Spoiled Preptests: LGB, LRB + Testmasters question! Forum

[mickeyD]

Hey everyone,

I understand that taking actual preptests under authentic conditions is very important, so it makes me wonder about preptests that are spoiled because of important study materials. For example, the LGB contains 30 real games, and the LRB contains questions from over 32 PTs. After referencing between the question trackers in both books, I've found that if you read through and solve all the problems, that leaves you with only 22 Preptests that are *completely* untouched, those being:

PT 8, 14, 24, 25 (1993-1998)
Official PT Vol. 1 (1997)
SP A, B, C (1996-2000)
PT 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62 (2005-2010)

23 is plenty for me, and I know that it's good that nearly all of them are from the last 5-6 years, but I'm wondering if this list will grow shorter or non-existent after taking my Testmasters course? I know that they give us every released LSAT question and focus on drilling by question type, so is there a chance that between the Powerscore Bibles and my prep course I will have no truly untainted tests?

How big of a deal is it to substitute in, say, one or two LR questions from other tests? Or a logic game?

[99.9luft]

After a month or two, you will forget most the questions, and after another month, everything will look 'untainted'. Unless, of course, you have a super-human memory.

[fastforward]

Deep breath. Companies such as Testmasters, that use authentic LSAT materials, know what they're doing in this area. You really don't need to worry about exposure to materials much beyond PT 44. That leaves eighteen unsullied PTs (45-62) for practice under actual test conditions, which is plenty. Besides, you will not recall many questions if you plan to go through every published question.

It's far more important that whoever you choose for LSAT prep restricts its materials to actual, official, LSAT materials published by LSAC. These questions have been subjected to the exhaustive testing that LSAC does. There is no substitute (with the sole exception of those few LGs penned by Steve Schwartz on lsatblog).

[bhan87]

Students also underestimate the value of redoing questions, especially logic games.

[fosterp]

you are right in that it does hurt the integrity of the test, however the value of learning the bibles and practicing on their test questions with their explanations is far more valuable than a test without one question you have seen before.

[benito]

Students also underestimate the value of redoing questions, especially logic games.

+1

[mickeyD]

Students also underestimate the value of redoing questions, especially logic games.

+1

Thanks everyone for your replies. I definitely have been redoing questions as part of my prep strategy- every time I do a logic game I do it on a sheet of paper, and after reviewing it I write the date, why I got each answer right/wrong, and how long it took me. Every few weeks I'll repeat the question to see how I attacked it the second time around/if I'm making the same mistakes.

The main reason I asked is because i was nervous about having tests when I'm not drilling/learning methods and actually want to simulate, but fastforward's reply was very helpful, I'm relieved.