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I was thinking of intentionally adding a difficult section as the fifth section for my tests. Good or bad idea? What do you all do? My first time around, I never prepped with five sections. I didn't think about the fact that there's an experimental section.

few things:

don't make your experimental the 5th section or the 3rd section (for obvious reasons). I personally don't make it the 1st section either since it'd just feel like a warm-up imo. I always make it the 2nd or 4th.

I usually use LR or RC, since LG would be an easy experimental section and would feel like a break (depending on how good you are at LG I guess). so basically use a section that requires some brainpower.

I just choose a random section from PTs 40-50. I don't check the difficulty before I use it, the actual E section on your LSAT can be really easy or hard.

a good idea is to just use the section you're worst at. if you suck at RC, use RC to get in some extra practice!

^ everything Protein said!
Also, definitely make sure it's a section you're unfamiliar with. Try to ignore that it's experimental - treat it and mark it and review it like any other section.

I plan on using the 50s as experimental sections. My plan is to rotate them in terms of the section 1-5 so that way nothing can throw you off.

brinicolec wrote:I was thinking of intentionally adding a difficult section as the fifth section for my tests. Good or bad idea? What do you all do? My first time around, I never prepped with five sections. I didn't think about the fact that there's an experimental section.

Definitely a good idea. Without 5 sections, it's not a true practice LSAT - if you only practice on 4-section tests, you won't have the endurance required to do 5 on the real test. I think you should cycle between sections, to keep it fresh. Try to challenge yourself - if RC is a weak point for you, put in extra RC section more often.

proteinshake wrote: a good idea is to just use the section you're worst at. if you suck at RC, use RC to get in some extra practice!

I did this with RC, and within a month I had improved dramatically.

RamTitan wrote:

proteinshake wrote: a good idea is to just use the section you're worst at. if you suck at RC, use RC to get in some extra practice!

I did this with RC, and within a month I had improved dramatically.

Probably gonna do this mostly but throw some LGs in frequently too because this time around I focused mostly on LR/RC so I might be a little rusty lol.

Blueprint Mithun wrote:

brinicolec wrote:I was thinking of intentionally adding a difficult section as the fifth section for my tests. Good or bad idea? What do you all do? My first time around, I never prepped with five sections. I didn't think about the fact that there's an experimental section.

Definitely a good idea. Without 5 sections, it's not a true practice LSAT - if you only practice on 4-section tests, you won't have the endurance required to do 5 on the real test. I think you should cycle between sections, to keep it fresh. Try to challenge yourself - if RC is a weak point for you, put in extra RC section more often.

When I was practicing for the LSAT, I never did a 5 section practice test, and it turned out alright. I'm sure it varies from person to person, but it seems a little bit strained to state that someone won't have enough "endurance" for the real test if they only do 4 sections as they practice

edwardt1988 wrote:

Blueprint Mithun wrote:

brinicolec wrote:I was thinking of intentionally adding a difficult section as the fifth section for my tests. Good or bad idea? What do you all do? My first time around, I never prepped with five sections. I didn't think about the fact that there's an experimental section.

Definitely a good idea. Without 5 sections, it's not a true practice LSAT - if you only practice on 4-section tests, you won't have the endurance required to do 5 on the real test. I think you should cycle between sections, to keep it fresh. Try to challenge yourself - if RC is a weak point for you, put in extra RC section more often.

When I was practicing for the LSAT, I never did a 5 section practice test, and it turned out alright. I'm sure it varies from person to person, but it seems a little bit strained to state that someone won't have enough "endurance" for the real test if they only do 4 sections as they practice

I agree. I already took the LSAT once and my score wasn't terrible (I just want higher b/c of my GPA & also just b/c) but my wrist did hurt after the test! That being said, I'm sure 5-section PTs can only help the process vs. hinder so I'm gonna try 'em out this time around.

Alternatively you can just go hardcore and take two PTs back to back, or even better - mix the sections up between the two.

Once you get used to 8-section PTs, 5-sections will probably feel like a breeze even in the toughest of conditions.

proteinshake wrote:
don't make your experimental the 5th section or the 3rd section (for obvious reasons).

Can you enlighten me on what the obvious reason is here?

Walliums wrote:

proteinshake wrote:
don't make your experimental the 5th section or the 3rd section (for obvious reasons).

Can you enlighten me on what the obvious reason is here?

don't make it right before the break or right before you're done with the whole PT. if you do, how will you know what effect being mentally strained right before a real section has on you? for example, if you make it 2nd or 4th, it'll compromise your ability somewhat on the 3rd and 5th sections (this is assuming you don't want to make it easy on yourself, since the real thing could very well place the experimental in the 2nd or 4th sections). so basically, the 2nd and 4th sections are the worst spots to have an E on the real thing imo.

proteinshake wrote:

Walliums wrote:

proteinshake wrote:
don't make your experimental the 5th section or the 3rd section (for obvious reasons).

Can you enlighten me on what the obvious reason is here?

don't make it right before the break or right before you're done with the whole PT. if you do, how will you know what effect being mentally strained right before a real section has on you? for example, if you make it 2nd or 4th, it'll compromise your ability somewhat on the 3rd and 5th sections (this is assuming you don't want to make it easy on yourself, since the real thing could very well place the experimental in the 2nd or 4th sections). so basically, the 2nd and 4th sections are the worst spots to have an E on the real thing imo.

Aha! I got five, but forgot three was right after the break. Thanks Protein!

Walliums wrote:

proteinshake wrote:

Walliums wrote:

proteinshake wrote:
don't make your experimental the 5th section or the 3rd section (for obvious reasons).

Can you enlighten me on what the obvious reason is here?

don't make it right before the break or right before you're done with the whole PT. if you do, how will you know what effect being mentally strained right before a real section has on you? for example, if you make it 2nd or 4th, it'll compromise your ability somewhat on the 3rd and 5th sections (this is assuming you don't want to make it easy on yourself, since the real thing could very well place the experimental in the 2nd or 4th sections). so basically, the 2nd and 4th sections are the worst spots to have an E on the real thing imo.

Aha! I got five, but forgot three was right after the break. Thanks Protein!

before the break* no problem!

proteinshake wrote: before the break* no problem!

You know what I meant! I've got morning brain

Walliums wrote:

proteinshake wrote: before the break* no problem!

You know what I meant! I've got morning brain

just wanted to make sure you weren't taking your PTs with a break after the second section hehe

I rotate each section type in at the #2 spot. So I'll go LR-RC-LG and then cycle through again.

Good replies so far. I'll build off others and say that I always picked the section I hated the most/found the most grueling, which was almost always RC.

galeatus wrote:Alternatively you can just go hardcore and take two PTs back to back, or even better - mix the sections up between the two.

Once you get used to 8-section PTs, 5-sections will probably feel like a breeze even in the toughest of conditions.

I'm not a huge fan of this approach, as I feel one would approach a 5 section test substantially different than an 8 section test. I get the endurance thing, but you could build through other means (studying for a long duration of time, reading for long periods, etc.)

proteinshake wrote:few things:

don't make your experimental the 5th section or the 3rd section (for obvious reasons). I personally don't make it the 1st section either since it'd just feel like a warm-up imo. I always make it the 2nd or 4th.

I usually use LR or RC, since LG would be an easy experimental section and would feel like a break (depending on how good you are at LG I guess). so basically use a section that requires some brainpower.

I just choose a random section from PTs 40-50. I don't check the difficulty before I use it, the actual E section on your LSAT can be really easy or hard.

a good idea is to just use the section you're worst at. if you suck at RC, use RC to get in some extra practice!

I get why not as the 5th section but why not 3rd?

olikatz wrote:

proteinshake wrote:few things:

don't make your experimental the 5th section or the 3rd section (for obvious reasons). I personally don't make it the 1st section either since it'd just feel like a warm-up imo. I always make it the 2nd or 4th.

I usually use LR or RC, since LG would be an easy experimental section and would feel like a break (depending on how good you are at LG I guess). so basically use a section that requires some brainpower.

I just choose a random section from PTs 40-50. I don't check the difficulty before I use it, the actual E section on your LSAT can be really easy or hard.

a good idea is to just use the section you're worst at. if you suck at RC, use RC to get in some extra practice!

I get why not as the 5th section but why not 3rd?

scroll up a bit, I answered it already!