Difference between drilling and doing full PTs?

spitzy11

Hi all,

I apologize in advance if these are silly questions. What is the difference between drilling and taking a full Prep Test? How do you know which you need to do more of? Is drilling more for the days you get off work & school and are totally wiped out, so save the full PT for the weekend? Is drilling better for the older PTs? or? I am currently still in the Core Curriculum but I wanted to clarify my understanding before I finished the curriculum and started regularly doing PTs.

Thank you in advance!

Heart Shaped Box

Doing PTs is a way of simulating the real test conditions by taking the "full exam" proctored and timed just like the test day, whereas drilling is the approach to address certain weaknesses after PTs' results have revealed them. Let's say you finished the CC and felt pretty good about it, but the PT's result saying you are actually not that great with MSS questions (got most of them wrong) in comparison to other question types, that's where you would wanna go focus on those particular weaknesses of yours by drilling those specific question types. So here is the distinction. I do believe older materials (below PT38) are more appropriate for the purpose of drilling since you would wanna save newer ones for PTing. A personal recommendation is that I would make sure to get solid on the LG first before jumping into PTs as you you might form bad habits on that section if otherwise. But this is just my personal approach/preference, I'm sure ppl work differently tho.

I would recommend check out Can't get right's 3-phases study plan, below is phase 1 which I believe might serve you well upon the completion of the CC;

"In your first stage of PTing, your BR score is the thing you really want to watch. Your first goal in the PT phase should be to push your BR score to at least around +5 of your target score. Don't worry so much about your timed score, that is testing things you haven't addressed yet. During your timed sections, maximize your avoidance of confidence errors: So that means mark for BR any question you truly are -100% certain on. After each PT/BR, evaluate your test to see what you missed and why. Use that information to identify your weaknesses. Take that knowledge back into the curriculum, back to drills, back to fundamentals. This is really still more an extended curriculum phase than it is PTing, but it's using your PT performance for a much more targeted approach within the curriculum. 1 PT a week for most of us. Any more than that and you're probably failing to adequately address your weaknesses. When you feel confident you've made improvements, take another PT and repeat the process. Once your BR score is above your target score, that means you have sufficient understanding of the material being tested."

Please check out his recorded webinar (uploaded soon) for more detailed info.

spitzy11

Thank you so much!

BenjaminSF

@spitzy11 One thing to keep in mind, in addition to the information above, is that drilling is meant to reinforce strategies/skills/concepts. Using early preptests (1-35) is a good option, because as a whole test, these are less similar to current tests. The fundamentals of the questions are the same, so they are an excellent way to practice question types without using up precious PTs that will be valuable later in your studies.

I use PT 1-35 to reinforce specific question types when I find weak points in the BR process. I use up these questions fairly indiscriminately, because I will not use any of these as a full practice test. This still leaves 40+ blank PTs for you to take later while giving you a huge bank of questions with which to practice during the curriculum! You can always return to the earlier tests to buff up on areas that show weakness once you get to the PT/BR phase.

(These early tests are also where J.Y. draws examples from in the curriculum, so I only pulled drilling questions after I was through the course.)

TimLSAT180

Question: Is it normal to circle a lot of questions the first time you take a PT post-curriculum? I'm still in the CC phase, but I feel like I'm going to circle a lot of questions once I take my first post-CC PT. Do you have any experience regarding that? @"Heart Shaped Box" @BenjaminSF @"Cant Get Right"

Cant Get Right

Totally normal.