Average Discrepancy Between Actual vs. Blind Review Score

cmanzano415

Hey All,

I was just wondering what the average discrepancy between your actual scores vs. your BR scores are after taking a PT. I know I average about a 10pt difference between actual and BR scores. Is that too high of a discrepancy? What should the difference be between scores by the time Test Day comes around? And for those of you who have closed the gap, how have you lessened the gap?

Pacifico

That's a good sign since it means you have a higher ceiling to reach. When I first started PTs my differential was way too low because I was doing BR on the same copy I had just taken and found it very difficult to ever justify changing my answers so my BR scores were floundering 2-4 points higher than my timed score. Since I switched to doing BR on a clean copy my BR has jumped up into the 170s much more consistently. Understanding the types of errors you are making and on what types of questions will help you to close those gaps in the future. For instance, my conditional logic skills are really strong during BR, but I'm still not fast enough on the harder questions that use it during timed PTs and so that's where I'm focusing my energy right now in order to shore up my LR game. When test day comes around it doesn't really matter what the discrepancy is since you don't get to BR your real test, it's just a tool to help increase your understanding so that your timed score is in the proper range come test day.

DumbHollywoodActor

The blind review score is a measure of your understanding of the test. The timed score is a measure of your performance of the test. There's no way to predict how long it will take to achieve your BR score. Just because you know how a violin works doesn't mean you can or should be playing at Carnegie Hall. The only way to do that is to practice, practice, practice.

guitarnara

I know that it sounds pedantic (sorry ) ... but I feel like how much one knows about an instrument versus playing at Carnegie Hall does not represent the relationship between BR scores and Timed scores to the fullest. I think a more suitable analogy would be that BR Scores represent how well one can play a fast passage of music without mistakes, at a slower speed, while timed scores are analogous to how well one is able to pull it off at the actual speed. During my undergrad (music) , professors used to ask me, "If you can't play your notes perfectly, slowed down, what makes you think that you'll be able to pull it off during an actual concert?" BR scores may not be indicative of how well one will perform during an actual exam, but having a 180 BR score does mean that you have all the necessary tools to make it happen.

Pacifico

@guitarnara said:
having a 180 BR score does mean that you have all the necessary tools to make it happen.

Except possibly the tool where you can do it quickly.

guitarnara

@Pacifico said:
Except possibly the tool where you can do it quickly.

Word.

Pacifico

@guitarnara Are you like marinara sauce but made out of a guitar?

guitarnara

@Pacifico said:
Are you like marinara sauce but made out of a guitar?

Hahahahahaha. "Guitarnara" translates to guitar+ nation in Korean.

Pacifico

ohhhhh... I thought it was Italian...

DumbHollywoodActor

@guitarnara said:
I think a more suitable analogy would be that BR Scores represent how well one can play a fast passage of music without mistakes, at a slower speed, while timed scores are analogous to how well one is able to pull it off at the actual speed.

It’s splitting hairs a little because both analogies require the same prescription: Practice. But I do see what you mean. It reminds me when I used to play sax, and I was working through the Charlie Parker Fake book. I could bang out Ornithology at about a 1/4 of the speed that it required. But the minute I tried to do it normal speed, wow, was it terrible!

@guitarnara said:
BR scores may not be indicative of how well one will perform during an actual exam, but having a 180 BR score does mean that you have all the necessary tools to make it happen.

I agree with this absolutely 100%.