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** Edit: This test was not blind reviewed before I graded.
Ok guys, so today was the big day.
I took my first timed PT as vowed to do to determine if I would going to test in September or December. To give an idea of my place in the CC I finished LR and LG and had just started RC. I wanted to be done with the CC but essentially life happened. Hospital, car problems, family, you name it - it happened.
So my final score is: 158
Lg - 4
LR - 8
RC - 11
LR - 5
The first LR I knew was going to be worst because I was all flustere. I also knew RC was going to be exactly that lol.
I wanted to crack 160 but that was with the idea that I would've been done with the RC CC. I have NO idea what to do. Should I post pone?
Comments
If your goal is 160+ and want to guarantee it, I'd say postpone...it's not something we really want to here. Most of us want to get this damn test over with, but the score is what matters for getting us into our goal schools.
158 is easily striking distance of a 160. You could get a 160 on an "easier" test no problem, but that's leaving it up to chance. It's also universally accepted that on test day you should expect +-3 points of your average. Right now you are only one test in, but that plus you at a 155-161 range.
If you can wait, I'd say take your time on the test. Try and kill those Lg down to -1 figure out what's going on in LR. It seems like there is still a couple types of problems that you are grappling with.
i say yes. If you have not strung together a consistent mid 160s i would not take it yet.
you can always take both, no?
I LOVE that I can always count on you to respond to my post.
So I know exactly what happened to LR - I panicked. I hit question 12 and it was a little rough and I had a mental spiral "What if I do worst?! What if the -3 earlier this week was a fluke?! What if i'm actually just an idiot?!" I panicked the whole way through the rest of the section. Up until then I hadn't missed a single one. When I hit the second LR section I had three legit "Oh shit" questions where I couldn't decide between answers and two where I could feel the rust of not working on LR questions for a week sink in. I expected a -5 and was happy my gut was correct.
LGs i'm absolutely certain I can get to -1 in a few days. I hit the third game and was like oh shit this one looks complicated and i'm low on time. Let me look at the last game - well that looks complicated too. I realize I really need to sharpen up my grouping skills but i'm confident that I can get a -1.
So my real question for you is it possible to improve my RC to crack 160 in 3ish weeks?
I'm a bit confused by your statement. I have not yet successfully cracked 160.
Perhaps but i'm a bit scared to try to juggle the studying the LSAT requires with full time school and a heavier part time job and internship. If anything I would want to postpone till february which means I'm skipping this cycle.
Was 160 your goal score for this PT? Or, is 160 your overall goal?
Goal for this test. I would love to be a few points over though.
@Victoria14 if you can get 3 points in LG and like 3-4 back in LR you are in 160 WITHOUT even touching RC. Of course we want to improve all our sections. I'm not the guy to ask about with RC though...I still go -6/-7 there...
I'm going to go ahead and cast my vote for postponing. I truly believe that if you give yourself the extra time, a 160 will be so doable that you may want to aim for a 165+
Also, I have no doubt you can raise your score to a 160 by the September test. However, we always need to have a few extra points of padding to account for having a bad day or test day jitters. So ideally you'll be scoring right around a 163-165 before sitting for the December exam.
Good luck
@Victoria14 if your goal is 160 then you can chance this test, maybe do well, maybe do worse.
If you put together weeks of consistency at a specific average at least you would have gained more experience, and have a better gauging point of where you might end up.
Given the facts, I would also say postpone. Like Alex said, you, ideally, want to be scoring above your target score in order to account for test day nerves/jitters. I think you can make a lot of progress from now to December.
I agree with the others! I took the advice myself a few weeks ago. Just imagine walking into the test center with the utmost confidence that you will be able to score at or above where you would like to. Cheers.
I hadn't even thought of this. I would love a couple point cushions in RC but I'm pretty positive I can get this score consistently.
I agree. I've got a crazy fall - i'm just concerned I can't commit the time consistently.
I vote wait
I would take it. Now is not the time to distract from your GPA by adding studying during the semester for LSAT and since you're so incredibly close to your target score, I don't think it'll hurt you to take it! As someone who's starting school again in two weeks, I feel your pain.