full-time studying but little progress :(

demiiisodaaa

Hello

I've been studying full time since Aug 2017. Studied about 7-8 hours, 6 days a week. I think I rested like 5 days in total. lol
Anyways, I started with 144 and the 3 recent tests I've taken in the past few weeks are:
PT 76(159): LR : -6, -8 LG: -8 RC -7
PT 72 (161): LR : -3, -8 LG: -6 RC: -9
PT 69 (158): LR : -4, -8 LG -8 RC: -10

So basically I don't have any strong section and I need improvement in EVERYTHING...! I guess my "best" section is LR, only by a little. This is frustrating because I worked on LG the hardest. I worked on daily about 3 hrs just doing LG since Nov. I've been foolproofing 20-35 and I've foolproofed some later ones as well. But when I take timed sections, I am still able to attempt about 3 games. Surprisingly... When I BR, I can get mid to high 170s. The highest BR score was 178.
So it seems like I know the concepts necessary to take the exam, but I just can't do the questions on time.

My goal is to get 165+ but this seems very far-fetched at the moment.
I guess I'm slowly getting unmotivated & exhausted because I'm studying full-time yet seeing very slow progress. I've been stuck in mid to high 150s since October..!!

I'm registered for the Feb test, but because some parts of me already thinks that I won't get a good score in the Feb test, I feel extremely unmotivated to prep for it in the next 2 weeks. Because I probably can't really improve a lot from the scores I've been getting... So I'm planning to take June and Sept test... In my head, I know that I will improve if I continue to study. But as of now, I'm tired and lost as to what/how to study. After the Feb test, I think I need to re-plan my studying but I don't know where to begin... because I don't have any strong sections.

thanks for reading my rant... ^^;;

studyingandrestudying

Maybe you're burned out and need some time for R&R.

Eric25

I would agree with @lsatplaylist you probably need some down time. If you could postpone to June it would be worth it because getting your goal of 165+ is certainly reasonable with a few more months of prep. Have you done confidence drills or time-specific drills? They might help you with completing the questions faster, since if you're BRing in the 170s you certainly have a good grasp of the fundamentals. You've already made significant process so make sure you don't forget that!

beezmoof

I was in a pretty similar situation as you... full time studier, was feeling like I was plateauing, had major major time issues w LR and LG, had to push my test back a couple of times, was starting to feel hopeless.

Here's what saved me:
1) taking a three week break during the holidays to recalibrate and to actually let my studying sink in. Also more importantly to regain my sanity.
2) as @estouten25 said, confidence drills for LR! I've been doing it for a couple of weeks and have seen major improvement in my timing and my... confidence lol.

I've also pushed my test back to June and I'm feeling a lot more confident about that than I was with the prospect of taking the exam in February.

beezmoof

You already know you can do better if you keep studying, so in order to do better I would say it's almost necessary to take a break. Think of the break as a means to get a +165!

Broccoli

Irrelevant stuff but Demii soda is good.. hey I think your score can improve if you practice logic game more

demiiisodaaa

Thanks everyone for all your advice...!!
Yess, I'll definitely need to take a break after the Feb test.. for future studying and for my sanity haha
I haven't done any drills yet so after the break I should definitely start with those...
But games are taking way longer to master than I'd imagined

How long did it take for you guys to master the games?? Cuz I've been consistently working on LG for about 3-4 months...

demiiisodaaa

@Broccoli180 HAHA yes demisoda is pretty greatt

Seeking Perfection

@demiiisodaaa said:
Thanks everyone for all your advice...!!
Yess, I'll definitely need to take a break after the Feb test.. for future studying and for my sanity haha
I haven't done any drills yet so after the break I should definitely start with those...
But games are taking way longer to master than I'd imagined

How long did it take for you guys to master the games?? Cuz I've been consistently working on LG for about 3-4 months...

It took me about 3 months of just games prep for my retake. I was at the 3 or so of the 4 games spot your are in now before those 3 months though.

You have done the hard part, getting so you know how to get to the answer. Now you just need to keep doing it over and over again until you can do them faster. But at least it is less miserable to do them now that you sort of know how. I juggle for fun and you get the same sort of thing. Once you can juggle a pattern(even if it is shaky and inconsistent) you know you are over the tipping point. If you just keep repeating it enough times, it will eventually be solid. This might take a long time, maybe even longer than it took to get to juggling it shakily, but it is inevitable if you keep practicing.

You said you have been foolproofing 20-35. What about 1-20? I started finishing the section solidly more often than not once I got throught foolproofing 1-35. After that I added in newer games. By the time I tested I had went through almost all of them since whenever I finished a PT, I added its games to my foolproofing pile.

10bird__

lol.. now i have a craving for demisoda..

But anyways, I think it might not be a bad idea to just take the june/july, sept test if you're not feeling comfortable. The feb test is undisclosed and I believe the june exam starts at 12:30, which works to your benefit if you're not a morning person like me.

For LG, I think you can improve dramatically by just getting more reps in and developing some sort of intuition during the process. I personally haven't foolproofed(?) anything but I was able to go -0 during the Sept & Dec test because I could diagram quickly and feel where the right answers were.

demiiisodaaa

@"Seeking Perfection" said:
You said you have been foolproofing 20-35. What about 1-20? I started finishing the section solidly more often than not once I got throught foolproofing 1-35. After that I added in newer games. By the time I tested I had went through almost all of them since whenever I finished a PT, I added its games to my foolproofing pile.

I was doing testmasters online course in the beginning, so I've foolproofed the games that they covered (about 50 games or so). That's why I only was able to foolproof 20-35 until now. But I plan to do the 1-20.

Like you said, I think now I'm at a point where I am able to "juggle" any games with unlimited time - which wasn't the case couple months ago. So it will just require a lot of repetition for me to get faster. Right now, I feel very rushed when I do games in real time so I would misread some rules and have the wrong set up and such.. which must not happen in the real test...!!