Newer PT's Forum

[ColumbiaOrBust]

I was taking all the early 90's PTs and I was scoring between 168-174, consistently. I moved ahead to the PTs from around 2004 (PT 40-45), and my scores dropped like a rock down to ~162. I'm scoring the same on LG (0-2 wrong) but everything else I'm suddenly getting more and more incorrect. There doesn't seem to be a pattern as to which types of questions I'm getting incorrect; it's pretty evenly distributed. Does anyone have any ideas on what this might be, if anyone else faced a similar problem, or what might be done to correct it? Right now my plan is to just keep taking tests and reviewing them, but since I only have about two weeks before the Oct. test, I'm starting to get a bit concerned. I was very confident before on reaching my goal of 172, but this has definitely rattled the cages. Thanks!

[imjustjoking22]

I think the general consensus is that the more recent LRs and RCs are more difficult- so I'd say those are a better guage of how you'll do. Review the questions you missed and keep drilling! With LG in the bag it shouldn't take too much to get your score back up where you want it, I'd think.

[ColumbiaOrBust]

So if LR and RC were more difficult in the 2004s than in the 90s, do you know if they've gotten even more difficult since then, or has it been consistent since then?

[KevinP]

This is a pretty common occurrence. Breaking the 170s on the older PTs tends to be easier than breaking the 170s on the newer PTs.

So if LR and RC were more difficult in the 2004s than in the 90s, do you know if they've gotten even more difficult since then, or has it been consistent since then?

While the 40s did have some hard passages, the RC section as a whole in the 50s+ has substantially increased in difficulty.

LR between the late 40s and 50s+ is relatively similar, the LR in the 50s+ might be a bit more trickier.

The games in the 40s were an absolute joke (Zephyr Airlines might be the only exception). However, LG in the 50s has become noticeably harder.

*Caveat: Much of this is based on my personal experience and therefore may vary from person to person.

ETA:
The good news is that the games in the 20s/30s were harder than any recent games. Granted the games in the 60s are starting to make a slight comeback.

[ColumbiaOrBust]

Ugh. Great. Got a lot of work to do then.

[Obelisk18]

I do dismally on some of the earlier LG's but typically have been between -1 and -4 on the newer ones. Not a huge difference in LR and RC for me but those are my best sections. The LR and RC do SEEM harder now, even though I haven't seen much of a difference in my scores. I tend to have less time at the end of sections, which occasionally means I don't have time to review every difficult answer. So I can imagine anyone who struggles to finish LR and RC would find the newer sections much harder.

[ColumbiaOrBust]

Time has never been an issue for me. I generally finish every section with between 3-5 minutes left. The problem I always seem to have with LR is on the ones I get wrong, almost always I get it down to two options, one being the correct answer, and I end up choosing the wrong one.

[sinfiery]

Yep, before the 40s I was hitting mid-high 170s easily...with a 179/177 on 38 and 41 but 42-49, have been 169-172...

The LG is definitely the hardest change for me....but when you review the LG even in these sections, they don't seem to be that difficult...so hopefully that's a sign that one can adapt to the harder questions with the new LSATs but I haven't yet and with the test coming in October, got some major work to do.

The only way to advance is to work at it, I think.