Getting over the 170 Hump

[moshei24]

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to get from the High 160s to breaking 170. Currently I usually get 0 to 2 wrong in logic games. However more often than not any questions I get wrong in logic games are from me making mistakes that I should not make; It's very rare that I don't understand a rule at this point.

In logical reasoning, I usually get 2 to 3 wrong per section with the occasional perfect section and occasional section where I get 4 wrong, so usually I'm getting 4-5 wrong total on both logical reasoning sections on the test. Though, I very often make mistakes that when I look back at them I realize that I should have picked the correct answer. It's a rare that I look at a question after the test and don't understand why the answer is the correct answer. More often than not, I see that the answer I picked is wrong because it's out of scope or whatever the reason is I understand why it's wrong afterwards. Though during the test I couldn't convince myself to not choose that answer and pick the right answer. Also very often I narrowed down to two choices and I ended choosing the wrong one.

For reading comprehension, I still have a lot of improvement to do, so if I get my score up in that section a lot, which I'm still working on, I'll see a jump.

I think what I am really looking for is how can I improve my logical reasoning section to the point where I could be confident that I could score a perfect score in each section consistently. I am confident that I could get that in logic games; so now I think I really need to get the point where I am confident about that logical reasoning too.

What are some ways that I should spend the next two weeks studying logical reasoning? What should I be focusing on? How do I get over this hump in my logical reasoning score?

My test isn't until October 10. Thank you all so much for your help! I really appreciate it.

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Moshe,

I think this is a process of just continuing on in the same path you are already on. You clearly have the capacity to score quite highly, and even inside your message I think you have one of the keys: "For reading comprehension, I still have a lot of improvement to do, so if I get my score up in that section a lot, which I'm still working on, I'll see a jump."

As far as a perfect score in LR, there's no way to assure that, unfortunately. You are already very very good, but even so a perfect score is difficult for even the most experienced test takers. One tip that might help: going back to a post I made to you yesterday, I think you would get better if you really thought about this test from their perspective, and a little less from yours. It's not a huge issue, obviously, but sometimes I feel like you are resisting their viewpoint and trying to force yours onto the problem. This is understandable (After all, we view the test through our own eyes), but that becomes fatiguing over the course of a whole section, and any added fatigue is a bad thing.

As far as studying LR, I've made multiple comments about the best way to study any section of the test, and those continue to hold true here--look at it on an abstract level, and try to fit all questions together conceptually. Approach them as if you had to teach them to someone else. The more you can do this, the better you will become at choosing that correct answer when you are hanging between two contenders.

Good luck and thanks!