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Like the title says, Do you guys think there is more value in going through a PT right after you have taken it, or to wait few hours, or to do it the next day or two?

I can see both sides of the coin but was wondering what other peopel thought.

I waited at least 4 or 5 hours before reviewing a test. I also noticed that if more than 48 hours passed, the review would be less beneficial.

You should review them as soon as you've properly decompressed. I personally needed a day, but if you can put your nose back on the grindstone after a few hours, all the better.

I think it depends partly on how you're scoring. If you're PTing in the mid-160's or higher, you won't have that much reviewing to do. If so, take a short break, have a snack or whatever, then review the test while it's still fresh in your mind. If you're scoring in the 150's or lower, it might be helpful to step away from the material for a while before going over it.

Do all of the above. No reason not to.

nbhatia wrote:Like the title says, Do you guys think there is more value in going through a PT right after you have taken it, or to wait few hours, or to do it the next day or two?

I can see both sides of the coin but was wondering what other peopel thought.

I have a 3 tiered strategy that I think works wonders:

1st- As soon as I am done I score it since I really want to know ho wI performed.

2nd- I will wait 2-6 hours (during that time I do something that is NOT mentally taxing like cleaning the house, go to the gym, etc.) and then do a quick review (1 hour or so) of items of interest/extreme difficulty.

3rd- The next day I dedicate some time (2-4 hours) to reviewing the whole exam in detail.

By the end, I have a great feel for the entire test.

I score it and let it sit overnight. Then the next day I come back, erase the questions I got wrong, and do them again (and again, and again)until I get them right. Never had to redo any question more than twice (and you never have to do them more than 5 times lol). Then I write my own explanation and compare it with Knewton's.

Typically the whole cycle takes about 4 days (I have two "live" tests right now only because I was a procrastinating lazyass and kept putting off review-but both at the explanation stage). Sometimes if I screw up real bad, it can take as long as a week and if I do really well, as short as 2 days.

youknowryan wrote:

nbhatia wrote:Like the title says, Do you guys think there is more value in going through a PT right after you have taken it, or to wait few hours, or to do it the next day or two?

I can see both sides of the coin but was wondering what other peopel thought.

I have a 3 tiered strategy that I think works wonders:

1st- As soon as I am done I score it since I really want to know ho wI performed.

2nd- I will wait 2-6 hours (during that time I do something that is NOT mentally taxing like cleaning the house, go to the gym, etc.) and then do a quick review (1 hour or so) of items of interest/extreme difficulty.

3rd- The next day I dedicate some time (2-4 hours) to reviewing the whole exam in detail.

By the end, I have a great feel for the entire test.

I followed this plan almost exactly, worked for me. I couldn't possibly review the test the day I took it, and if I waited more then a day I would forget the RC passages in particular.

In general, learning is most effective when a stimulus and its reinforcement are linked in the closest possible temporal proximity. The longer the delay between a stimulus and its reinforcement, the less effective learning will be for that stimulus. This would imply reviewing each question immediately after completing it, but for the purposes of the LSAT, I would review immediately after completing a whole test. If you're still in untimed mode, review after each section.

blhblahblah wrote:In general, learning is most effective when a stimulus and its reinforcement are linked in the closest possible temporal proximity. The longer the delay between a stimulus and its reinforcement, the less effective learning will be for that stimulus. This would imply reviewing each question immediately after completing it, but for the purposes of the LSAT, I would review immediately after completing a whole test. If you're still in untimed mode, review after each section.

This worked for me, because when reviewing a question I remember exactly what I was thinking when debating the question.

blhblahblah wrote:In general, learning is most effective when a stimulus and its reinforcement are linked in the closest possible temporal proximity. The longer the delay between a stimulus and its reinforcement, the less effective learning will be for that stimulus. This would imply reviewing each question immediately after completing it, but for the purposes of the LSAT, I would review immediately after completing a whole test. If you're still in untimed mode, review after each section.

That's interesting, I should try that. I figured since I review by redoing the question, doing the question right away would bias me against the wrong answer and make the review less effective (hence the letting it sit overnight part). But if I stay on schedule, I should be redoing questions the next morning and doing my writeups that night or the day after. This would theoretically involve reasoning out the question at least 3 times (first time when I do the actual question, second when I redo-and/or third and/or fourth-depending on how many tries it takes to figure out the correct answer, and third when I write up my explanation)