Help breaking into 160’s

Daniella

Hi everyone!

I’ve been plateaued in the high 150’s for the past 5/6 PT’s. My goal is to get a 165 in November, but seeing myself plateau has been really discouraging.

I’m pretty solid on logic games, my RC can use some improvement, but what’s really been hurting me is LR. Specifically, flaw questions and level 5 difficulty questions, regardless of question type.

So my question is, what has helped you the most to break into the 160’s? What have you done to consistently stay there?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you everyone in advance!

MissChanandler

What is your section breakdown (like, what does "pretty solid" mean)? Try skipping the really difficult questions to give yourself more time on the easy ones.

Ohnoeshalpme

I’d like to know what your BR score is. This will tell us more about your potential improvement for November than your high 150’s will

Daniella

Sorry I should have included my section breakdown. Averaging -3 on LG, still trying to get to -0/-1. RC is about -8/-10. LR is about -18/-19. I do skip around, but sometimes while taking the test I will confidently pick an answer thinking the question wasn’t that difficult, only to find that I got the question wrong and it was a level 5 difficulty question, so I’m definitely having some confidence errors.

Daniella

Last test I took I got a 159 timed and a 170 on BR

MissChanandler

It sounds like maybe you have some misreading errors. Try forcing yourself to slow down a little bit while you're reading. And like @Ohnoeshalpme said, your BR score will help to figure out what you need to do moving forward.

Ohnoeshalpme

So for a 165 you need to shave off 1 point from LG, 4 points from each LR and 3 points from RC. Seeing that 8 of the total 12 points that you need to shave off are coming from LR, it seems pretty obvious that this should be your primary focus for now.

How are you on timing in LR? What is your strategy for the section? Do you use skipping strategies? How do you use left-over time at the end? Are there any consistent patterns of error in question types?

These are just a few of the questions that you ultimately have to find good answers for. A lot of my improvement came from first, working through each question type and understanding them in a general sense, having a strategy for each question type. Second, trusting my intuitions rather than taking time to force out the correct answers. Third, finding a tutor to work on strategies and timing for the section overall.

I was in the high 150’s range about a month ago too, but I started working with a tutor and my scores are in the range that you are shooting for now. You might spend a few hundred bucks to get where you want to be but you have a much better chance of scoring your absolute best by November if you work with a tutor.

samantha.ashley92

I agree with everything that has been said. Slowing down and paying more attention to the question stems is really helpful for me. For example, a flaw question I just did said, "...most vulnerable to criticism because it overlooks which one of the following possibilities". Before, I just used to scan the question stems quickly and I'd see "vulnerable to criticism". The second half of the stem is actually really helpful when eliminating answer choices. It just clues me in a little bit and narrows the scope of possibilities in my mind. So yeah.. paying closer attention to the question stems as well as each word of each answer choice. It sounds simple because it is haha but it seems like this stuff leads to pretty common errors. I would also suggest talking to a tutor, even if it's only for a few hours.

Habeas Porpoise

Don't be discouraged! Plateaus are normal -- most people don't see linear progress.

So I also used to struggle with flaw questions. I recommend spending a couple days just drilling flaw questions (from PTs 1-35). Definitely go back to the flaw section of the CC if you need to. Flaw questions also make heavy use of referential phrasing, so make sure to review lessons on grammar if your even remotely shaky with the concept. After that, rewatch explanation videos, redo questions, whatever you need to until you feel confident that you understand what's wrong with the stimulus, why the right ACs are right, and why the wrong ones are wrong.
Another useful method to reinforce what you've learned is to create parallel arguments with the wrong ACs. For example, if the flaw in the argument is circular reasoning, and one of the wrong ACs is "confuses the necessary condition for the sufficient condition", re-write the stimulus so that it fits the necessary-sufficiency confusion. For the stimulus + right AC, create a new 'stimulus' that uses the flaw in the original stimulus (i.e. make your own parallel flaw question). Most wrong flaw ACs are right ACs for other flaw question, and flaws repeat across tests, so this way you'll get a better grasp of how certain flaws look in practice.

For LR in general though, I think you'll have to evaluate how you're spending time on the section. How much time do you usually have after your first round? Do you have a chance to see every LR question (whether you answer it or not) before time's up? What's your skipping strategy? How much time are you spending on the 'easy' versus 'hard' questions, and when are you spending this time? Have you tried confidence drilling yet? If you can answer some of these questions it'll be easier to give you a targeted idea of what to drill.
If you haven't watched these yet:
- https://7sage.com/webinar/skip-it/
- https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/
If you're not sure about how you're handling time, record yourself doing a couple LR sections. Based on that, you can see where you're spending time/where you're wasting time, and target your studying to fix the issue.

For me, employing a skipping strategy helped me break into the 160s (since I was able to grab the low-hanging fruit and actually get through an entire section on time). Confidence drilling helped me solidify my average in the high 160s (improve my accuracy versus my speed, so I wasted less time on the easy questions and had more time to spend on tough ones).

Now for RC.
RC strategy can be pretty individualized, but there are some general tips like don't stress out if you don't understand everything you're reading, don't worrying to much about remembering the details (you can go back if the question tests details), don't spend too much time on a single question (like in LR). If you find yourself caught up in the detail, consider cutting down on annotating -- maybe don't even pick up your pencil. If you find yourself stuck on questions and unable to bring yourself to move on, establish an "exit strategy." I wrote a couple posts about RC in more detail if you're interested: https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/113384
All that said, I personally think it helps to focus a bit on one section at a time, so you might find it more effective to focus on improving LR before moving on to RC.