Advice: Those who have gone from low 160s to 170+ Forum

[Jcastro1]

I scored a 160 in October 2012, 10 points under my PT average.

I'm aiming for a 170+ on the Feb 2013 test and wanted to get the perspective of those who have been in a similar situation.

What worked for you? What advice would you give?

Thanks!

[TripTrip]

PT.

[whereskyle]

For me, studying logic games exclusively for weeks brought my score from a 159 to a 170.

[Jcastro1]

How were your RC and LR scores throughout?

[ncc5]

Went from 165>172.

My December breakdown ended up being LG -6 LR-2 and RC-2, so I am a bit of an anomaly, but maybe my advice can help. In between October and December, I really focused on RC. In Oct, I didn't really have a plan as to how to attack RC like I did for LG and LR. I bought Manhattan RC and it was incredibly helpful, in that it creates a plan to follow that really keeps your focus on the passage and helps you to recognize where to find certain answers.

For LG, I went over all of the "toughest games of all time" so that I wasn't too surprised come test day. Most importantly, I decided early on that it was better for me to sacrifice time for accuracy, as I have never been great at LG. My plan was to double check every answer to ensure that I hadn't overlooked something, which cost time.
While my -6 LG isn't my greatest, I actually misread a rule on one of the games, and there is no way that I would have recovered had I not stuck to my practice plan.

For LR, it really is just a grind to understand the subtleties of each question type. Unfortunately you really have to put in the man hours to understand the differences between assumption questions (necessary and sufficient), what to look for in parallel, how to spot inferences, etc. LR Bible is good for this.


I could give better advice if I knew what in particular was your biggest weakness area, but I hope that is a good place to start.

[intlsplitr]

I went from 162>170.

I was PTing in the 167-168 range prior to taking the June 2012 test, so I was pretty disappointed when I got the score back. It was an undisclosed test (overseas), so I can only assume that I lost points in the LR section, which was traditionally my worst in PTs.

I couldnt take the Oct test because I was traveling for work, but in the lead up to the Dec test I spent a lot of time working on LR. At the start, I focused solely on mastering the question types, rooting out the 'trap' wrong answers, and trying to understand my mistakes. I slowly added in timing, eventually doing 3-4 timing sections a day of LR at least 4 times a week (and doing LG and RC sections on the other days). I used every Saturday and Sunday to do PTs; test in the morning, detailed breakdown of correct/incorrect answers in the afternoon. My PT median went from 167 before June to 173 before Dec.

Im not certain where I lost points on the Dec test (again undisclosed), but I felt really good about the LR sections, and finished both with 5 minutes to spare. The practice definitely paid off.

[wtrc]

There's a reason you went down 10 points from PT's to actual administration. Were the PT's you took timed and 5 sections? Were they in a perfect or less-than-perfect setting? Did you have timing issues on the actual test but not the PT?

[dusters]

There's a reason you went down 10 points from PT's to actual administration. Were the PT's you took timed and 5 sections? Were they in a perfect or less-than-perfect setting? Did you have timing issues on the actual test but not the PT?

Or could just be nerves. I scored a lot less than I was PTing in October also, and a lot of it had to do because I was shaking while filling out my info I was so nervous.

[steel_shot]

There's a reason you went down 10 points from PT's to actual administration. Were the PT's you took timed and 5 sections? Were they in a perfect or less-than-perfect setting? Did you have timing issues on the actual test but not the PT?

Probably just nerves/burnout really. I did 5 section PTs for August, September, and October, then wrote October, test got lost, and wrote non-disclosed in November for a 161... 10 points below my PT average. I simulated the test day as best as possible, even in the same room on a few occasions, but was really tired on test day and felt burnt out.

To answer your question OP, I had nearly identical PT and actual results. RC was my weakest, and I've found Manhattan RC and drilling to be very helpful. LR was good, but sometimes variable, and Manhattan LR helped me to tighten it up, and approach the questions with purpose and structure. I also drilled the old LG from 1-38 and I found it's improved my speed so I generally finish in 25-30 minutes and get none wrong. If you feel really shaky move it to June, that's what I'm doing.