Postponed from June to October... Forum

[lambert8]

I postponed from June to October because I've been averaging about 160 on practice tests but with time I feel like I can improve to the 165 range...I just completed a Testmasters course so I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to continue studying...Should I take a little time off? If so how long? Should I look into tutoring? When would I start? Any tips would be helpful. Thanks.

[incompetentia]

time off?

[lakers3peat]

hopefully you didnt do the homework from testmaster's lessons because you probably screwed the pooch if you did. all their categorizing of questions into question types is going to severe limit the amount of unbiased practice tests you can do, which in my opinion, is the best approach to improvement. take a few weeks off, come back, read all 3 bibles which shouldn't take you long considering you took TM and they are virtually the same material, then alternate PT/ Review Pt/Review etc.

[glewz]

hopefully you didnt do the homework from testmaster's lessons because you probably screwed the pooch if you did. all their categorizing of questions into question types is going to severe limit the amount of unbiased practice tests you can do, which in my opinion, is the best approach to improvement. take a few weeks off, come back, read all 3 bibles which shouldn't take you long considering you took TM and they are virtually the same material, then alternate PT/ Review Pt/Review etc.

The bias is Really Really miniscule - at least in my case. When I was retaking tests, I didn't even remember duplicate RC passages.

Also, I think categorizing the questions is the most effective way to improve. By continuing to do those individual question types + doing practice tests, OP, you have a really good shot.

[lakers3peat]

The bias is Really Really miniscule - at least in my case. When I was retaking tests, I didn't even remember duplicate RC passages.

I gotta disagree with you here just because from my personal experience begs to differ. RC passages were the least easy for me to remember. I could remember what they were about(esp the ones we did in class together) but couldn't remember the exact questions... Logic Games were easy to remember; the setups/what was going on but the actual questions still required a thought process. LR, on the other hand, were too easy to remember. If it was in a lesson, I remember the exact answer 100% of the time. If it was in the homework 80% of the time.

[ejh22]

I've also decided to postpone from June to October but this is a retake for me so I will be reusing a lot of material (not all of it, but a decent amount). I would agree that if any section can be influenced by bias, it's LR. But, what is most important is that you are still reasoning through each and every problem while completing them and then also heavily reviewing them afterwards. When I review my tests I make a note in the margin as to why each wrong answer choice is wrong and why each right answer choice is right (for LR and RC -- for LG I redo the game in a different color pen). This takes a long time but it really helps me to internalize the test and makes me aware of my thought process. I also keep a word document on my computer where I type out each LR question I get wrong, the flaw in my thought process that made me choose the wrong answer, and how I could have chosen the right answer. You need to review answers and understand them until you could teach it to someone else. The most important thing is to not choose answer (A) because you remember that it is the credited response, but to actually reason through the problem as if you had never seen it before. By doing that you can minimize the effect of any bias.

For RC -- When I start reading the passage, I tend to remember the topic of it and maybe if I thought it was particularly hard or easy, but nothing else. For LG -- I'll maybe remember doing it before just in terms of the scenario. I rarely recall from memory the major inferences about the game but I reach them quicker, which is a good thing. I never remember the answers to the questions because they are just too obscure and require you to work through the problem anyways.

Also, I don't know about TM, but I know that Kaplan's Mastery book draws questions from older tests (~<35). So if you are really worried about bias I would use those tests for experimental sections or save them until the end of your prep, so you have enough time to forget about them.

[bp shinners]

If you run out of material, I would definitely recommend doing the questions again, but this time focusing on why you're eliminating other answers. Most of the time, I find people really give short shrift to evaluating why an answer is wrong. If you practice that, you'll pick up on the small word indicators that are the hallmark of sucker choices (most likely, best, some, all, the only, etc...). It'll really help you when you get to that question where you've eliminated 3 answers but are stuck on the last two.