Is this a good idea? Forum

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rumandredbull

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Is this a good idea?

Post by rumandredbull » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:01 am

Long time listener, first time caller here.

Studying for OCT LSAT and plan to do a few more PTs before test day.
Here's my idea. Instead of a 5th experimental section I plan to include 25/26 parallel reasoning questions from the cambridge packet....Or 4 Natural science passages etc.

Thoughts? Will this throw me off? Anybody done this before?

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JWP1022

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Re: Is this a good idea?

Post by JWP1022 » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:24 am

Half of the challenge of working in testing conditions is being able to switch from one mode of reasoning to another from question to question. I certainly don't think it would hurt you, but it won't actively help you either.

Beyond this, half of the purpose of drilling -- at least in my eyes -- is to spend more time working on fundamentals: evaluating the core of the argument, identifying an author's purpose, etc. I generally do drilling untimed and take more time per question than I would on a test so I can more thoroughly dive into the arguments and thereby enhance those fundamental skills. Basically, by trying to drill within a PT, you would be sacrificing one of the primary benefits of doing a timed section in testing conditions (switching between question types) for the sake of drilling in a manner that won't actually provide you with one of the main benefits of drilling due to time pressure.

So yeah, I say no. It would probably do nothing. Just drill those materials outside of your PTs.

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neprep

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Re: Is this a good idea?

Post by neprep » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:24 am

rumandredbull wrote:Long time listener, first time caller here.

Studying for OCT LSAT and plan to do a few more PTs before test day.
Here's my idea. Instead of a 5th experimental section I plan to include 25/26 parallel reasoning questions from the cambridge packet....Or 4 Natural science passages etc.

Thoughts? Will this throw me off? Anybody done this before?
Well, the whole point of doing a fifth section is doing a fifth section, under timed conditions and everything. If you design your own section (which is effectively what you're doing by taking it from the Cambridge packets), you will invariably create a faux-section that cannot be completed in 35 minutes.

An assortment of 25 questions does not a true section make, IMO. What you're doing if you go ahead with your plan is one 4-section PT + some Parallel LR drilling.

rumandredbull

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Re: Is this a good idea?

Post by rumandredbull » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:35 am

JWP1022 wrote:Half of the challenge of working in testing conditions is being able to switch from one mode of reasoning to another from question to question. I certainly don't think it would hurt you, but it won't actively help you either.

Beyond this, half of the purpose of drilling -- at least in my eyes -- is to spend more time working on fundamentals: evaluating the core of the argument, identifying an author's purpose, etc. I generally do drilling untimed and take more time per question than I would on a test so I can more thoroughly dive into the arguments and thereby enhance those fundamental skills. Basically, by trying to drill within a PT, you would be sacrificing one of the primary benefits of doing a timed section in testing conditions (switching between question types) for the sake of drilling in a manner that won't actually provide you with one of the main benefits of drilling due to time pressure.

So yeah, I say no. It would probably do nothing. Just drill those materials outside of your PTs.

That makes sense. Thanks for your response.

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