would stop PTing and just enjoy the time before the storm.

But no, of course, that's not gonna happen. I even started doing RC passages backwards (time management technique) and still getting -4/-5 wrong. Thinking of an RC-only day as well this week-end.