Improving a constant score

wainnigogo

Hi, I have been studying for a few months now and have realized that i always face the same problem, that is, when i see the answers after checking the test I instantly think"oh that makes sense". I am quite sure that i really understand the answer, but i get it wrong again the next time when facing a similar question. Are there any tips that u guys can suggest on improving the score? Please leave comments below on what habits that u have either during the exam or BRing that help u much more than other methods. Thank you very much!

svenphysics

My guess is that you dont understand what each and every answer choice means. In BR you should not only pick out the right one but explain the wrong ones. Once you understand every answer choice im sure you will see improvement. For the ones that are wrong possible come up with a hypothetical that would make it right if possible.

wainnigogo

Yes, I am picking out and explaining the wrong ones too, but I still dont see a big improvement. Is it just that I need more time and practice? Can i please ask how many PTs did u do when u start seeing a big improvement? Thank you!

pappasm91

Yes, I think it's simply a matter of needing more practice I went through the same exact process and would get incredibly frustrated. It's probably overkill for most, but I stopped rushing to take as many PTs thinking I could improve with more tests and would rather spend a couple of hours reviewing ONE section from my PT. As the individual stated above, you should be able to explain why the wrong answers are wrong, and why the correct one is right. I would, however, do this for every question (both for questions I got correct and incorrect) in the section. People have said this before, but create a journal to mark your wrong answers. For me, I would sit and map out each question in my review: what is the premise/supporting statements and the conclusion being made. What is the overall flow of the stimulus to make their point? What is the underlying flaw/problem and how is the author using that logic to justify their statement? When looking at the answer choices, look to see if they are supporting what the question is asking you to do. More often than not, my analytical brain would create mental gymnastics to make the wrong answer right. When I reviewed, it would come down to "wait, that was never mentioned in the stimulus" or I would add things unnecessarily.

7Sage has great resources to build your foundation, but the greatest resource you have are PTs. Slow down, understand what is being presented and asked of you, and know you will get there eventually! If you force a timeline on yourself you are only going to get more frustrated and prolong the experience from burnout. Once you review a section, make sure to go back and review your notes. You will start noticing trends with question types and how you approach the answer.

I hope this helps!

wainnigogo

@pappasm91 said:
Yes, I think it's simply a matter of needing more practice I went through the same exact process and would get incredibly frustrated. It's probably overkill for most, but I stopped rushing to take as many PTs thinking I could improve with more tests and would rather spend a couple of hours reviewing ONE section from my PT. As the individual stated above, you should be able to explain why the wrong answers are wrong, and why the correct one is right. I would, however, do this for every question (both for questions I got correct and incorrect) in the section. People have said this before, but create a journal to mark your wrong answers. For me, I would sit and map out each question in my review: what is the premise/supporting statements and the conclusion being made. What is the overall flow of the stimulus to make their point? What is the underlying flaw/problem and how is the author using that logic to justify their statement? When looking at the answer choices, look to see if they are supporting what the question is asking you to do. More often than not, my analytical brain would create mental gymnastics to make the wrong answer right. When I reviewed, it would come down to "wait, that was never mentioned in the stimulus" or I would add things unnecessarily.

7Sage has great resources to build your foundation, but the greatest resource you have are PTs. Slow down, understand what is being presented and asked of you, and know you will get there eventually! If you force a timeline on yourself you are only going to get more frustrated and prolong the experience from burnout. Once you review a section, make sure to go back and review your notes. You will start noticing trends with question types and how you approach the answer.

I hope this helps!

Thank you so so much, I would definitely try that!

gabes900-1

I agree with above. But, also, do you find yourself sloppy under timed conditions or nervous? This may be the problem. From experience, this has been a problem of mine sometimes where I deviate from the process and start focusing on answering the question. Instead, I should be focusing on the process if you know what I mean: (1) read question stem, (2) ID premise and conclusion, (3) understanding stimulus check 4) pause and think of argument with critical eye for assumptions, (5) proceed to question task.

I bring the aforementioned process up because I think sometimes people have trouble under pressure sticking to the actual process, and then they get questions wrong as a result. Sometimes there is a lack of understanding there, but, sometimes, it can be this lack of sticking to the LR process as well or either or.

I hope this helps

gabes900-1

In addition to my comment above, thinking of “staying in the critical mindset” during LR is almost like a defense against the test takers sometimes tripping you up easily, this is controlling for someone who has gone through the CC and has a solid understanding already. An additional reason for why I claim this is because I’ve noticed the answers are always in the stimulus. Grammar, difficult subject matter, conditional logic, and psychologically difficult relationships compared to the common world, are all tricks they use to get you OUT of this critical mindset. So, I think it’s important to always stay in this critical thinking mindset clearly.

clear227

Focus on your weakest question types. I thought I was just "making silly mistakes", but for some reason focusing on question types is the thing that raised my score 10+ points.

I also second what gabes900 said about sticking with a process. Before you start studying you might answer questions intuitively, but you basically want to turn yourself into a computer that executes a script. When you take a test you want to be CONSCIOUSLY reasoning, which does take practice.

I got to consistent -0/1 in LR by always (1) reading the question and identifying type (2) reading the stimulus (3) putting my mouse on the conclusion (4) pre-phrasing answers (5) eliminating wrong choices (6) choosing the right choice or skipping and coming back.

You have to do this for every question. The prephrase is the most counterintuitive part, but it's the secret to being analytical and fast.

wainnigogo

Thank you so much for the advice, will def add that in my studies!!

gabes900-1

@clear227 said:
Focus on your weakest question types. I thought I was just "making silly mistakes", but for some reason focusing on question types is the thing that raised my score 10+ points.

I also second what gabes900 said about sticking with a process. Before you start studying you might answer questions intuitively, but you basically want to turn yourself into a computer that executes a script. When you take a test you want to be CONSCIOUSLY reasoning, which does take practice.

I got to consistent -0/1 in LR by always (1) reading the question and identifying type (2) reading the stimulus (3) putting my mouse on the conclusion (4) pre-phrasing answers (5) eliminating wrong choices (6) choosing the right choice or skipping and coming back.

You have to do this for every question. The prephrase is the most counterintuitive part, but it's the secret to being analytical and fast.

This is great advice on process!

WinningHere

Identify weaknesses/patterns in wrong answers, drill in between or instead of PT's, master pre-phrasing, and then come back.

Cant Get Right

You’re focusing on the wrong thing. Don’t just ask why the right answer is right. That should be looked at, but it’s really not the most important thing. You have to be more reflective than that. Your objective should be to figure out your misunderstanding. Any time you get something wrong in BR, it means you thought the right answer was wrong and a wrong answer was right. Reverse engineer your reasoning to find specifically where you went wrong. Something didn’t mean what you thought it meant. What was it? What were the fundamental misunderstandings that resulted in that outcome? Why did you think it meant what you thought it meant? How can you correct the misunderstanding if you see something similar in the future? Understanding the right answer is incidental to your study goal, but it shouldn’t be the goal itself.

Also, you need to BR more intensively. If you’ve really BR’d right, you should be shocked anytime you miss anything. If it instantly makes sense when you see the right answer, something is wrong.

RaphaelP

Great question! This is a common issue that many test-takers will encounter. The biggest thing is to try to approach it less situationally and more dispositionally. What I mean by that is that, implicitly or otherwise, a lot of us will look at a missed question and think "Okay, I missed it, but that won't repeat again - it's just this one tough question." That's bad because it prevents you from thinking about it as a flaw in how you approached it, a flaw that will repeat itself.
Whenever you miss a question, you need to tell yourself that there was a flaw in your approach - the time then needs to be spent figuring out what what that flaw was. I'd suggest you do the following -
1) Take the section and blind review it thoroughly. Don't skimp on this, because this can help you isolate what is timing and what is fundamentals
2) For questions you missed or flagged, watch the video. See how J.Y. explains this
3) For all of the questions you watched the video for, you should add it to a Wrong Answer Journal. This is the really key way to identify patterns. For every entry, you should (i) explain what the answer is; (ii) explain WHY you missed it and what went wrong; (iii) write out a pattern that you think this exemplifies in your mistakes; (iv) write an actionable takeaway for future questions. This will get you thinking dispositionally and not situationally, preventing you from chalking it up to "a tough question that won't happen again"