What’s your warm up routine?

Peaceofmind

I’m a slow starter and I found that if I don’t do some warm up questions before a PT I won’t be able to get to the last 5-6 questions of the first section. My warm up routine has been: one game (doesn’t have to be new), 10 LR questions (new), and 1 set of RC passage + questions (new). I time myself when I warm up. I found that except for LG, doing old questions just won’t warm me up the same way new questions do.
This routine is enough to warm me up but the whole thing can take me almost 40 minutes depending on how groggy I am in the morning and can eat up my energy during the actual test. I read some old threads and saw ppl doing just games and a few LR questions. But I want to be prepared if the first section happens to be RC(!!!).
I’m wondering what worked for you guys? Any info will be much appreciated!

john1234-1

Bumping this. Thanks for sharing @KarateMaster Curious what other folks have to say on this. I have not done a strict "warm-up" for my PTs (although I review questions from my last PT right beforehand), and curious what process I should start implementing.

Cant Get Right

I do something very similar, just with a handful more LR questions to make it about half a section. That way, I end up doing a full PT in warmup every four days which feels like a nice round number.

I'd advise against using fresh material for this purpose. Pull from PTs 1-35 and repeats. Don't burn fresh material just as a warmup, even if it means you're not quite as warm as you maybe could be. That material has far greater value in almost any other context.

Wesley-B

Bumping this.
Thanks for bringing this up @KarateMaster! I definitely need a warm-up before taking a PT. I've looked at the last PT (or multiple) before taking a new PT, but am interested if anyone has definite routines. Mine was very casual.

Peaceofmind

@"Cant Get Right"
Thanks for sharing what you do for warm up! And I agree I need to recycle old questions rather than burning precious new stuff for this purpose.
Was wondering if you ever feel mentally drained during the third section on the actual thing? That’s what happened to me since this warmup routine is basically itself a 35mins worth section, and makes the 3rd section effectively the 4th..

Cant Get Right

I actually tend to gain energy over the course of a test rather than lose it, but I suspect I’m rather odd in that, haha. I think it may come from a strategy which emphasizes making correct decisions over choosing correct answers. Sometimes making a correct decision in a certain situation virtually guarantees you’ll miss the question. Conversely, making an incorrect decision often allows you to get the correct answer. For example, you may decide to spend 3:30 on the hardest question on the section. This may allow you to get the question correct with 100% confidence. The fact you got the right answer in no way means though that you didn’t make a catastrophically bad decision and an enormous error. I think it’s very stressful and draining to take the test with the goal of choosing correct answer choices. By focusing on making good decisions, I can actually achieve my goal with certainty. The answers I won’t know until I see my score report, but I know in real time if I’m making good decisions or not. That relieves a lot of pressure and a major energy drain.

That’s a bit of a tangent I guess, but for me it’s how I manage my energy effectively. As far as the warm up goes, allow for a little cool down time which incorporates some kind of energy builder. I liked to watch Michael Jordan highlight reels and listen to my pump up music right before checking in. I like to think of Sept 2016 as my Flu Game, haha. Channeling MJ really pulled me through.

MindyKale

I do the same. I usually add extra questions to the warmup depending on my weakest section performance in my most recent PT. For example if I scored lowest in RC, I add two RC passages, 12-13 LR questions, 1 LG. Lowest in games (i.e. lower than my average) I add two games, 15 LR, 1 RC. Or a full section LR.
I use tests between 1-55 for this purpose. Some are retake sections but not really answers that I remember.
I also use time only as a marker and don't set myself any constraints during the warmup to see if there are things I am missing under the time about this test and the next time I could be cautious of it.

Hope that helps.