Hi! Wondering what exactly you guys noticed is the difference in patterns with the previous practice tests and the 150s. I know they are harder - but what exactly makes them harder? I found the real LSAT to be most reflective of the 150s tests, but I also struggled a lot on more on those that previous exams, dropping 5-6 points from my previous practice tests. My personal observation is that there seem to be more difficult Necessary Assumption and Weaken/Strengthen questions. Curious to hear your guys' thoughts!
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Hello!
I honestly believe one big difference is the text length. Stimuli in the PT 150s tend to be longer than those in older PTs, which naturally requires you to spend more time reading the material and leaves you with less time for other questions.
Here are a few others I noticed:
Fewer "Strict Conditional" Questions: There seem to be fewer inference questions where you can easily extract the correct answer choice just by diagramming.
Denser, Abstract Language: While many stimuli from older PTs also had conceptual or abstract language, there is noticeably more of it in the most recent PTs. The sentences are often phrased in a highly twisted way, so it takes more time to translate them into comprehensible, everyday language. This can easily trip you up during timed practice.
Tricky Quantifiers: The newer tests play around with quantifiers much more frequently. For example, an answer choice that uses strong wording (e.g. 'most') might not actually be a strong strengthener/weakener when applied to the specific context of the stimulus. Likewise, an answer choice that says 'some' isn't necessarily too weak and can often be a perfectly valid strengthener or weakener.
Ultimately, the underlying logic is the exact same. However, the more recent tests play around with the presentation so that you can no longer fully rely on the rigid, mathematical strategies you may have built using older PTs. I hope this helps, and best of luck!
@SerinJ Thank you for this! Could you explain a little more about what you mean by the quantifiers and maybe provide an example? It seems this may be tripping me up during my PTs!
@tinedfork Hi! I unfortunately cannot recall an exact example among PT 150-159, but PT138.S3.Q6 is an example where a correct answer choice contains a weak quantifier ('some') but is a valid resolution. So judging the answer choice's power solely based on its quantifier might lead to eliminating a correct AC! I hope this helps.