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What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:16 am
by jbud72
I'm planning on taking the December LSAT and was going to start doing individual, timed sections to get myself used to the timing before I journey into full PTs. Since I don't want to waste newer material and don't want to practice with archaic material, where is a good PT to start? I was thinking maybe the 30's? Later? Thanks so much for the advice.

Re: What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:19 am
by kkklick
you have about 7 weeks, Id start from 30. 30-61 will be 31 tests in 50 days or so should be more than enough

Re: What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:25 am
by CGI Fridays
jbud72 wrote:...and don't want to practice with archaic material, where is a good PT to start?
The older tests are still helpful. If you are able to, I recommend a PT every day with breaks when you need to (I wound up doing spurts of four, peaking at around my third).

BTW, I am in the minority here, but not alone. If you wind up feeling like speed/stamina is a larger factor than the actual difficulty of questions, go as far back as you need to.

Get the 3 books of 10, then get Cambridge LSAT's pack. You'll have 'em all and won't be constricted.

Re: What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:28 am
by gdane
Use Kaplan Mastery. You can order this book from Amazon.

The questions in it are mainly from PT's 3-39. This was the 2007 edition though. I reckon the newer one (if there is one) has more updated questions. I would say get the 2007 one so you can drill from it and then you can have PT's 40-61 to practice full test's with.

Good luck!

Re: What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:36 am
by jbud72
I have the Mastery book and have done a lot of practice problems. I think I need to start getting used to the timing of the test now, which is why I want to start doing timed, individual sections (from older tests obviously) before I start taking full PTs. It may sound stupid but the few PTs I have done are still a little much for me to handle, stamina-wise. I'm not going to spend half of my prep doing this or anything, but I need to crawl before I walk.

Re: What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:51 am
by gdane
jbud72 wrote:I have the Mastery book and have done a lot of practice problems. I think I need to start getting used to the timing of the test now, which is why I want to start doing timed, individual sections (from older tests obviously) before I start taking full PTs. It may sound stupid but the few PTs I have done are still a little much for me to handle, stamina-wise. I'm not going to spend half of my prep doing this or anything, but I need to crawl before I walk.
Start timing yourself when doing the questions out of the Mastery book. For instance, on the "1" and "2" star questions Id give myself 15 minutes to do 15 of them and for the 3 and 4 star questions Id give myself 20 to do 15. This roughly mimics actual test taking conditions. I say roughly because youre not going to get 15 3 or 4 star questions on the actual LSAT, but it still helps.

1 month is more than enough time to do practice tests. Many people on here, including myself, burned through at least 20 tests in a 1 month time span. You'll be ok if you dont start them for another week or so.

Figure out why youre taking a long time. Do certain questions trip you up? Do you not understand the questions? Figure these things out and you'll be able to help yourself.

Good luck!

Re: What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:12 pm
by jbud72
gdane5 wrote:
jbud72 wrote:I have the Mastery book and have done a lot of practice problems. I think I need to start getting used to the timing of the test now, which is why I want to start doing timed, individual sections (from older tests obviously) before I start taking full PTs. It may sound stupid but the few PTs I have done are still a little much for me to handle, stamina-wise. I'm not going to spend half of my prep doing this or anything, but I need to crawl before I walk.
Start timing yourself when doing the questions out of the Mastery book. For instance, on the "1" and "2" star questions Id give myself 15 minutes to do 15 of them and for the 3 and 4 star questions Id give myself 20 to do 15. This roughly mimics actual test taking conditions. I say roughly because youre not going to get 15 3 or 4 star questions on the actual LSAT, but it still helps.

1 month is more than enough time to do practice tests. Many people on here, including myself, burned through at least 20 tests in a 1 month time span. You'll be ok if you dont start them for another week or so.

Figure out why youre taking a long time. Do certain questions trip you up? Do you not understand the questions? Figure these things out and you'll be able to help yourself.

Good luck!
Really, the section I have the most trouble with time is LG (how surprising lol). With LR, it all seems to depend. Sometimes I can finish on time and sometimes I can't. I try to use the 10 questions, 10 min. benchmark, and it worked at first but I find myself panicking if I am a question or two behind and then that sets the tone for the rest of the section. I think a lot of it is mental (for the LR at least), which is why I think I need to just get used to timing.

Re: What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:23 pm
by gdane
LG's will come. I was terrible on them. I would get no more than 14 correct on any given section. Then, after doing so many of them, something clicked. From PT's 51 to 60, I was getting no more than -4 on my LG's and I got -0 or -1 a few times. Just keep working on them. The main thing is to understand what youre doing. You cant attack questions if you dont know how to do them.

Re: What PT to start at?

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:24 pm
by niederbomb
Really, the section I have the most trouble with time is LG (how surprising lol). With LR, it all seems to depend. Sometimes I can finish on time and sometimes I can't. I try to use the 10 questions, 10 min. benchmark, and it worked at first but I find myself panicking if I am a question or two behind and then that sets the tone for the rest of the section. I think a lot of it is mental (for the LR at least), which is why I think I need to just get used to timing.
Then, start doing extra LG sections, beginning with PT 1 (which contains some very difficult and bizarre games). If you get 1-7 down, and then 8-35, then you're golden for the rest of the tests as far as LG goes. For full PT's, 30's and up are much more useful and 50's are the most useful for everything except LG (with the obvious exception of late 60's LG like Dinos and mulch).

Maybe do PT 40-60 and then the LG's from all 60 PT's.