After How Many Full PT's Does Your Focus/Stamina Improve?

7SageThanks

Taking full timed PT's have been great for tracking progress, getting used to the feel of the test, and, with blind review, it helps to pin point knowledge gaps and problem areas. However, I still get tripped up on occasional mental fatigue and loss of focus for LR and RC. After how many full PT's does that problem go away? Or does it stay with 176+ scorers too?

It's amazing how easy a question will seem on BR and then I go back and see the answer I picked and think I must have outright lost my mind on that question.

I've taken 38 full timed PT's under test conditions, 22 of those with blind review. I'm trusting the process and keep on going thinking that my score will continue to inch up point by point as it has, but I'm surprised by how easy I still can lose focus.

I'm consistently scoring in the 171-175 range and 174-179 after I blind review. Like I said, some of the ones I blind review I realize I still have things to learn, but on others I can't help but think they are due to loss of focus/lack of stamina/mental fatigue given how easy they were on BR.

I'm on track to do at least another 30 full timed PT's before the June test, but I'm concerned that since after all of my practice I'm still losing focus on 3-5 questions/test there might be some behavior pattern I'm not recognizing that I'm unknowingly reinforcing by continuing to take PT's without addressing it.

I've tried to narrow down the possible causes by making sure I don't do a test without a proper meal or a full night's sleep, if they're doing construction right outside my window I won't take one then either. (There's still some noise when I take the PT's, but not anymore than what I think there would be on test day.) Those little things have helped but I'm running out of ideas of what else might be the cause besides that I just need more practice.

What would be helpful to hear is that those kinks work themselves out with more practice and if I took another 30 full timed PT's then focus and stamina won't be an issue to the extent that I'll miss questions over it. I want to be careful not to reinforce some bad behavior for another few months only to realize it too late.

JustDoIt

Hi!

First congrats on that BR score! It shows you have great understanding of the test.

Two things I will say: First, be wary of burning through PT's once they are gone, they are gone. With that said, you don't need to take a fresh one every week. Go back through tests that you have already taken and see if you are making the same mistakes. If it is just a focus issue, you will probably get it right on the second go. If not, it may illustrate an issue under timed conditions...

which brings me to my second point. I do the same thing as you with the stupid mistakes. The way that I fix it is by slowing myself down, reading each word of each question. If time is not an issue for you, know that you have the confidence to finish the section and don't worry or think about time anymore. It is much better for a question to take you 1 minute and get it right than 45 seconds and get it wrong. This is a lesson that I wish I had learned much earlier because my score jumped 4 points when I did this.

To retain my focus, if something throws me off, I close my eyes and take three deep breaths. I don't care how long it takes, I want to make sure that I am good for the rest of the section. It doesn't matter because I know I will have time left over so I much rather do what I can to get back on track.

As far as stamina, take 5 section tests and keep doing so. Everyone's stamina starts to wane a little but always try to keep your mind active. To do this, I will get really interested in one passage, game, stimulus, or whatever, and try to crush it. No demolish it. That amps me up because I am just like "LSAT YOU AIN'T GOT NUTHIN ON MEH! WHAT!" Then I try to ride that high throughout the section. Oh and helps your confidence tremendously.

Hope this helps!