Blind Review and Overcoming Plateau Forum

[carasrook]

Hi all,

I'm sure variations of this question have been asked before, but I'm getting really frustrated with my plateau.

I worry I'm not engaging in blind review effectively enough, and though I understand the basics, I was wondering if someone could help me understand exactly what they do during blind review, and especially what parts of that improved their scores the most.

I'm starting to feel panicky that I'm running out of time!! (For reference, I want to jump at least 2 points for test day - I haven't gotten past 168 in over a month).

[Deleterious]

1) I'm not sure I understand your question. Blind review is about figuring out what kinds of mistakes you're making and why you're making them. Wrong answers with no time restraints means you are almost certainly confused about fundamental concepts. It's hard to say more without specifics, but if you identify a particular question type or logical relationship that's giving you trouble, I'd review the relevant section of the Powerscore Bible/Manhattan book/whatever resource you're using. Go back and drill the Cambridge packs or Kaplan books if you have them.

Remember that a missed question means you made two mistakes: eliminating the correct answer and choosing a wrong one.

2) First thing I'd do is get LG handled. I'm not sure what your error distribution looks like but if you're missing any in this section those are free points you're giving away. LG is solvable, especially if you're already scoring in the high 160s. It just takes dogged repetition and brute force.

[seagan823]

Where are you losing points? Are you consistent in the distribution of missed answers across LG/LR/RC?

[moorelsat]

I was wondering if someone could help me understand exactly what they do during blind review

The key isn't just what you do during blind review, but after. Blind review is a diagnostic tool that allows you to figure out why you're getting different question/passage/game types wrong. Essentially it boils down to two possibilities:

1) You got it wrong during the PT, but correct on blind review. This means you fundamentally understand the question(s), you're just struggling with the timing pressure. The prescription: more timing practice.

2) You got it wrong during the PT and wrong again on blind review. This means you fundamentally misunderstand the question(s), and you really could benefit from some untimed practice first.

It's important to try to identify trends with your errors. What categories of LR questions are you missing? In RC, how do you do on science passages? Law passages? Comparative reading? In Games, how are you in ordering games? Grouping games? Selection grouping games? Games that combine both elements?

Then you practice the crap out of your weaknesses. With LR, I like to take a boatload of one question type and just drill baby, drill. Start by going super slow, focusing on maximizing accuracy. I don't care if it takes 5 minutes per question. Once you get a few correct in a row, go faster. Then add timing pressure: try to do 4 questions of a certain type in 10 minutes (2:30 per question). Then the same thing for 9 minutes (2:15 per question). Then 8 minutes (2:00), 7 minutes (1:45), all the way down to 5 minutes (1:15 per question, which is a pace that allows you to finish with a couple minutes at the end for review). Bear in mind that some questions are inherently more time consuming than others (Parallel flaw >>> main point), so tweak the timing as necessary.

You can use this ramp up method for logic games and passages, too. Start untimed, then as accuracy improves try to do a game/passage in 16 minutes, 14, 12, 11, 10, etc.

[moorelsat]

I was wondering if someone could help me understand exactly what they do during blind review

The key isn't just what you do during blind review, but after. Blind review is a diagnostic tool that allows you to figure out why you're getting different question/passage/game types wrong. Essentially it boils down to two possibilities:

1) You got it wrong during the PT, but correct on blind review. This means you fundamentally understand the question(s), you're just struggling with the timing pressure. The prescription: more timing practice.

2) You got it wrong during the PT and wrong again on blind review. This means you fundamentally misunderstand the question(s), and you really could benefit from some untimed practice first.

It's important to try to identify trends with your errors. What categories of LR questions are you missing? In RC, how do you do on science passages? Law passages? Comparative reading? In Games, how are you in ordering games? Grouping games? Selection grouping games? Games that combine both elements?

Then you practice the crap out of your weaknesses. With LR, I like to take a boatload of one question type and just drill baby, drill. Start by going super slow, focusing on maximizing accuracy. I don't care if it takes 5 minutes per question. Once you get a few correct in a row, go faster. Then add timing pressure: try to do 4 questions of a certain type in 10 minutes (2:30 per question). Then the same thing for 9 minutes (2:15 per question). Then 8 minutes (2:00), 7 minutes (1:45), all the way down to 5 minutes (1:15 per question, which is a pace that allows you to finish with a couple minutes at the end for review). Bear in mind that some questions are inherently more time consuming than others (Parallel flaw >>> main point), so tweak the timing as necessary.

You can use this ramp up method for logic games and passages, too. Start untimed, then as accuracy improves try to do a game/passage in 16 minutes, 14, 12, 11, 10, etc.