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Are LSAT prep tests as early as the 20s a waste of time to practice on? I read mixed perspectives on the differences between those exams and exams after 55.

I am open to practicing PTs from the 20s to the current 70s, but I am not sure if doing that much is productive.

Goal: At least 173 for either June or September
Diagnostic (PT20): 148

WeightliftingThinker wrote:Are LSAT prep tests as early as the 20s a waste of time to practice on? I read mixed perspectives on the differences between those exams and exams after 55.

I am open to practicing PTs from the 20s to the current 70s, but I am not sure if doing that much is productive.

Goal: At least 173 for either June or September
Diagnostic (PT20): 148

Drill packets cover PTs 1-38 and then you can take full PTs from there on up to the most current released lsat.

MAPP wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:Are LSAT prep tests as early as the 20s a waste of time to practice on? I read mixed perspectives on the differences between those exams and exams after 55.

I am open to practicing PTs from the 20s to the current 70s, but I am not sure if doing that much is productive.

Goal: At least 173 for either June or September
Diagnostic (PT20): 148

Drill packets cover PTs 1-38 and then you can take full PTs from there on up to the most current released lsat.

Is drilling on old tests as effective as drilling on more recent ones (60s)?

Furthermore, is taking old tests (before 51) under time effective?

WeightliftingThinker wrote:

MAPP wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:Are LSAT prep tests as early as the 20s a waste of time to practice on? I read mixed perspectives on the differences between those exams and exams after 55.

I am open to practicing PTs from the 20s to the current 70s, but I am not sure if doing that much is productive.

Goal: At least 173 for either June or September
Diagnostic (PT20): 148

Drill packets cover PTs 1-38 and then you can take full PTs from there on up to the most current released lsat.

Is drilling on old tests as effective as drilling on more recent ones (60s)?

Furthermore, is taking old tests (before 51) under time effective?

The tests don't change much. You're not wasting time. But if you've got lots of time their value goes up in that now you have more tests to work with. That being said I highly doubt you're going to run out of modern tests. Start with the tests in the 70's and 60's and if you exhaust those go to the 50's and so on.

There's not a huge discrepancy though. You're not gonna be scoring a 170 on old test and then start scoring a 159 on the new ones.

I think a lot of the perceived differences is that the majority of example questions and illustrations from Books like the Bibles or actual classes tend to come from very early tests.

Li'l Sebastian wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:

MAPP wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:Are LSAT prep tests as early as the 20s a waste of time to practice on? I read mixed perspectives on the differences between those exams and exams after 55.

I am open to practicing PTs from the 20s to the current 70s, but I am not sure if doing that much is productive.

Goal: At least 173 for either June or September
Diagnostic (PT20): 148

Drill packets cover PTs 1-38 and then you can take full PTs from there on up to the most current released lsat.

Is drilling on old tests as effective as drilling on more recent ones (60s)?

Furthermore, is taking old tests (before 51) under time effective?

The tests don't change much. You're not wasting time. But if you've got lots of time their value goes up in that now you have more tests to work with. That being said I highly doubt you're going to run out of modern tests. Start with the tests in the 70's and 60's and if you exhaust those go to the 50's and so on.

There's not a huge discrepancy though. You're not gonna be scoring a 170 on old test and then start scoring a 159 on the new ones.

I think a lot of the perceived differences is that the majority of example questions and illustrations from Books like the Bibles or actual classes tend to come from very early tests.

I read comments about people who saw their scores drop after testing well in the earlier exams.

WeightliftingThinker wrote:
I read comments about people who saw their scores drop after testing well in the earlier exams.

So we have anecdotal evidence that would be expected to occur to some degree, and is in no way inconsistent with the claim that the older and newer tests really don't differ that much.

Not to mention the fact that people are probably more likely to report an external explanation for a decrease in their performance than to report that they scored about the same.

Li'l Sebastian wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:
I read comments about people who saw their scores drop after testing well in the earlier exams.

So we have anecdotal evidence that would be expected to occur to some degree, and is in no way inconsistent with the claim that the older and newer tests really don't differ that much.

Not to mention the fact that people are probably more likely to report an external explanation for a decrease in their performance than to report that they scored about the same.

Although what you are saying is true, I am unnerved when other people talk about score declines. Their story and my story are different, but I worry that I may be practicing in vain.

So far this year, the one timed PT (with an experimental section) I did was #20. The score was 148. Ever since then, I have been closely examining the logic of questions I got wrong from PTs in the 60s that I used to drill. Closely examining means I meticulously try to understand why the answer is right and why the other choices are wrong. I think I have made minor gains, but MUCH more work is on the way.

As mentioned before, the goal is to take the exam in June. Should the score be low near June, I will take it in September. I am taking the exam ONLY once.


Would you recommend I do timed PTs with exams before 51?

WeightliftingThinker wrote:

MAPP wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:Are LSAT prep tests as early as the 20s a waste of time to practice on? I read mixed perspectives on the differences between those exams and exams after 55.

I am open to practicing PTs from the 20s to the current 70s, but I am not sure if doing that much is productive.

Goal: At least 173 for either June or September
Diagnostic (PT20): 148

Drill packets cover PTs 1-38 and then you can take full PTs from there on up to the most current released lsat.

Is drilling on old tests as effective as drilling on more recent ones (60s)?

Furthermore, is taking old tests (before 51) under time effective?

Don't waste the best PTs 60+ on drilling.

DCfilterDC wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:

MAPP wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:Are LSAT prep tests as early as the 20s a waste of time to practice on? I read mixed perspectives on the differences between those exams and exams after 55.

I am open to practicing PTs from the 20s to the current 70s, but I am not sure if doing that much is productive.

Goal: At least 173 for either June or September
Diagnostic (PT20): 148

Drill packets cover PTs 1-38 and then you can take full PTs from there on up to the most current released lsat.

Is drilling on old tests as effective as drilling on more recent ones (60s)?

Furthermore, is taking old tests (before 51) under time effective?

Don't waste the best PTs 60+ on drilling.

59 and before, but to when?

WeightliftingThinker wrote:

DCfilterDC wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:

MAPP wrote:

WeightliftingThinker wrote:Are LSAT prep tests as early as the 20s a waste of time to practice on? I read mixed perspectives on the differences between those exams and exams after 55.

I am open to practicing PTs from the 20s to the current 70s, but I am not sure if doing that much is productive.

Goal: At least 173 for either June or September
Diagnostic (PT20): 148

Drill packets cover PTs 1-38 and then you can take full PTs from there on up to the most current released lsat.

Is drilling on old tests as effective as drilling on more recent ones (60s)?

Furthermore, is taking old tests (before 51) under time effective?

Don't waste the best PTs 60+ on drilling.

59 and before, but to when?

I would suggest doing full PTs 50-now, and using 1-49 as drilling.

DCfilterDC wrote: Don't waste the best PTs 60+ on drilling.

I disagree with this advice.

Li'l Sebastian wrote:

DCfilterDC wrote: Don't waste the best PTs 60+ on drilling.

I disagree with this advice.

Also disagree.

People overstate the risk of drilling the more recent PTs (52+). No, you will NOT memorize answers from taking a PT once. I bet my money that if you take the same PT after a couple weeks, you will have a very hard time remembering the correct answer. Besides, even if you do, it really shouldn't matter because the key is in memorizing the PROCESS, not the answer, so even if you remember the correct answer of the five choices given, you should still be going through the same problem solving process to come to the right answer. Knowing the right answer but failing to understand how you come up with it is a good way to gauge your review method.

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