Advice on Remaining PT Distribution

Ron Swanson

Hey Everyone,

As we all know, June is right around the corner (46 days away but who's counting, amirght?).

I have PTs 63-69 and 71-77 left. 77 is my only non retake, but my other takes on the others were 6 months ago so in my opinion they're basically fresh.

I just finished undergrad classes yesterday and have until May 16th (when I start my job) to go hard on the LSAT life. I feel like that's a good timeline to start tapering down anyway to avoid burnout. I want to do 2 PTs per week with awesome BR, but maybe 3 PTs per week in the first 2 weeks of May since LSAT is my only responsibility.

I feel like I should take the mid-late 70s sooner than later so I can fully understand those newest tests, but I just noticed the group BRs are going to hit those tests mid May. Should I take the mid-late 70s now in my PT schedule, or wait to do it with group BR? Should I only PT the 70s, but just do timed sections with my remaining 60s?

I have LSAT ultimate so unfortunately don't have access to all of the explanations for the newest tests.

Any input about my PT plan or how to effectively use this last bit of time would be really helpful!

BruiserWoods

WELLLLLLL they're doing the 70s on blind review group; have you checked into that? that might help you structure some of them?

GSU Hopeful

If at all possible, I would join the group and work your PTs around them. You'll get so much out of the group.

Ron Swanson

Thanks @BruiserWoods and @"GSU Hopeful"

I know the group would be helpful, but would waiting until mid may to get through PTs 74/75 for example be waiting too close to the actual LSAT? I see a lot of people posting about acquainting yourself with the 70s sooner than later

BruiserWoods

@"Ron Swanson" said:
hrough PTs 74/75 for example be waiting too close to the actual LSAT?

I do not have a y/n answer for you, and i'm not a mentor - but that's what I'm doing.

Cant Get Right

@"Ron Swanson" said:
I see a lot of people posting about acquainting yourself with the 70s sooner than later

This is definitely an interesting debate, and I’m not sure it’s one that has only one right answer. I have begun leaning towards the “sooner” camp myself, but I don’t think there’s any reason to panic if you’ve saved them for the end. To me, the strongest argument for taking them sooner is to get the new games into your rotation. 72 and 77 are specifically notorious for weird new games and you don’t want to get surprised with those a week before the real thing. First, that just doesn’t give you time to get comfortable with a weird new game. Almost as important, it’s going to really shake your confidence. Can you imagine after all the work you’ve done, the week before the test bombing a game and going into the test with the last PT under your belt way below your average? No, you don’t want that. One last fresh PT isn’t going to make much difference anyway.

So you’ve got some options, but I’d go ahead and start drilling the games. Maybe just throw in 72/77 in earlier on in your schedule, or maybe just sacrifice the Games sections and then just proceed with the understanding that your PT scores are going to be inflated. I think you’ve got a lot of good options. Just find what you’re comfortable with.

Quick Silver

Hey @"Ron Swanson"

First - love your username and icon!

1) 2 pts per week with BR would be solid. 3 may be pushing it. If you do go for 3, make sure there's at least 1 day of rest in between each PT and DON'T Skimp on BR - Proper BR is more important than getting higher numbers of PTs.

2) Think Quality over Quantity. No matter what, make sure you're not just doing PTs and BR on autopilot. Make sure you have time to go back and review actual lessons before stuff you keep getting wrong. Even a week or so before my 170 plus score, I went back to review fundamental lessons I was weak on.

3. You may want to alternate - between the 60s and 70s so you both get prepped for recent ones early enough and still have some for later.

Hope this helps!

Ron Swanson

@"Cant Get Right" Thanks for the feedback, your points about getting used to the LGs are really on target. I would absolutely be demoralized if my last PT before game day were lower than usual because of an unconventional LG. I might get used to 72/77 type LGs now and then sub in a 60s LG that I haven't done as the LG section for those 70s PTs instead.

@"Quick Silver" Thank you sir. I feel like Ron Swanson is an LSATer at heart and I'm happy to bring his spirit into the forums. Your point about quality over quantity spoke to me a lot. I think I was worried about how to fit all of my remaining PTs into this time frame, while I should actually just make sure I'm getting good reps in with all of the 70s and supplemented with 60s. At this point in my life I've taken basically every PT available, missing one of them probably won't be the difference in cracking 170

twssmith

Congrats @"Ron Swanson" on finishing UGrad!!!!

So much great advice from great people!
One thing to consider about how you plan your remaining PT's - the Saturday BR calls leading up to the June test - 7Sage is giving us a gift providing a Sage to lead the Sat BR calls up to test day. Having Jimmy lead the calls with Nicole jumping in with her insight has been incredibly beneficial for me and others that have attended. Not only do the Sages clarify specific concepts, they provide a global scope on how to anticipate and prepare for future questions.
All the best and hope to see you soon:)

twssmith

p.s. So Glad to see @"GSU Hopeful" back!! missed you!

GSU Hopeful

@twssmith I appreciate that. I finally made it back around. I feel like I'm pretty much starting over...again. Three months is a long time to not look at anything, but hopefully it'll come back to me.

BruiserWoods

@"GSU Hopeful" when are you taking?

GSU Hopeful

@BruiserWoods Originally, I was aiming for June. But I took some time off to renovate a house. So now I'm aiming for September with December as a back up. What about you?

BruiserWoods

@"GSU Hopeful" I'm taking in June. I have a feeling I'm not going to break 170, but I'm going for it, and using September as a backup. My last 2 PTs (70 & 71) I made 168s. I'm pretty consistently only missing the "level-5" questions with 1 or 2 easier ones where I just misread a sentence or rush through a question, but I absolutely bombed (-6) the second LR section on test 71. Idk if I was just tired or what. I only got -1 in RC which allowed me to even out, but I'm kind of teetering right now between 168-170 with one 171 and one 173.

I've been putting this test off for a very long time; I think I need to just get a real take out of the way. Feeling exhausted. . . Sorry for the spiel #lsatrunningmylife