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ITT: the single most helpful thing Ive read on TLS (see end)
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 3:36 am
by BigA
This is something I hadn't thought about too seriously, because while taking PTs I never bothered filling in the answers I don't get to. So when do you all recommend doing this? I'm guessing most of you are like me and can't tell to the second second when 35 minutes is up, right? My thought is that the best thing to do would be to do this with about a minute remaining and erase and change any answers you get to before time is called.
Also what do you all think about filling in any answers right as time is called? Big no-no, right? Not even one bubble? Let's say you're doing one long-ass Parallel Reasoning question right in the final seconds (which seems a likely scenario). Time will be called any second. You've eliminated A... and B.... then time is called. Do you randomly bubble in C,D or E really quick? Or is that not worth the risk?
If there's a thread about anything like this, feel free to point me to it. I haven't seen it discussed. I'm kinda concerned about it though.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:46 am
by nonamebreakdown
BigA wrote:My thought is that the best thing to do would be to do this with about a minute remaining and erase and change any answers you get to before time is called.
Sounds time consuming to me. Just use a watch and keep a close eye on it once five minutes remaining is called (assuming it is in fact called). It should only take a few seconds to bubble in whichever ones you haven't gotten to.
BigA wrote: Do you randomly bubble in C,D or E really quick? Or is that not worth the risk
I'm also interested in what others have to say about this. I would imagine that taking half a second to fill in your last bubble upon hearing the word "Stop" is acceptable, followed, of course, by dropping your pencil in a hurry, but don't hold me to it.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 5:06 am
by Dany
This is from miamiman in another thread:
miamiman wrote:quick piece of advice from someone who's taken it:
1) don't talk to anyone during the break. no hablo ingles as far as you're concerned. someone from my test administration was heard speaking, however vaguely, about the prior section and was canned there and then.
2) drop your mofu*king pencils at 35 minutes. ANOTHER person was canned for this.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:04 am
by autarkh
Leave yourself 30 secs to 1 min to bubble-in your guesses. If you think you're not going to finish, just do it when 5 mins is called. You can always erase your guess and fill-in the right answer as you progress through the remaining questions.
As for bubbling after time: don't even try. It's easy to spot and not worth the risk. Put your pencil down and wait until the next section begins. If you're discreet, there's absolutely no way to discern what answer sheet section you're bubbling in. Provided you have your exam booklet on the correct section that you should be working on, I don't even think that it's strictly against the rules. In any case, it's better not to draw attention to it, since you might happen to have a proctor with a stick up their ass. The only drawback to this is that you'll be distracted until you do it, so get it out of the way quickly.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:03 am
by angiej
BigA wrote:Do you randomly bubble in C,D or E really quick? Or is that not worth the risk?
Studies have shown your better of chosing D, you have a sightly higher chance of D being correct.
Powerscore's LSAT Guessing Strategy and Probability Tables:
http://powerscore.com/lsat/help/guessing.cfm
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:17 am
by angiej
When I have been doing last second bubbling for any q's I didn't get to, I wait to the last second and then bubble like my life depends on it. A few times I have accidently bubbled an additonal question or two beyond what there are questions for. What do you think the consequences of this are?
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:57 am
by Shrimps
If there's a section you're not regularly running out of time on, why not use the remaining time in that section to um, bubble up the unfinished sections?
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:02 am
by blurbz
Shrimps wrote:If there's a section you're not regularly running out of time on, why not use the remaining time in that section to um, bubble up the unfinished sections?
Because it's not allowed. Getting caught means getting kicked out. Not getting caught means cheating. Don't be a cheater.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:16 am
by angiej
blurbz wrote:Shrimps wrote:If there's a section you're not regularly running out of time on, why not use the remaining time in that section to um, bubble up the unfinished sections?
Because it's not allowed. Getting caught means getting kicked out. Not getting caught means cheating. Don't be a cheater.
+1 Its not worth running the risk of months of prep going down the toilet.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:17 am
by Shrimps
angiej wrote:BigA wrote:Do you randomly bubble in C,D or E really quick? Or is that not worth the risk?
Studies have shown your better of chosing D, you have a sightly higher chance of D being correct.
Powerscore's LSAT Guessing Strategy and Probability Tables:
http://powerscore.com/lsat/help/guessing.cfm
Last 6 tests (54-59): last 5 questions of each section. 120 questions, of which 26 are D's. 21.6%, 34 are B's (28.3%), 25 are E's. B's were particularly prevalent in 58 (7 out of the last 20) and 59 (8 out of the last 20).
But there were sections were none of the last several questions were B's.
Last 2 answers from each section, last 6 tests (48 answers):
dcbebbbbaabdbbbaceedcbdebebadececddbcddccecaddab
8 E's
11 D's
13 B's
9 C's
6 A's
(missed one somewhere)
last 2 answers on RC: abcdecedbdcd, LG: cacdebdebbbb (notice the bbb's on 58 and 59 LG)
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:18 pm
by BigA
Okay. So in my C,D, or E example it's probably a better bet to mark D some time during the next section then? Obviously if it's the last section this isn't an option. I'm thinking I'd be able to mark it if I had pencil in hand right over the bubble so I'm practically in motion right when the proctor says "stop". Crazy?
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:37 pm
by honestabe84
eskimo wrote:This is from miamiman in another thread:
miamiman wrote:quick piece of advice from someone who's taken it:
1) don't talk to anyone during the break. no hablo ingles as far as you're concerned. someone from my test administration was heard speaking, however vaguely, about the prior section and was canned there and then.
2) drop your mofu*king pencils at 35 minutes. ANOTHER person was canned for this.
Huh? Are you not supposed to talk period, or just not about the test?
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:27 pm
by Dany
honestabe84 wrote:
Huh? Are you not supposed to talk period, or just not about the test?
I have no idea, that's just what that poster wrote in another thread. Personally, though, I won't be talking to anyone anyway. I'll be eating my snack and trying to stay mentally focused.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:30 pm
by MoS
Wear a watch, when about 1 minute is up start panicking and filling in bubbles. Of course, the best recommendation would be just finish the whole section in the time alloted, but panicking at the 1 minute mark is a good alternative.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:30 pm
by Bildungsroman
I usually bubble the remaining questions at 5 minutes and then change them as I finish each remaining question.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 8:09 pm
by a11 1n
autarkh wrote:Leave yourself 30 secs to 1 min to bubble-in your guesses. If you think you're not going to finish, just do it when 5 mins is called. You can always erase your guess and fill-in the right answer as you progress through the remaining questions.
As for bubbling after time: don't even try. It's easy to spot and not worth the risk. Put your pencil down and wait until the next section begins. If you're discreet, there's absolutely no way to discern what answer sheet section you're bubbling in. Provided you have your exam booklet on the correct section that you should be working on, I don't even think that it's strictly against the rules. In any case, it's better not to draw attention to it, since you might happen to have a proctor with a stick up their ass. The only drawback to this is that you'll be distracted until you do it, so get it out of the way quickly.
This is the only way to go IMO.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:23 pm
by YCrevolution
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Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:36 pm
by Shrimps
Taking a law literally? God, what kind of lawyer are you going to be? Laws and rules are meant to be creatively reinterpreted.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:38 pm
by YCrevolution
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Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:54 pm
by crysmissmichelle
As for knowing the time, as you begin each section, just set your watch to the closest half hour so that it will be easy to glance at your watch and know the times. . .not hurried calculations or anything, you'll just be able to see once you hit the half hour that it's time to bubble some guesses and then erase them if you manage to get the questions answered.
DO NOT try to bubble after time is called!
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:42 pm
by a11 1n
YCrevolution wrote:a11 1n wrote:autarkh wrote:Leave yourself 30 secs to 1 min to bubble-in your guesses. If you think you're not going to finish, just do it when 5 mins is called. You can always erase your guess and fill-in the right answer as you progress through the remaining questions.
As for bubbling after time: don't even try. It's easy to spot and not worth the risk. Put your pencil down and wait until the next section begins. If you're discreet, there's absolutely no way to discern what answer sheet section you're bubbling in. Provided you have your exam booklet on the correct section that you should be working on, I don't even think that it's strictly against the rules. In any case, it's better not to draw attention to it, since you might happen to have a proctor with a stick up their ass. The only drawback to this is that you'll be distracted until you do it, so get it out of the way quickly.
This is the only way to go IMO.
Except that it's against the rules, is cheating, and will result in a misconduct/irregularity flag
if caught.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:50 pm
by kaydish21
It's not worth getting kicked out and a report sent to all schools you are applying to. That said, they did yell at someone in my testing center for not having the pencil down, but no further action was taken as far as I know. More like... "Time's up pencils down.... I SAID PENCILS DOWN!" While pointing at the kid who was like 2 rows behind me.
Still, no way it's worth the risk.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:51 pm
by Bildungsroman
a11 1n wrote:YCrevolution wrote:a11 1n wrote:autarkh wrote:Leave yourself 30 secs to 1 min to bubble-in your guesses. If you think you're not going to finish, just do it when 5 mins is called. You can always erase your guess and fill-in the right answer as you progress through the remaining questions.
As for bubbling after time: don't even try. It's easy to spot and not worth the risk. Put your pencil down and wait until the next section begins. If you're discreet, there's absolutely no way to discern what answer sheet section you're bubbling in. Provided you have your exam booklet on the correct section that you should be working on, I don't even think that it's strictly against the rules. In any case, it's better not to draw attention to it, since you might happen to have a proctor with a stick up their ass. The only drawback to this is that you'll be distracted until you do it, so get it out of the way quickly.
This is the only way to go IMO.
Except that it's against the rules, is cheating, and will result in a misconduct/irregularity flag
if caught.
So, you're willing to stake your future on not getting caught? I know a lot of people who went down that road.
Most of them are in prison, but still, I'm sure they have no regrets. The worst that could happen to you is that you'd get caught, LSAC would put a note in your record, no reputable law school would ever admit you, and you'd be totally fucked as far as your chances at becoming a lawyer go. And everyone will hate you. And you'll be a shit.
You're so stupid I'm short of breath.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:50 am
by autarkh
You'd virtually have to announce your intentions to the proctors to be caught bubbling in a different answer sheet section (they are very close together). It's not the same thing as working in a previous section of the test booklet after time has been called, which is clearly wrong. I would want to see the wording of the rule proscribing the former type of bubbling, because if it actually is prohibited, it's a stupid rule: it's completely unenforceable.
Re: When to bubble remaining answers??
Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 7:56 am
by YCrevolution
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