I took a pt last week and i knew i could score higher, so i spent the week studying and retook it and i gained 7 points but im not sure if i should count it because there is that familiarity aspect
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I took a pt last week and i knew i could score higher, so i spent the week studying and retook it and i gained 7 points but im not sure if i should count it because there is that familiarity aspect
5 comments
I personally would not rely on the results of the 2nd take since it's only been a week since you first took it. It also heavily matters on whether or not you looked at which questions you got wrong and what the right answers were.
I agree just try to keep that familiarity aspect in mind when taking the actual exam
Hi there! While I wouldn't usually rely on the score from a PT retake as a good gauge of progress, especially when your first take was so recent, that PT can still matter for studying! If you noticed where you went wrong last time and found that you were able to correct those mistakes this time (not just by remembering the correct answers, but by recognizing faulty vs valid lines of reasoning), then that's great, even though the retaken PT isn't a reliable measure of your current PT score. Retaking a PT is, in some ways, a little like doing a blind review that's timed. You'll remember a lot of your answers, but as long as you don't know whether your first take answers were right or wrong, you can take a second shot at them with fresh eyes.
This is a great time to do an in-depth review of that PT now that you've taken it twice (and in the future, I would recommend an in-depth review after your blind review, rather than retaking the PT). Make sure you understand why every question you got wrong on, on either take, was wrong. And make sure you understand and can reason your way to the correct answers! If you're not already using a wrong answer journal, consider starting one and putting these PT questions in there. See if you can identify patterns in your wrong answers, and then do targeted drills with specific goals in mind that relate to your wrong answer patterns (maybe the goal is working on a question type you struggle with, or reading carefully, or avoiding trap answers, etc). Spend some more time studying and when you feel like you have something new to bring to the table, or have improved in the problem areas you're targeting, PT again with a fresh test and see how it goes. Hopefully that helps!
@Josephine When I took the test initially I didn't BR it because I knew I wanted to take it again.
The first section was familiar but I initially did well and to try and maintain some integrity I tried my best but for the questions I knew I couldn't possibly be get right I tried extra hard on them. Ofc I still got some questions wrong even with the familiarity aspect. But on the other sections I tried to slow down and take time with my section. That's why I'm confused idk if it was because of my methodology or the familiarity. Due to it being a retake and me having some familiarity I tried really hard to answer all the harder questions and fully give it my all
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@AdwoaOppong Ooh, that's a good thing to have noticed. Slowing down and taking your time (which feels counterintuitive on a timed test) can really work wonders! Especially if you're focusing sharply on every question. Familiarity probably played a role, but that doesn't rule out your new strategy at all! The two probably worked in combination, and that's why you saw such a significant improvement.
That's promising, by the way, because it means that your new strategy is probably working. Try it out in drills and then sections, and work your way back up to the next PT. Take a fresh one, but keep your same methodology that's clearly been working, and see how it goes! You may not see quite the same dramatic improvement, but you'll likely still see some. And that is great! In fact, if you can work toward always giving it your all and staying extra focused, taking the time you need but moving efficiently, etc, that's a great step in the right direction strategy-wise.