Hi there, I finished the core curriculum and now I don't know how to proceed with the practice phase. I took a timed test and did worse than my diagnostic. I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the tools available for the practice phase and don't know how to utilize into a schedule. Is there somebody at 7 Sage I can talk to?
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6 comments
Hi tcbc59,
I highly recommend getting started on real questions right away, using the 7Sage "Study Plan" feature.
We are not yet trying to assess time and pace. At this point we want to make sure the foundations knowledge was absorbed and implemented correctly. The practice blocks should feed you a steady diet of drills, you will mostly be working through LR early on.
Do not do anything timed yet. At this point you are still in the discovery phase. Try to do full process of elimination and approach questions the same way they were presented in the lessons. I found it helpful to write out literally everything I did, for every single questions as I did them, not just Wrong Answer Journal. I then would run my thinking through AI, it has helped to pin-point the problems to know exactly where I went wrong.
Take things slowly and try not feel overwhelmed. As you gain more exposure to the content you will begin to recognize question types, and patterns. As more data is collected you can begin to assess your strengths and address weaknesses.
I would worry less about the scheduling at this point. They can create helpful guideposts to keep you engaged, but do not take it all as necessary requirements.
At times you may find that you are drained of energy early, especially after tackling difficult tasks. Do not push past diminishing returns, respect the cognitive window and try to stay within it. We do not want to overdue our efforts, that can reinforce bad habits- sometimes less is more!
Quality over quantity.
James Clear's 1% Rule: Why Systems Beat Goals — The Good Life Journey Improving just 1% each day will put you in the 99% percentile fast.
Thank you! I appreciate your time and thoughtfulness.
So, when in the practice phase, you only go through what the practice blocks generate? It seems like there are so many other avenues for practice, I don't know where to start or how to organize my time.
Will the practice blocks eventually generate practice tests? When do I take practice tests?
no no. you do not have to do anything. You can take days off, skip stuff, come back to it.
I used to rely heavily on practice blocks. Overtime as I collected more data and figured out my learning styles and deficiencies, I become more focused and targeted in my planning. Early on you should continue through practice blocks and read the prompts. Try to lean into the activity and incorporate the (i) instructions. They will feed you good drill sets that will test you and keep you engaged, with an effective variety to keep things all around in progress. The (i) will give you tests like PoE everything, or read the passage and try answering questions without looking back at passage, or low-res summary the passage.
Now I rarely work off the practice blocks because I have specific goals I want to achieve and have found it is better for me to be more dynamic in my approach. I have an irregular schedule and will go through times where I am busy/low energy, and other that I am more committed to a full day. Now I typically section stack (LR-RC), but I am also within 1 month of my final test date and looking to build stamina, gained +20 points from my initial diagnostic test, and pushing towards 170+. That took a really long time to get to, and it was thanks to a calmer pacing and putting in my quality over quantity that began to bring improvements, whereas when I crammed and stressed it made things worse.
What I meant is you do not have to take the practice blocks chronologically or as top priority. There will come a time you feel that you need to focus in on something specific, that could be your RC, or specific question type like parallel (my personal enemy).
I think that it really doesn't benefit you to take tests early on, you would just waste a lot of good resources to pull from in the future. Continually doing test is not going to provide improvement. Grinding drill after drill will not provide improvement.. until you figure out the structure.
Less is more, quality over quantity.
I highly encourage to proceed with things untimed, diagram literally everything, PoE everything, and pretend you are KY. I do my best 7Sage impression (it helps me feel smart), and pretend like I am a tutor recording a video. I started trying things this way after struggling a lot with RC, I would spend 1hour on a single RC passage + the 5-7questions for weeks. This was all outside the practice block, but I knew what I needed and had my own study plan to get there.
I would do some Picross or puzzle games before hand to warm up, mostly RC, and a bit of LR to keep a feel of the subject matter.
Yes, use the practice blocks. No, you do not have to use the practice blocks.
The practice blocks will eventually generate practice tests. It is good that they aren't yet and is probably to the strength of 7Sage engine that it is very good at feeding you appropriate content. Talk with 7Sage AI it is smarter than me!
Take a practice test when you feel you should. I wouldn't just do it just to do it cause it gave it to you to do. Do what you want, when you want, when you are ready.
1) Rule, when you do your practice test do your best to simulate the test environment. The hardest thing on test day is the environment.
I just do a section a day five days a week, alternating between LR and RC.
You're not using the practice blocks? You are doing sections and blind reviewing? Do you drill at all?