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When I first started viewing this forum, I was under the impression that one should practice with 5 section exams to simulate testing conditions. However, after reading a thread fairly recent, I have come to discover that many people suggest to only take a 4 section exam without a break. What's the consensus?

4 without seems OK, but I usually suggest 5, with a break. And sometimes do 6, also with a break.

Perhaps just mix it up? (and then tell everyone here if you find one to work best for making your brain sweat)

Try out the different types - figure out if you generally score higher one way or the other. I preferred doing 4-section tests just because focusing myself for later sections on PTs was a bear, and I knew this was a problem that I would almost certainly not have on the real thing. However, since you'll have 5 sections with a break, I'd say you need to throw at least a few of these in there, since the idea behind the PTs is to simulate how things will end up on test day.

incompetentia wrote:I preferred doing 4-section tests just because focusing myself for later sections on PTs was a bear, and I knew this was a problem that I would almost certainly not have on the real thing.

How did you know you wouldn't have a problem with it? I mean, if I knew it was a "bear," wouldn't you wanna work on it prior? (I mean, you happened to score very well, but just wondering about the logic for others/me)

glucose101 wrote:

incompetentia wrote:I preferred doing 4-section tests just because focusing myself for later sections on PTs was a bear, and I knew this was a problem that I would almost certainly not have on the real thing.

How did you know you wouldn't have a problem with it? I mean, if I knew it was a "bear," wouldn't you wanna work on it prior? (I mean, you happened to score very well, but just wondering about the logic for others/me)

Plenty of personal experience taking practice tests/tests combined with the fact that I did okay on the 5-section tests where I did manage to focus (scored all over the map with the 5-sections...159 all the way up to 177). In most cases, it would probably be better to do 5-section tests heavily if you're finding them unusually low-scoring compared to 4-section tests (building endurance and what not), but the key is that you have to find what works for you.

I took five section proctored exams four times as part of a Testmasters class, but all of the PTs I did on my own were four sections, and I always took a quick break after the second or third section. Do whatever works for you, but don't freak out about only doing four sections while practicing; the adrenaline of test day should carry you through.

our group is practicing with 5 sections, then moving up to 6 and eventually 8 sections with breaks. If you do 8 sections, 4-5 will be nothing

8...omg

paulshortys10 wrote:our group is practicing with 5 sections, then moving up to 6 and eventually 8 sections with breaks. If you do 8 sections, 4-5 will be nothing

Doing 8 timed sections in one sitting/day is too much and is not going to do much to increase your accuracy. You need to spend at least as much time doing slow motion review of timed tests you take as you spend taking them under time pressure in order to learn from them.

Basically quality over quantity. Otherwise you are just doing the churn and burn, pin the tail on the donkey thing.

paulshortys10 wrote:our group is practicing with 5 sections, then moving up to 6 and eventually 8 sections with breaks. If you do 8 sections, 4-5 will be nothing

+1

I also plan on doing a few 5+ section tests near the end of my LSAT prep to build endurance.

Sure it might seem like overkill to some...but why not? I did read about successful LSAT takers doing this (sorry can't remember who). So while it's not 100% clear whether it is hugely beneficial or even necessary, I am willing to try ANYTHING to improve my score.

you don't learn anything until you take 19 RC sections back to back, no breaks.

Sloth Hero wrote:you don't learn anything until you take 19 RC sections back to back, no breaks.

that's perfect. i've been looking for a way to mindlessly blow through almost 20 tests worth of RC without reviewing whatsoever. I'll keep that in mind...

I never took breaks. Always back to back sections. Sometimes I did 5 and sometimes 4.

Four is fine. Break after the third. Doing five is useful if you feel that you're burning out after four and will have a drop-off in performance so you want to build up your stamina. But I find that that's relatively rare.

totaltest.milan wrote:Four is fine. Break after the third. Doing five is useful if you feel that you're burning out after four and will have a drop-off in performance so you want to build up your stamina. But I find that that's relatively rare.

I've found the opposite (that my students tend to have issues with stamina), so I would say that, overall, it's a personal decision. If you take a few 5 section tests and feel like you're dragging at the end, keep it up until you can make it through. Even if you're not having issues, though, I'd still personally recommend it so that you're used to test-day conditions.