Hi there! This is a really common question people have, so don't feel like you are at all alone in this!

My personal opinion is that there is no real difference in the difficulty of the logic from the tests in the 50s and 60s to the tests in the 80s and 90s. The main difference is that some of the "tricks" people use in the earlier tests got taken away. For example, on older tests, you could really handle a lot of NA questions by just picking the most weakly worded answer choice. That crutch has largely been taken away, but the underlying logic of NA questions has not changed or gotten harder. I think similar lessons can be taken in a lot of other areas. The headline (and reason for optimism) is that understanding the core logic, the deep underlying structure of these questions will carry you through regardless of the era of the PT.

If you are looking for help in figuring out how to get to the bottom of those core logical principles, tutoring can be really helpful (it was for me!). If you want to check it out for free, here is a link! https://calendly.com/7sage-consult/7sage-tutoring-free-consult?utm_source=ST

Hi there! This is a really good question. I experienced basically the same thing. I would start taking PTs without the timer visible to you. You should still have it going, but not within your field of vision. Rather, I would set a timer that goes off every 5 minutes (for example). That way you still have something to give you some markers to keep you on track while to practice, but it is not the visible clock that can be so disruptive. As you get used to working with the timer, you can slowly start adding the actual, visible clock back in. I would start by making it visible only on the most low stress of the questions (say LR 1-5) and then slowly build up your confidence and endurance from there.

I hope this helps! Let me know if I can clarify anything!

Hi there! Given that your missed questions in LR are not of a consistent type and the questions you miss are always questions that you flagged as being unsure about, it sounds like your issues in LR are mostly timing/strategic issues at this point. Those issues are often harder to identify and grapple with, but there is certainly work that you can do. If you can, let me know how many questions you typically flag in an LR section and how much time you have left over for round 2 in LR. I may be able to give you more targeted/helpful feedback then. For now, here are my top three suggestions:

Unless you are always getting through all your flagged questions on round 2, I would start categorizing your flags to make sure you are coming back to the questions that are most likely to boost your score first. Many people just go through their flags in numerical or reverse-numerical order. I would organize your flags with three columns. Column 1 is for questions where you (A) know what the work is that you need to do to resolve the concern you have, AND (B) think you can do the work in 60-70 seconds or less. Column 2 is for question that fail either (A) or (B) or both. Column 3 is for questions that you might feel squeamish about, but can't articulate a reason to worry about. On round 2, start with column 1 and work in order through column 3. This will help you start with questions you are most likely to boost your score with.

If you are averaging -4 in LR, then I think that skipping is still valuable for you. I would set yourself a goal of skipped at least one, possibly two, question(s) and doing it FAST. I'm talk 30 seconds or less. These should be questions where as soon as you get into it you know you have less than optimal odds of getting the question right in 60 seconds or so. Don't be afraid of skipping either, you can always come back to these questions in round 2!

I would do a few drills where you track your confidence. Do some retake LR sections and record how confident you are in each answer you select. See how your confidence lines up with your accuracy. If you find out that you are consistently getting questions right when you are only, say, 6/10 confident, you can use that as another tool to move on from questions more quickly.

The underlying theme here is timing. The trick to getting in the 170s consistently is twofold: (1) having enough time for a consistent and robust second round, and (2) learning how to use that time as effectively as possible.

Also, just FYI, I benefited a lot from tutoring when I was in your position. If you want to schedule a free consult with a tutor to talk about that can help, here is a link https://calendly.com/7sage-consult/7sage-tutoring-free-consult?utm_source=HD

I hope this helps!