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Related Discussions
Timed Section before a PT?
Hi all 
In my timed PTs, I always tank the first LR section... a VERY poor performance. I think this can be attributed to my brain not being warmed up? As a solution, would it make sense to take a timed LR section prior to the PT?
If yes, a concern I have in implementing this into my routine is- test day. On test day, do I take a timed PT at home before driving to the test center? Do I do it in my car at the test center? Would taking it in my car freak me out too much right before the test? I do not want to finalize something into my routine and then derail it on test day, possibly negatively impacting my performance.
I could take a timed LR section maybe an hour before the PT and then maybe a LG or 2 right before?
Anyways, I would love to hear what you guys think. Thank you in advance!
Comments
Maybe not a full section. Hit some easy types of questions that you want your brain to be tuned to (for me that's NA and flaw) to boost confidence and get my mind going on the right stuff. A full section might tire you out. 6 sections a day might be killer
@spitzy11
actually I have struggled with this same issue. I find less so now as I did before, but I still notice that the initial section is harder and I have more nerves. Once I'm in, I feel like things go smoother.
I've found warming up with a couple logic games, or a few LR questions prior can help.
Also, on a purely personal level, one thing I've found helpful is to allow myself more okayness to skip questions in that first section. For example, sometimes I even skip the very first LR passage! Even though it is easy, I can feel myself freezing in that initial anxiety with that first question and if I spent a ton of time on it, it would throw me for the rest of the exam. So I just read it sometimes, and if it isn't fully clear right away then skip and move to the second question. By then I find I'm usually ok and it seems to work as a strategy and I have time to go back and do it at the end
I'd say experiment a bit. I think a full section is overkill. I'm thinking maybe 5 Lr questions, a couple easy games, and an RC passage you've already done. It's just to get the juices flowing so to speak. No need to study before studying, you know?
Always a good idea to warm up though. Whenever I don't my brain is like mush for the first 5-10 questions.
Thank you guys @"Alex Divine" @LSATcantwin @"vanessa fisher" ! Yeah, I'll start tomorrow before my PT by doing some LR, 2 games, and maybe an RC passage too. Should I do this under timed conditions/ try to go quickly or should I do them untimed?
That's a great question. Honestly, I would do them untimed. Push the pace. but your goal isn't to get the warm up questions correct under timed conditions, but rather warm up.
I'd recommend experimenting with it. I have been taking a pair of tests back to back every Saturday to build endurance, but have found myself scoring a slightly higher average on the second test. I have considered taking a full practice test the morning before the test, but probably won't because I feel like a unusually high, low, or unscored practice test might psych me out for the real test. Additionally, I want my beauty rest before the real thing a little more than I want to wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning to do a PT. That said, if I wake up extra early and can't fall to sleep I might take a PT the morning of.
It might be best to do a warmup with a section that you have done before so you know that you are getting them right, but it still warms you up. I can't do the partial section, couple of questions thing, but feel compelled to do a whole section at a time.
I would take a break after any warmup before your practice tests since you can't bring prep materials into the test and it will take a while for the administrators to get everyone all checked in and set up.
To some extent you have to take the test cold.
P.S. If you are worried about the warmup in your car throwing you off on test day, warm up in your car before your practice tests.
That's an interesting method. I feel like I would worry about burning two tests in a day. It seems like, firstly, you are burning yourself out possibly a bit more than just a warm up and you'd have twice as many PTs to BR and you are depriving of yourself the ability to improve, drill, access and get better between the two tests. If you can take two tests in a day, back to back, endurance isn't your issue. So maybe try just doing a section or two and a few games?
I warmed up with 2 early LG that I recently fool-proofed and have 100% confidence on, 1 RC passage from last PT that I went -0 on, and 6 easy LR questions from like PT 57 or something for today's PT. Unintentionally lol I did have a break between the warm up and taking the actual PT because I tried to set up my self recording device which miserably failed and then hit me in the head ?. Having said that, today was the FIRST PT that timing didn't demolish me on. Difficult to say if the warm up was the primary factor that produced that or if the drilling and more PTs under my belt are finally kicking in, or what. Happy either way!!
Regarding taking 2 full PTs back to back... I think I'd die and burn out on the LSAT real quick. I applaud you for your endurance and desire though. I would just feel like those other few hours could be used for drilling/ app work/ BR/ a solid nap which I always need after a PT
Dang it. I inserted the crying laughing emoji after the part where my self recording device hit me in the head but it didn't show up
I didn't do this when studying, but I did do exactly one logic game and around 5 LR questions before leaving my house for the center on test day. But I'm not sure how much it really helped, because there's just SO MUCH time wasted at the test center, and all the questions I got wrong were in the first two sections of the test for me anyway.
If it's a consistent issue for you, I would advise possibly bringing a flash card with some LR questions printed out on it, and read through those while you're waiting in the registration line - and then toss it out before entering the test room (there shouldn't be any issue if you just make sure to throw it away before they check your ziploc bag).
I wasn't so much recommending that anyone replicate my exact strategy so much as lauding the virtues of experimentation. I am taking back to back pt's (the reason why isn't really important) and this led to me noticing that I do better after I have just taken one.
I do have good reasons for taking them back to back, but justifying them wasn't the point of my earlier post. The point was that experimenting with different rituals which are replicable on test day can lead to unexpectedly beneficial boosts.
I would ignore the part following between the two lines unless you happen to be curious about the curcumstances in which I found it would be a good idea to do back to back PT's.
The first reason that I am doing them back to back (spaced out by 15 minutes) is that I am only doing 4 section tests. I can't fool myself into not knowing which section is experimental on a 5 section PT so the fake experimental section acts as a stress free section which won't exist on the real thing. Some people have noted that 4 section tests don't properly prepare you for the length of the test so this was my method of making sure I had the necessary endurance. Others might find that they can take the fake section with the same attitude as the real ones.
The second reason is that I am applying this cycle and therefore an not remotely concerned about burning through PT's too fast. I am retaking the test in September and worst case might retake it one more time with minimal additional studying (since I am a kjd and will be busy during the school year) in December.
My decision to only retake those two times is pretty defensible. I have a 172 from the February test and am just trying to boost it a little higher. To the end of improving my score, I have went through the core curriculum on 7 sage, am foolproofing games 1-35 (and maybe more if I have time), and am PTing and blind reviewing.
The only day I regularly have time for a PT at the same time of day as the actual test is Saturday. Since I am PTing at pretty high scores (the last six have fluctuated from 174 to my first 180) blind review goes pretty quick. Therefore, I have time for two in one day. I do them back to back which enables the second one to still be close to the right time of day. Then I blind review and score them.
There isn't much analysis to be done. Usually there are only a maximum of about 3-4 total reading comp and lr questions wrong which is too few to find a larger pattern. (Analysis requires several PT's) My main problem which sometimes occurs is the logic games where the central issue is usually time. My blind review always gets them right and I watch the explanation videos.
I did about 20 PT's (including 10 from 1-35) before my February test, am just finishing up the PT's which come included with the basic course, and plan to do the 19 newest tests before September 16.
Since my classes start two weeks before the test, I am only planning on two PT's in those two weeks. Until then I have 18 that I intend to do. Two every Saturday puts a good dent in those and I'll have to take some others at other times of day.
I'm not at all worried about burning out from the pt's because I intend to have that two weeks of lighter studying and because I took 20 PTs in the two weeks leading up to my February test (sadly without blind review) and tested at 172 only one point lower than my average going in of 173. That said, if I feel burnt out or see a drop in my scores, I can always take a break. At least until one actually sees a score drop, PTing less because of fear of burning out seems like a massive mistake to me.
So I guess the more succinct response to this would be.
I can't take credit for the interestingness of the method. I read about it online in a online testimonial by a 180 scorer on the test.
I can't burn through enough tests in the remaining time so I am not concerned about burning two tests in a day.
I found that it improved my score on the second test so the first practice test is either not burning me out more than my warm up or providing a compensating benefit of warming me up more than my warm up.
I blind review both PT's which isn't all that time consuming.
The whole point of taking the tests back to back was to ensure that endurance won't be an issue on the real one. It isn't an issue right now, but if I do shorter tests than the real one for the next month endurance might be an issue come test day. It might also be an issue if I relax for 35 minutes during every test by taking a section that I know is experimental.
I can improve, drill, assess, and get better during the week between sets of two PT's. I have until my classes start to improve and get better regardless of whether I PT twice on Saturday or once.
This part may be relevant to the OP again.
My current warmup before the first test is a full section of old logic games(my weakest section). This is also the least warmup I plan to do before the real thing.
I hadn't thought about doing it in the car until Spitzy mentioned it though. This Saturday I think I will wake up, do an old section in the car, eat my pre-LSAT snack, do my first practice test, do my second practice test, blind review them, and then enjoy the rest of my Saturday break from foolproofing logic games.
Sorry about the bolding, I tried to make to horizontal lines using the "-" and it bolded the preceding paragraphs. Ignore the part between the bolded paragraphs unless you are interested in why I take PT's back to back like Alex Divine seemed to be. Sorry if its long-winded. I tend to get long winded when I am avoiding fool-proofing.
I sadly forgot about my post. Do you remember how this worked for you??
Today I took PT78 and scored my highest PT yet (thank God) but LR1 is still -5 WORSE than LR2. I warmed up with an RC passage, 2 LG games, and around 15-ish LR questions. I felt better than normal, but obviously am aiming to close the gap between what I'm missing on LR on each section. I normally only do around 5 LR questions, but thought increasing it may help. I guess I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do? Maybe it's the fact that I'm more tired by the second LR section so I don't overthink things as much??
Any advice is appreciated
haven't read the previous comments but i've started experimenting with warmups. on this last PT, i did 15 LR, a full LG section (which i was pretty familiar with), and 1 RC passage. it was my highest pt yet but i think i will still reduce the amount of material.
the most important thing for me in warm up is to establish my pacing or rhythm including skips. i didn't time myself, but i was moving at a pace of 1 lr question per minute and skipping.
I think I'm going to try this on Saturday too. I was toying with the idea of doing a full LR section as well, but felt my brain getting tired so opted not to. But today on my experimental LG section (S3), I felt f***ing exhausted and went -0 (victory dance!!!). I think it was because I did it as LR LG LG (break) LR RC and I was also really hungry haha. Maybe I need to be mentally tired?! Thanks for the input
I didn't notice any big swings even with the timed warmup in my car, which is a relief for me. I'm just trying to remove any possible barriers or sources of controllable error going into September.
I think its a little different for you. 5 questions is a big difference. If there is something unrelated to ability costing you 5 questions and it's not just bad luck you need to nail it down.
Otherwise, you are going to get an LSAT score which does not reflect your ability or your hard work.
It could be nerves. In which case it's good you feel them on PTs because that will help you learn to control them for the real thing. A warmup, meditation, or just more practice could help if it's stress.
It could be a warmup, so keep trying longer warmups and maybe even the back to back test thing. However, for me the warm up is a small thing that matters least on LR where time management seems easiest.
This is just a little broad advice I'd offer on LR since I'm not fully buying the warming up or overthinking explanation.
Honestly, LR has always been my easiest section so I can only relate and help so much, but I rarely miss a question and regret having thought too much about it. JY really is right that there is one right answer to the questions. For the most part it's not the most right, the best, or least bad. It's the only right answer. And there is something about every wrong answer which makes it wrong. I'm fast at LR, but I'm always somewhere between fast enough to determine all of the answers correctly once in 35 minutes and being able to determine all the answers twice (both by prooving the correct answer correct and the incorrect answers incorrect.
So if you are feel like you are overthinking questions it's a good sign in a way. It means you have extra time. But, your probably not using it efficiently. First you want to try each question which ever way seems easier elliminating wrong answers or finding the correct answer. If one way is not working try the other. I usually read the question and stimulus, have a potential answer choice in mind, pick it if it appears, and if not switch strategies and reject bad answer choices. Then, once you are done, circle back to ones you guessed on or would previously have spent time trying to overthink and approach them with the opposite approach you predominately used to make a guess the first time. If you get the same answer then you are fine. If not, figure out why and decide. Work your way through checking progressively easier questions until you have checked them all or time is called.
Needing to be tired could be it, but seems like a hard thing to control. For one thing as you get more practice, it will become harder to tire yourself out.
Additionally, there might be a steep cliff on the far side of tired where you are too delerious to do well.
That said, if it works for you, it works. And only one score really matters so it only needs to work once.
@spitzy11 I couldn't agree more with the general strategy of warming up before PTs and certainly on test day. For the June test I did 2 games, 12 LR questions and an RC passage at home right before driving to the test center, and it definitely helped mitigate first section rust.
@dantlee14 bringing some Qs to the test center for the wait time is genius! I will definitely do that in september, whether I use them or not, is up in the air, but I like the idea!
@spitzy11 You theorized that you might be overthinking on first sections and do better when you are "mentally tired". You should try keeping track of questions where you change your initial answer upon further review. Maybe circle your first answer and when you come back, if you change your mind put a star or other symbol to differentiate. I did this on college exams and I found that, for me, my first answer was more likely to be right than my changed answer. Obviously on LSAT questions there are cases where a second glance reveals an obvious detail that you missed before, but on questions where you're torn between 2 or 3 ACs, even after a second glance, this could be beneficial.