This post isn't for those that already "have it"
This is for all my brothers and sisters who saw a long journey ahead of them with days of grinding, and plenty more discouraging days.
You can do it.
Special thanks to Owen, Ellen, Molly and Dr. D.
I will press forward for a slightly higher score.
It feels great to finally break the "7"
Honestly, most high scorers spend more time, money or both, than you, to achieve their dream. Youll be fine. Continue the push and youll get to where you want to go, or give up now and youll maybe think about what-if down the road.
My tutor had me practicing each major type of game for a good period of time. Each game I did, I tried completing in less than 9 minutes. Then I worked my way to solve each game in about 8 minutes. Not every game will follow this rule since some games have more questions than other or could be significantly harder than the others in the the same section. Use your judgement to determine which games are worth going back to. I made a spreadsheet with tabs labeled: sequencing, grouping, and In and Out/Misc. Each tab had columns: PT, Game#, (9 min, Attempts, Recycle, Type, Difficulty level.(/p)
PT/Game# - helps you track exactly what game you're working.
(9 min - you can change this to whatever time goal you want. It is important to record how long it took you to solve the game. Only record the times where you crush the game with -0. Otherwise leave it as 0000. While intuition is important for LG, I realized pattern recognition helps develop the intuition.
Attempts - This later becomes handy when you want to review games you commonly messed up on or had to revisit.
Recycle - Yes or No. No should be for games that were so easy that it isn't worth reviewing again. For example, level 1 basic sequence game where you completed the game in under 6 minutes and got -0. Is that game really worth spending another several minutes to boost your ego or should use the same several minutes wrestling with a more formidable concept(s) you want to conquer in a harder game?
Type - i.e. SeqDbl, SeqTwist, etc.
Difficulty level - 1 through 5 as labeled in 7Sage. I eventually was practicing on all 4s and 5s when I started hitting -1 to -3 on PTs. Occasionally, I would pick from a 3 if I wanted to generate a random 4 game section to practice on; every game was at least level 3 or higher. In doing this, I found myself with extra time come actual PTs because usually there is at least one or two level 1 and 2 games in every LG section.(/p)
Having something empirical to reflect back on and track helped me to practice efficiently and specifically target my weaknesses. As a results, I consistently scored -0/-1 on my past several PTs so far. Not every scenario plays the same, so don't be discouraged if all the sudden you have a bad PT day and get more than -3. My last PT, I got -0 on the PT I was doing but -6 on the extra section (LG) I imposed on myself. Once you get proficient, I cannot stress enough that LG is like a muscle: it can atrophy from discontinued use. Just because you get better, don't drop the ball because you will start regressing like the example I gave you on my last PT. That -6 could be a difference of almost 3 points if that was the section that counted.
On that note, I highly recommend trying to simulate all your PTs like game day as much as possible if you are not already. Depending on your lifestyle or schedule, it may not always be feasible. I try to at least make my Saturdays as realistic as possible while my weekdays are left at the mercy of when I can get off work. For example, my Saturdays look like a test starting noon, waking up at the same time, eating the same breakfast and tackling a PT + an extra section. I've heard advice from a lot of people of how only practicing 4 sections left a surprise on the real test day in terms of stamina.
I was leaning towards C, but I overthought on the comparison between "built" and "available"
Stimulus (paraphrased)
Pamela: physicians in training work long, up to 36 hours, shifts and that fatigue impairs their ability to make the best medical decisions during final portions of their shift.
Quincy: Thousands of physicians have gone through this regiment with records to show that the system works. So why change now?
Though I realize I need to work in the stimulus to pick my answers, as someone who has worked shifts before, I know that your relief does not generally show up generously early. So if these physicians work up to 36 hours, they are in the long haul and that fatigue can be a very real risk to decision making towards the end.
Anyways, with everything in mind above, I was left with AC B vs C.
I picked AC C because of my influence from experience...hear me out: emergency-room patients needing continuity of physician care over the critical period after admission, generally 24 hours, would seem as though at any given crucial moment, the expectation would that a physician is able to make the best medical decisions. In the event where there is not a generous overlap between turnovers from one shift to the next, that leaves patients in critical conditions reliant on potentially fatigued physicians that are towards the end of their 36 hour shift. That is why I thought, this would be enough to counter Quincy's argument. Yes, the physicians do need to better working conditions to minimize fatigue that could impair medical decisions.
Meanwhile, AC B has me understanding it as there will be more seriously ill patients during their stay at the hospital than before. I felt like I had to draw an inference on this one. While not everyone in an emergency room may not be in a life threatening state, I guess AC B paints a better picture with more people requiring more attention and the need for best medical decisions??
Please help
I do not understand the difference between AC A and C. I chose the same wrong answer the second time around a few weeks later. They both sounds so similar in their paralleling method. Why is AC A (the one about the burglars who wore size 9 shoe) right over AC C (Ultra 180 design)?
When you explain it like that, I can clearly see why C is wrong. Thank you
I reread both of your comments and I think I get it now.
Stimulus (paraphrased)
Pamela: physicians in training work long, up to 36 hours, shifts and that fatigue impairs their ability to make the best medical decisions during final portions of their shift.
Quincy: Thousands of physicians have gone through this regiment with records to show that the system works. So why change now?
Though I realize I need to work in the stimulus to pick my answers, as someone who has worked shifts before, I know that your relief does not generally show up generously early. So if these physicians work up to 36 hours, they are in the long haul and that fatigue can be a very real risk to decision making towards the end.
Anyways, with everything in mind above, I was left with AC B vs C.
I picked AC C because of my influence from experience...hear me out: emergency-room patients needing continuity of physician care over the critical period after admission, generally 24 hours, would seem as though at any given crucial moment, the expectation would that a physician is able to make the best medical decisions. In the event where there is not a generous overlap between turnovers from one shift to the next, that leaves patients in critical conditions reliant on potentially fatigued physicians that are towards the end of their 36 hour shift. That is why I thought, this would be enough to counter Quincy's argument. Yes, the physicians do need to better working conditions to minimize fatigue that could impair medical decisions.
Meanwhile, AC B has me understanding it as there will be more seriously ill patients during their stay at the hospital than before. I felt like I had to draw an inference on this one. While not everyone in an emergency room may not be in a life threatening state, I guess AC B paints a better picture with more people requiring more attention and the need for best medical decisions??
Please help
Thank you for the response, the explanations make it more clearer for me to understand.
I am still confused about one detail. I thought the stimulus also said that "also less successful than they themselves are a year later." Am I misinterpreting the stimulus here? I thought AC C said the reverse of that part of stimulus.
Can somebody please explain to me why AC E is correct? I got the question right just based on process of elimination, but I am not convinced as to why it is particularly the correct answer.
I understood the stimulus as the observatory director starting out with a reason why some may object to the development of the megatelescope. Then proceeding to justify its worthiness by saying that had it not been for that "research," the world would have been deprived of beneficial applications from these eminent scientists.
The part I don't understand about AC E in particular is, "worthy of comparison with that of eminent scientists." What comparison?
Your explanation is brilliant and answers my questions clearly!! Thank you.
I am having trouble understanding why AC B is the correct answer and why AC C is not the correct answer. They both seem to weaken the argument to me. I can see that AC B directly cracks at the premise of how bird nesting for first timers are less successful than older birds and also less successful than they themselves are a year later. Why is AC C not expressing the same idea?
What is the difference between AC C and E?
Both ACs look very similar in form, but is it because C says needs of the city as a whole while E just says that serves an area well? The stimulus doesn't say that Chen's plan is what the city "needs" but that it is "better for the city as a whole"
I could be missing the whole point here. When identifying the flaw, I thought it was how Ripley's plan was being attacked because of the reputation of its supporter who places its own interests even at the detriment of the city (felt kind of ad hominem-ish). In this sense, both AC C and E seem to be performing the same flaw.
Please help and thank you
I am having a hard time understanding why AC E is better than D. I also do not understand what makes B wrong.
I think the correct AC is drawing a super fine stretch. Please explain to me why this AC is correct. Critics have charged that the hormone is a health risk to people and thereby ingest unsafe quantities of it. Then the biologist rebuttals with the fact that people could eat the injected amount every day and not be affected and that no one eats a whole deer in a day anyways. This led me to believe E was the right AC. If this was a weakening question, I could see how AC A is correct. In a NA question is it possible to view the correct AC as a weakening sort as well? Am I looking at this incorrectly?
How is AC D the correct answer? Based on the stimulus, I might fallen into the trap of thinking that words that express new ideas become "officially common" once they are put into dictionaries. Either the dictionary editor cares a whole lot about these new words or the words need to get into dictionary. Where in the stimulus does it express the concept of a "severe distortion"?
I do not understand at all what the correct AC C is trying to say and why it is correct. Stimulus says that the gov't makes the bank pay for a premium, but that depositors should instead pay the premium since they are the ones benefitting from the insurance. What does any of that have to do with interest rates?
I do not even know where to begin with the ACs.
I understand the stimulus as a theater recently closed because the owner claimed that it could not regularly sustain an audience. Then a week prior to the closure, massive profit resulted.
None of the ACs to me make any close parallel to the flaw that I am clearly not able to identify in this question.
I was thinking, "turns out that the people actually appreciated the theater"?
Is that in the same spirit of AC C?
I can see why the other ACs are wrong, but I am having a difficult time seeing how C is absolutely correct. The stimulus states that water is being wasted and that the gov't was giving the industry a break. Therefore, tighter control would lead to ceasing inefficient use. Is "cease" really the key detail here? Are ACs like these common?
Sorry about that. I was not familiar with the interface. I have provided the question on the subject line.
To be clear this was PT2 S4 Q9
I am unsure why D is correct over E. I am assuming that E makes a flaw through its logic statement?
I am stuck between the two answer choices. The other three seem pretty obvious as to why they are incorrect. However, what sets AC C and D apart? I can't seem to identify where in the stimulus it points to the right answer.
That is the spirit!!