prepping with 10 days left...

[rachue]

Hi,

I've just finished the virtual course about 2 weeks ago. On Sunday night, I did the challenge reviews at the end of the last book and was really happy with my scores, as I got -1 on the LR and -0 on the LG, and the LR mistake was really stupid and easy to fix. That's the first time I had ever gotten (near) perfect scores like that so I was super psyched.

On Monday morning, I took PT 61 and got a 167. It's not a bad score, it's just that I think I could do much better. The highest score I've gotten is 169, and the first time I got that was over a month ago. I started studying in June, so I figured I could definitely get in the 170s by now (when I started in June, I cold tested I think around 150, so PowerScore definitely helped me out).

Anyway, I'm taking the Oct 1 test and a little a bit freaked out. I really would like to get in the 170s and don't want to have to take it in December if at all possible. I've been trying to stay positive, eating healthy, exercise, not doing ONLY LSAT so I don't get burned out, etc etc, and drilling my weak spots. I noticed for example, I was missing a lot of flaw questions, so I bought a package of those off of that Cambridge LSAT site and have been drilling today. Another challenge seems that the questions seem to have gotten harder, as well, in the recent prep tests.

All of this to ask, what should I do? I want to take PT 63 and 62 still, since those are the most recent and I want to be familiar with them. Otherwise, any general advice with 10 days left? Another problem too is I can't seem to get any new material I haven't already seen with the LG. A lot of times I still remember the correct answers even if I did them a month ago and it kind of throws me off with the drilling.

I'd really appreciate any insight on this. I really want to max my score out for this next weekend.

Thanks.

[Nikki Siclunov]

Congrats on making a 20-point jump from your Diagnostic - clearly, you've done an outstanding job prepping for this exam and have every reason to be confident that you will do as well as you can in October Remember - this is a standardized exam, so you will have seen every question in some shape or form before. The trick is to learn from your mistakes and not repeat them on the real test.

One thing I would do is create an Excel file with two spreadsheets: one for all the LR questions you missed on the practice tests you've taken since June; and one for any Logic Game on which you made two mistakes or more. Also, make sure to identify any Logic Game you failed to solve in the most efficient manner possible, even if you got all the questions right. Likewise, identify any LR question that you managed to solve correctly, but you took longer than 2 minutes to do so.

Make the following columns on your LR spreadsheet:

1. Question number
2. Section number
3. Test month and year
4. Question type
5. Any particular reasoning paradigm expressed in the stimulus (C/E, S/N, #/%, etc.)
6. Difficulty level of the question
7. Answer you chose
8. Credited response.

Make the following columns on your Logic Games spreadsheet:

1. Game number (1, 2, 3, or 4)
2. Test month and year
3. Game type

Once you do this, go to the Student Center and print out all the pages from the practice tests that contain the questions and games included in your spreadsheet. The point is to have a clean copy of these questions and avoid being biased by the answer choices you selected the first time around.

Dedicate one full day this coming weekend combing through the questions you just identified: do them again, then look at your spreadsheet and compare your new answers to the old ones. Dwindle your list down only to those questions and games you got wrong the second time around. How many did you miss? Did you fall for the same decoy? What is the principal difference between the decoy and the correct answer?

When it comes to games, time each game to 8:30 min. How was your pace now? If you went over time on a particular game, what could you have done differently to speed up? Did you fail to make an important inference, and, if so, what rules should have clued you in? Does the game contain a limited number of solutions? If so, did you make templates? What were the rules that suggest the possibility of having a limited number of solutions? Did you identify a complex numerical distribution component? How about the questions themselves: did you approach each question as efficiently as possible? Did you make local diagrams when necessary? Etc.

After this review, you are ready to take the two most recent tests published. Before each test, do a 30 min warm-up (one logic game, one RC, 5 LR questions). Eat a hearty breakfast, and do some exercise. Time each test accurately, making sure to add an experimental section to the first three sections before the break. Essentially, try to simulate the experience of taking the exam as closely as possible. I recommend going to a library, or - if at all possible - to the same location where you will be taking the test on Saturday. Some colleges will let you use their classrooms, but check in with them first (obviously).

Your performance on these two tests will probably have the highest predictive validity in gauging your current level of ability. If you are happy with your scores, you have nothing to fear come Saturday. Go there and kill this thing!

[rachue]

Hi Nikki,

Thanks for that post. I just took PT 63 and I've already taken 62. Should I retake them then after doing the review? Also, some of the PTs I took were more recent ones out of the LSAC books since not all the most recent ones were on the Powerscore site. What should I do about getting clean copies of those, then? In most cases, I wrote in the books... :-/

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Rachel,

Remember, you get access to every released LSAT with the Full Length and Virtual courses, so any "missing" recent ones are probably the ones we are using for in-class practice tests. In that same vein, there are no questions you need to buy from external sources because they can't sell you any questions you can't obtain through the course.

Thanks!

[rachue]

Hi Dave,

Do you mean from this link? http://students.powerscore.com/lsatvirt ... e_test.cfm

I don't see all of the tests there (2003 and some of 2007, 2000, and 2001 are missing. 2008 is also but I think those might have been the practice tests). Also, I didn't realize PT 63 was there... very stupid for me to buy it the other night. Oh well.

[rachue]

Hi Dave,

ALso as regards buying the extra questions, it was because I need to focus my practice on certain types of questions, and I"ve already done all the ones in the books and wanted fresh ones to drill from.

[Dave Killoran]

Yes, that's the right page. You're right about the practice tests, and no February tests have been released so they can't appear there. June 2007 is also the free test released by LSAC, so it is not there. The other tests you mentioned are not listed because they are already integrated into the course lessons and homeworks. So, since students are given those tests in a different format, we wouldn't want them to accidentally take it as a practice test when alter they would see those same questions in class (and vice versa).

As far as buying other questions, no worries there! I just didn't want you to have to spend money when I knew you had those questions already

I hope that helps. Thanks!

[rachue]

Hi Dave,

That does help. Also, I just did PT 63, and was reviewing the questions I got wrong. Now after I bought all those different question types, it doesn't seem like I really have a question type that I consistenly miss (except for weaken and strengthen). Usually I do decently on percentages and JTC questions for example, and this time around I missed 3. Since I don't seem to have a clear pattern, and I just simply did completely awful on PT 63 (though I did great on the first 3 section, one being an experimental), I'm not sure if Nikki's advice would apply to me.

With that in mind, should I alter my practice up until test day? What would you and Nikki recommend?

[Dave Killoran]

I think Nikki covered some good points, so I won't address what he said. One thing that may be helpful, however, is for me to address the situation where you have seen questions previously. This comes up frequently in LSAT preparation, and I think it feels like a frustrating position to be in, but I view it as an opportunity.

What I always tell people who have done all the questions is that they need to look at the questions from a different perspective, one where they act as if they intend to eventually teach it to someone else. That tends to make you learn the material differently, and it also focuses you on the more abstract connections between the questions and ideas. Plus, these questions are so well-constructed that most people miss a lot of the nuances on their first or second read of the questions.

Once you have seen the questions once, you don't have to focus as much on understanding the basic ideas at work, so you can focus more on the subtle differences that are present, and those subtle differences are often what prove critical to choosing the right answer. That's where the opportunity is here: you can now get into the questions on a deeper level than you typically can when you see them the first time.

More in a moment...

[Dave Killoran]

When you say you did completely awful on PT 63, what do you mean?

Feel free to send me a personal message on this as I can imagine that sharing all the details publicly is not an appetizing prospect

Thanks!