PT Advice Forum

[MyNameIsntJames]

So I haven't taken the LSAT since December of 2014. I scored a 161 then. I'm going to take the September 2016 LSAT. I was doing PT for awhile & prep when I thought I was going to take the November 2015 exam but I backed out for personal reasons. I took a little break and started studying again last month. I haven't taken a PT in awhile though.. I've just been going thru the LR, LG & RC Bibles reading them carefully and taking notes on everything plus the small drills.

My question:

I have a friend who was kind enough to provide me with every single LSAT administered in the most recent era (like 2003 & beyond or something , don't remember). How much benefit could I stand to gain from doing all of the PT? Before now I've probably taken 10 PT from the modern era max. My instincts tell me that by the time I get through all of those exams, which have to be at least 200 hours of content, that I should be north of 168. But I'm certainly no guru at this & not sure if there are other supplementary things I should be doing.

All help, criticism & advice is appreciated ! Oh & im a newbie in these forums so please let me know if I'm breaking any rules or forum etiquette and I'll fix it ASAP.

[MyNameIsntJames]

Bump for advice.

-Let me know if bumps are against rules!

[pittsburghpirates]

In general, I would say that doing PTs is always a good thing. However, simply doing the PTs is only half of the task. It's also critical that you blind review your PTs after you take them. As you take PTs, circle any questions that you are not totally sure of the answer. After you finish taking the entire exam, come back the next day and revisit these questions without the time pressure and see if you would change your answer or keep your original choice. Be very diligent about understanding not only why the correct answer is correct, but also why each of the incorrect answers is wrong. When I started to do this blind review, that is when I saw the biggest gains in my PTs.

I would also advise you not to start PTing too early. Do some drilling first without the pressure of time and make sure that you are answering questions at a very high accuracy level (almost 100%) before introducing timing. This will help to make sure you have a very good grasp of your strategies and the material before you try to apply those strategies on a PT. Good luck OP!

I was on a similar timeline as you for this cycle, so feel free to PM for any further advice.

[MyNameIsntJames]

In general, I would say that doing PTs is always a good thing. However, simply doing the PTs is only half of the task. It's also critical that you blind review your PTs after you take them. As you take PTs, circle any questions that you are not totally sure of the answer. After you finish taking the entire exam, come back the next day and revisit these questions without the time pressure and see if you would change your answer or keep your original choice. Be very diligent about understanding not only why the correct answer is correct, but also why each of the incorrect answers is wrong. When I started to do this blind review, that is when I saw the biggest gains in my PTs.

I would also advise you not to start PTing too early. Do some drilling first without the pressure of time and make sure that you are answering questions at a very high accuracy level (almost 100%) before introducing timing. This will help to make sure you have a very good grasp of your strategies and the material before you try to apply those strategies on a PT. Good luck OP!

I was on a similar timeline as you for this cycle, so feel free to PM for any further advice.

Thanks man! I appreciate. This looks like good advice and I'll definitely follow it. My bad I was a little unclear in my post, but I don't wanna PT it in test conditions first. I was gonna start off with just running through sections untimed, making sure that I've gotten a firm hold of the test mechanics first and that I'm gripping all of the fundamentals before I proceed forth with the timed tests and eventually timed tests under identical test conditions.

I'll definitely shoot you a PM about this too! My fear is running through all of the PT and having to go back and retake a few and getting higher scores than I otherwise would because I still have some memory of the material.

[pittsburghpirates]

Thanks man! I appreciate. This looks like good advice and I'll definitely follow it. My bad I was a little unclear in my post, but I don't wanna PT it in test conditions first. I was gonna start off with just running through sections untimed, making sure that I've gotten a firm hold of the test mechanics first and that I'm gripping all of the fundamentals before I proceed forth with the timed tests and eventually timed tests under identical test conditions.

I'll definitely shoot you a PM about this too! My fear is running through all of the PT and having to go back and retake a few and getting higher scores than I otherwise would because I still have some memory of the material.

I wouldn't waste the recent tests on drilling or doing individual sections because those tests are most similar to how the LSAT is today. Would save those for full PTs. Amazon sells the 10 Actual books that have tests going back all the way to the early 90s I believe. Also Cambridge LSAT still sells bundles of question types for each of the sections too. Just a couple extra options so you don't have to burn through your PTs to drill

[MyNameIsntJames]

Thanks man! I appreciate. This looks like good advice and I'll definitely follow it. My bad I was a little unclear in my post, but I don't wanna PT it in test conditions first. I was gonna start off with just running through sections untimed, making sure that I've gotten a firm hold of the test mechanics first and that I'm gripping all of the fundamentals before I proceed forth with the timed tests and eventually timed tests under identical test conditions.

I'll definitely shoot you a PM about this too! My fear is running through all of the PT and having to go back and retake a few and getting higher scores than I otherwise would because I still have some memory of the material.

I wouldn't waste the recent tests on drilling or doing individual sections because those tests are most similar to how the LSAT is today. Would save those for full PTs. Amazon sells the 10 Actual books that have tests going back all the way to the early 90s I believe. Also Cambridge LSAT still sells bundles of question types for each of the sections too. Just a couple extra options so you don't have to burn through your PTs to drill

Good point. Would you recommend just going through the 90's tests for a little while? My fear with test emulations is that they don't quite simulate the logic that LSAT users have.