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40 PTs so far, Avg: 174+ (Progress Diary)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:05 am
by Nulli Secundus
Code: Select all
PT# LR LG RC Raw Scaled Curve
7 -4 -1 -1 95 178 -15
9 -8 -3 -1 89 172 -15
10 -4 -1 -5 91 170 -11
11 -8 0 -1 92 172 -11
12 -6 -5 -1 89 168 -9
13 -10 -2 -5 84 168 -14
14 -6 -1 -3 91 170 -10
15 -4 0 -6 91 169 -9
16 -3 -1 -1 96 178 -14
18 -10 -1 0 90 172 -13
19 -5 -1 -1 94 174 -12
20 -2 0 -4 95 176 -12
23 -6 0 -3 91 176 -16
24 -9 0 -2 90 172 -14
25 -9 -2 0 90 171 -12
26 -3 -2 -2 94 176 -14
27 -3 -4 -2 92 176 -16
28 -8 0 -1 92 173 -13
29 -5 0 -3 93 174 -12
30 -7 -1 -3 90 173 -14
Current Averages:
-6 -1,25 -2,25 91,45 172,90 -12,80
One question, what is my chance of receiving a 175+ score, assuming I fully and beneficially utilize the remaining time until LSAT?
EDIT: 80% of my mistakes are things you can classify as "dumb" mistakes, the kind that you want to shoot yourself in the face with a sawed-off shotgun while reviewing for, fwiw. I believe, with my usual test day focus, I will not repeat those in the real deal.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:54 am
by 3|ink
Zero. I predict you will get a 120.
JK.
Start mimicing test day conditions as best as you can. I find that the majority of my stupid mistakes are the result of fatigue. You won't learn to avoid stupid mistakes unless you're taking full length tests (5 sections). If you're not already doing that, DO IT!!
The LSAC is paid to triick you into making dumb mistakes. As much as I hate them, they're good at their job.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:50 am
by lastch2
more important question than yours (because obviously with continued practice you're set) what program did you use to do that??
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:56 am
by Nulli Secundus
Well I am taking 4 section tests atm, but dumb mistakes are not caused by fatigue, since my first section always has more wrong answers than my last. Guess my brain takes some time to rev up, here is for hoping experimental is the first section on test day

Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:04 pm
by Nulli Secundus
Code function of the forum, but its a bitch to align.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:08 pm
by yzero1
lastch2 wrote:more important question than yours (because obviously with continued practice you're set) what program did you use to do that??
I think you can export from excel to create that sort of file.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:21 pm
by justtotalk
What's the last column represent? # of mistakes for 170?
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:24 pm
by Nulli Secundus
Yes. I understand that is called the curve on TLS, so I named that column like that.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:25 pm
by 3|ink
nullisecundus wrote:Yes. I understand that is called the curve on TLS, so I named that column like that.
Wow. PT 27 must be tough. I'm doing that one tonight.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:12 am
by Nulli Secundus
Code: Select all
PT# LR LG RC Raw Score Scaled Score Curve
31 -5 -1 -1 94 176 -14
Section Wrong Answer Averages
Average Score

Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 9:47 am
by Nulli Secundus
5 more: (I actually took A,B,C first before all other PTs, but just found their answer sheets to add to my spreadsheet)
I think, as Audio Technica Guy once said, not being a native speaker is what hurts me most with LR.
Anyway dynamic averages are:
LR: -5,77
LG: -1,12
RC: -2,35
Raw: 91,73
Scaled: 173,27
over 26 PTs total. Getting there, but still need moar!!!
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 6:37 am
by Nulli Secundus
Code: Select all
LR LG RC Raw Scaled Curve
34 -8 0 -2 91 173 -13
36 -4 0 -1 96 177 -12
Those are both 5 sections, timed, random placement of experimental section.
I am kinda annoyed with LR, but they are all simple mistakes, I have to work on my concentration instead of any books or review I guess.
Averages over 28 PTs:
LR: -5,79 (HULK MAD! HULK SMASH!)
LG: -1,04 (Good I guess)
RC: -2,29 (Not bad for a Turkish guy that spent only 8 days abroad)
Raw: 91,86
Scaled: 173,39
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:40 am
by Nulli Secundus
WOOHOOOOOO!!!
Even if the score is not that impressive, here is what happened on todays PT 37 + PT 35.3 (as experimental)
RC: -3
LG: -1
LG (Experimental): -0
LR: -1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (1 x -0, 1 x -1)
Raw: 96
Scaled: 175 (Nasty curve bro)
I am so happy right now, my LR curse is being dispelled I guess.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 12:52 pm
by Anaconda
Absolutely love the graphs. You've made some really solid progress, I'm sure getting from high 160's to mid 170's was a pain though.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 1:02 pm
by Nulli Secundus
Actually, considering my first PT was a 178 and out of 29 tests, only 3 scores are 16X, I believe those were flukes.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:58 am
by Nulli Secundus
Took PT 38 + 35.4 (as experimental) today, results are:
LR1: -1
LG: -2
RC: -2
LR2: -1
Experimental LR: -2
Raw: 94 (1 item removed from scoring)
Scaled: 176
LR success seems not to be accidental. Happy panda

Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 10:00 am
by Nulli Secundus
Guys, am I doing this wrong? Took 15 full PTs in last 17 days.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 10:16 am
by sgtgrumbles
nullisecundus wrote:Guys, am I doing this wrong? Took 15 full PTs in last 17 days.
That seems excessive. I've never experienced burnout myself, but it sure seems like you're flying too close to the sun. Slow it down and do one every other day. You do need to review the few mistakes you're making. You should also review problems that gave you difficulty so you can tackle them more quickly next time.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 2:11 pm
by Patriot1208
My plan is three a week until the test. That will put me at a total of 28 timed PT's before the test. (i've done all the sections in PT's 19-28 for random testing individually, not as timed tests. Also did this with several of the 29-38.)
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 2:37 pm
by pwrbkg4
nullisecundus wrote:Code: Select all
PT# LR LG RC Raw Scaled Curve
7 -4 -1 -1 95 178 -15
9 -8 -3 -1 89 172 -15
10 -4 -1 -5 91 170 -11
11 -8 0 -1 92 172 -11
12 -6 -5 -1 89 168 -9
13 -10 -2 -5 84 168 -14
14 -6 -1 -3 91 170 -10
15 -4 0 -6 91 169 -9
16 -3 -1 -1 96 178 -14
18 -10 -1 0 90 172 -13
19 -5 -1 -1 94 174 -12
20 -2 0 -4 95 176 -12
23 -6 0 -3 91 176 -16
24 -9 0 -2 90 172 -14
25 -9 -2 0 90 171 -12
26 -3 -2 -2 94 176 -14
27 -3 -4 -2 92 176 -16
28 -8 0 -1 92 173 -13
29 -5 0 -3 93 174 -12
30 -7 -1 -3 90 173 -14
Current Averages:
-6 -1,25 -2,25 91,45 172,90 -12,80
One question, what is my chance of receiving a 175+ score, assuming I fully and beneficially utilize the remaining time until LSAT?
EDIT: 80% of my mistakes are things you can classify as "dumb" mistakes, the kind that you want to shoot yourself in the face with a sawed-off shotgun while reviewing for, fwiw. I believe, with my usual test day focus, I will not repeat those in the real deal.
Just out of curiosity, what percentage of the questions on these tests have you seen before (through prep classes, bibles, etc.)? Or are these completely fresh pt's?
Keep up the good work by the way!
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 3:39 pm
by Nulli Secundus
I haven't taken any prep classes, I started studying with Bibles, but they mostly have questions from 3 or 4 PTs or something I think, so I see a few questions here and there but not enough amount to be anywhere near statistical significance.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 4:10 pm
by Nulli Secundus
Actually, Bible questions are from a lot more PTs, I just checked, here is the list of all questions with clear sources in the LRB.
Feb 1992 - 1
Oct 1994 - 1
June 1995 - 1
Sept 1995 - 2
Dec 1995 - 1
June 1999 - 3
Oct 1999 - 4
Dec 1999 - 2
June 2000 - 4
Oct 2000 - 6
Dec 2000 - 3
June 2001 - 5
Oct 2001 - 5
Dec 2001 - 6
June 2002 - 3
Oct 2002 - 8
----------------------- This is where I am with PTs.
Dec 2002 - 7
June 2003 - 3
Oct 2003 - 7
Dec 2003 - 7
So, there are quite a bit questions from some of the PTs, especially the recent ones I took, so I checked one thing, my correct / wrong answer counts during my original study of LRB. I had 3 questions wrong in the entire LRB,
Cause - 1
Flaw - 1
Parallel - 1
You might still say it could have helped with timing, but I never have timing problems anyway. HTH!
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 10:47 am
by Nulli Secundus
Results of PT 39 are in:
LG: 0
LR1: -3
RC: -2
LR2: -2
Raw: 94
Scaled: 175
All LR mistakes are patented dumb ones, worthy of triggering the head & concrete reunion.
Averages for the 31 PTs:
LR (2 sections together): -5,48
LG: -1,03
RC: -2,29
Raw: 92,13
Scaled: 173,58
I am optimistic though, in last 16 tests I never dropped below 173. I think that is significant.
NEXT UP:
Since PTs that Kaplan Mastery thingies draw questions from are behind me, I now intend to go over all of them, strictly timed before continuing onwards to PTs 40+.
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 12:37 pm
by arklogic
You said that most of the LR problems are mistakes you shouldn't have made. You also said you take almost 1 PT a day. Maybe take more time to review the questions you got right and wrong?
Also, seeing as you're not a native speaker, I'm impressed with how well you're doing in RC! How do you do it?
Re: Results of the first 20 PTs (Progress Diary Beginning)
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 12:46 pm
by Nulli Secundus
I very rarely get right answers via guesses, I try to eliminate answers as far as it goes, so the right answers I get are usually useless for further study, since I did that "review" during test, as for wrong ones, they are mostly due to lack of patience, falling to the good but wrong answer right before credited answer traps etc, I do review my mistakes but I do not really see a pattern.
As for RC, I do not know, I am 29 now and I started reading humongous English texts when I was 15 with the 30+ rulebooks of Dungeons & Dragons; when I got a job, 5 years ago, I made it a habit to read Time & Newsweek every day on my way to and back from work (40 min commute, so 80 min). Been doing that for the last 5 years, 5 * 365 * 80 = lots of reading!