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Related Discussions
PT dilemma
nathanieljschwartz
Alum Member
So i studied for 3 months and sat for the december LSAT, were i received a score i was unhappy with. During that time i studied in a hap-hazardous way, not tracking my growth and understanding. To make a long story short i wasted tons of PTs. Now that i am back on track, with a proper study schedule, i am looking what i have to work with. I have 1-35 which i am drilling with. I have 40-52 and 71-80 which are fresh. Since i plan on sitting for september i only planned on taking 20 or so timed PTs, so that is fine. I am looking through my spent tests and noticing that i only did random sections out of these and have 2 or 3 sections per tests that are fresh. My question is should i drill these instead of 1-35?
Comments
Yes. Drill the newer ones that you have left until you run out, if you even do run out. People always say to drill older sections (1-35) while PT'ing but I think that's horrible advice, since you're not doing the same types of questions that occur in the new tests. With the exception of drilling certain types, I really do not advise drilling early sections before doing a newer PT.
Source: I took it in December too and I started PT'ing again about a month ago. The 1-35 drills wrecked my scores when I was drilling 50s and 60s.
Thanks for the advice. I was just scanning the 60s and i noticed i dont remember practically any of them. Do you think i should just order another set of 60s and PT with those. Or should i stick with the 40s which i never touched. And drill the 60s?
No worries. I don't know about going that far. I'm drilling in the late 40s/early 50s right now and moving up to PTs in the mid to late 50s.
Did you PT any of the 60s already? If so, you should probably still drill them if you've had enough time away from them, which it seems like you already have. I'm just trying to drill sections that are within a reasonable time frame compared with the test I'm taking.
I took parts of them 7 months ago i dont think i timed them. And i didnt recognize them when i was skimming. I definitely went through the 50s thoroughly though
I think you'd be alright re-using the more recent ones you've seen as drills or even as PTs you are doing again. Whether you remember them fully or not, they're still very valuable. I'd order another set! Just don't put too much stock in the scores and focus on improving and learning. You have 9 fresh recent tests which is a good amount to get you to September at a clip of 1 a week. Just be sure this time you are properly BR'ing.
Yeah. 7 months ago is definitely enough time I would imagine. I'd drill some of those and PT a couple before you get to the 70s. Just pick the most unfamiliar ones. I think this would be really helpful.
I'm about where you're at since I bought and wasted most of the 60s before I was able to acquire every PT. So now that I've spent some significant time away, I'm working my way back up to those and they're still pretty challenging.
@nathanieljschwartz I don't know that I'd totally skip out on 1-35, especially if you don't know what you're doing. Drilling is to figure out what you're doing and how to tackle a certain question type. The questions haven't changed. You still need to know how to pick apart the argument and determine the gap between the premises and conclusion. That hasn't changed from 1-35 to the more recent PT. If you are having issues with any question type you should use 1-35 to iron that out before moving on to the later PT.
Agreed. The test has evolved but the fundamentals remain the same. However, September is just a little over 2 months away so if you're doing timed sections, I'd also recommend the newer tests which you've seen (parts of) before. If you find a particular question type is giving you issues, 1-35 are always there for you to use.
You've got a sizable amount of fresh material! Make the most of it and crush the test in September.
Thanks all, i am pretty set on taking September , but if i do decide on december i dont want to have exhausted all my fresh tests. Should i take 1 PT a week with an intensive BR - drilling schedule ? Or 2 PTs a week?
I mean, after you BR and address and fix all the issues on that test, then it's time for another PT. The BR/addressing issues, and drilling after a PT can easily take more than a week. It all depends on how much time you need to do things properly. I've always felt like 1 PT a week was completely fine. Then I spend the rest of the week BR'ing, drilling weaknesses, and doing timed sections and making sure I'm improving before my next PT. Otherwise, I don't see any point in just taking another test because it's been a week since your last test.
All this to say, I think 1 PT would be fine. Even better if you have fresh material left for December!
So the consensus is that it's ok to drill LR/RC/LG from 1-35, correct? I am planning to take PT's from the 50's and up from now till September. I would think it's not good to be drilling from LR's 50 and up since we'll be taking these PT's correct?
Correct. Drilling the early PTs (1-35) are great for practice!
Thanks again man! @"Alex Divine"