Rolling the dice on a new method to combat the more recent LR/RC.. Input greatly appreciated!

LARamsNation

Long story short I'm retaking in Feb. I've taken the 25 most recent PTs so I needed fresh material to go over in preparation for the retake. After noticing a subtle difficulty shift in the 70+ exams, I decided to combat the trickier LR/RC by drilling straight from the Cambridge difficult packets for RC AND LR. Granted they draw questions from PTs 1-38, but every question there has a 4 or 5 star difficult rating. I figure if I can train myself to combat those questions, and drill 25 of them at a time (for LR) as if they were a "normal" LR section I'll be much faster and more comfortable with the lengthier and more convoluted 70+ stimuli. I plan to drill all the difficult RC passages in the same fashion, using 4 difficult passages as if it were a normal RC section...Then with about 2.5 weeks until the Feb exam, I plan to retake/BR PTs 71-77. Has anyone tried this or something similar? What are your thoughts on this approach...Do you guys think it can work or do you think it's too much of a gamble because of the way the "new" LR stimuli is constructed and phrased? Thank you in advance for your input!

cverdugo

If you have access to PTs 51-69, I'm sure you can find created lists on the internet describing the questions that are 4 star and 5 star difficulty and maybe those might be more useful because they are more recent. You can still learn a lot from re-taking material. But the LR in the Cambridge packets will definitely help you!

But I think a mistake people make (not saying you are) is that they try to bog themselves down in trying to get better at the 4 and 5 star questions and they neglect the 'easy' questions at the beginning of the section. I think a skill of higher scorers is too quickly go through the 'easy' questions which gives you more time to tackle the more difficult questions. So when it comes to doing your timed PTs this skill will make you feel more comfortable with the more difficult questions because you know you have more time.

I think your study approach is solid though, and good review on those earlier questions/passages will make you a more critical reader if you practice the correct skills and techniques.

LARamsNation

Great suggestion @cverdugo ! I will definitely look into that... I just wish there was a way to get the more recent "difficult" questions bundled together so I can simulate them as if they were an entire section, as opposed to hitting up them up individually. I agree with your sentiment over neglecting "easy" questions, I never do -- as those are the most important to pick up. I had reasoned that by doing these difficult questions it will enhance my abilities to pick up the "easier" questions even faster than I already am. My average PT is 162 , but my GPA sucks (3.1).. Lol the pressure is on, but I try to make the pressure part of the fun instead of letting it build into my anxiety. I need to go into the exam with the same frame of mind Tom Brady has going into a super bowl. Just win baby.

twssmith

Caveat, LSAC frowns on the use of over-inflated pencils:)

Nicole Hopkins

@Mark.Vandy said:
What are your thoughts on this approach...Do you guys think it can work or do you think it's too much of a gamble because of the way the "new" LR stimuli is constructed and phrased?

I don't have any major objections except I want you to make sure you don't burn yourself out

Otherwise I think this is a fine plan.

Nicole Hopkins

@cverdugo said:
I'm sure you can find created lists on the internet describing the questions that are 4 star and 5 star difficulty a

We've got all of that sort of thing in the 7sage analytics as well as the Question Bank (which is the bomb.dot.com if you ask me and I fancy myself a 7sage aficionado!). http://7sage.com/question-bank/

Should be available to all Play with the sorting!

LARamsNation

Update: The BR is down right nasty and admittedly much more time consuming for these "difficult" sets than I originally anticipated, but I just completed a "normal" LR section with 6 minutes to spare... new record for me. Possibly on to something here.... stay tuned