Self-study
I feel mentally stuck and like I’m holding myself back from taking practice tests. I think I’m avoiding them because I’m nervous—I’ve been studying and drilling, but it doesn’t feel like it’s fully clicking yet. Because of that, I keep telling myself I shouldn’t take timed tests (or even full practice tests at all) until I completely understand why I’m getting questions wrong and can clearly see the patterns.
Has anyone dealt with this? How do you push past that hesitation?
I’m also trying to memorize simple phrases to guide my approach for each question type so I don’t freeze up in the moment. Does anyone have fun or effective ways to make those stick?
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It depends when your official exam is and how many chances you have left, but I generally recommend people defer timed practice until after they feel solid on theory. Theoretical mastery enables speed, but while you're building those muscles approaching questions the right way (e.g. writing out diagrams, or pausing to articulate low-res RC summaries) will feel slow in timed practice. That often gives people the misleading idea that they ought to skip out on those things for the sake of time.
Save your timed practice for when the main thing you need to practice is time management (and managing your activation in a timed setting and all the other factors that contribute to execution under pressure).
Hi you sound like me lol.
I have totally dealt with this. The nervousness completely took over my life because I was putting so much pressure on myself about not taking a full test yet. I was especially worried about the timing.
Of course different strokes for different folks. But personally I don’t think it’s ideal to wait until you’ve understood ‘everything’ as you mention.
What helped me is that one day I did 1 section timed, then 2 back to back, then 3, then 4! That way it’s not as huge of a jump :) I don’t know what you’re scoring but be mindful that you’ll have to account for review time as well (which is going to take longer with more questions).
I know some say that taking full PTs to study is not necessary but in my experience it has made me so much calmer and feel more capable for the real test. But, also keep in mind that a PT is just telling you where you are in this moment in time. Meaning that, if this puts your mind at ease, some test takers have gotten great scores and taken 0-2 PTs prior to, and only focusing on sections and drilling.
And about your last point, just to share my experience: I tried to do that well, but I’ve found that for me personally as I progressed in my studying I’ve moved away from focusing so much on the question stem and instead more on the stimulus, to ensure that I understand the stimulus completely before moving on. You can look up on Quizlet though question stems and then match them to question types. Still though I find that when I read the question stem first I’m too distracted and can’t fully submerge myself in the stimulus. This is just what worked for me, my recommendation is to try both ways and see what works best for you. :)
All the best in your studying!