Lesson learned

Addistotle

I was interested in the idea of going into "survival mode" when you've fasted for at least 12 hours, and trying to write a PT first thing in the morning, 6:15 am, with nothing in my system but some coffee and H2O.

Safe to say it wasn't wise...

Learned some valuable lessons about how to avoid sloppy mistakes and ALWAYS bubble in "C" when I don't know and have chosen to move on.

A big -7 RC (tied for worst ever aside from diagnostic) ruined my -9 total LR and -0 LG for a 165. But, the key is to keep moving forward. BR was only a 167 and I've since eliminated the reasoning that made me change a handful of correct answers to wrong ones.

Sheri123

Just curious as to why you choose "C" if you have to move on & don't know the answer? Is it just the letter you randomly chose?

Addistotle

Just a piece of advice I was given by someone close to me. It's right in the middle and if I honestly cannot fathom a guess and decide to skip, I will bubble C and move on.

As it turned out, my BR showed me C was actually the answer of the question I left blank.

I believe in this little superstition, that C is my best bet when guessing, and I'm going to keep believing it!

Cant Get Right

@Addistotle said:
it wasn't wise...

You did an experiment and you learned from the results. Sounds like the epitome of wisdom to me. These things really do matter, so keep experimenting with different routines and find what is optimal for your pre test. I have developed a very strict morning routine and it took me a lot of trial and error to figure out what worked best for me. So experiment on.

Addistotle

You're right, unfortunately there is not a lot of routine in my schedule aside from my physical activity and the essential oil mixture I drip onto my sleeves before writing a PT. Safe to say I learned a lot, planning on reviewing the RC lessons and watching some webinars tonight with the aim of writing 2-3 more PTs this week!

Nicole Hopkins

@Addistotle said:
aim of writing 2-3 more PTs this week!

Too many PT's. 2 or MAYBE occasionally 3 max.

Ron Swanson

@Addistotle funny that your guess answer is always C. More of a D guy personally. But good for you getting the lesson learned out of the way

Cant Get Right

The guessing thing is actually something my study material before 7Sage taught me. That should probably have been a major red flag, but lesson learned, lol. D is statistically the most common answer choice, except in the last five questions, it shifts to E.

J.Y. Ping

@"Cant Get Right" just out of curiosity we ran the numbers using only PTs 58 - current

All questions
A 388 19.3%
B 443 22.0%
C 409 20.3%
D 396 19.7%
E 379 18.8%
Total 2015

Last five questions (of each section)
A 81 16.88%
B 114 23.75%
C 92 19.17%
D 92 19.17%
E 101 21.04%
Total 480

Cant Get Right

Wow, @"J.Y. Ping" they couldn’t even get that right! I double checked my book to make sure I had remembered it correctly. Sure enough, they checked from all the answers from June ’91. Who cares about the 90’s!? (For this specifically, of course: Everyone knows that the 90’s were, more generally, thebomb.com.)

I’m starting to feel more at peace with failing to hit my target score before! I mean, I feel way worse about wasting two takes having prepared with those books, but I feel better about myself anyway. And I got one shot left.

Nanchito-1-1

I use to have good luck with A, but after these numbers i'm going to have to change it to B.

hlsat180

What would be also be interesting: Frequency of four letters in a row? Has there ever been five?

runiggyrun

@"J.Y. Ping" You da man!

Addistotle

@"Nicole Hopkins" said:
Too many PT's. 2 or MAYBE occasionally 3 max.

Always willing to listen! I've decided to watch the SA and PSA webinar and your Strengthening/Weakening webinars as well

Also, damn everyone, I guess I have a new strategy for guessing an answer before skipping the question!

I think the biggest takeaway is that I do not test as well without some exercise, meditation, and food!

BruiserWoods

Leave it to @"J.Y. Ping" to "run the numbers out of curiosity." Hahaaaaa. Anyway. I always used to pick B because that's what my name starts with. I read somewhere that standardized tests liked C the most and switched to that when I began my LSAT prep.

*promptly switches back to B*

Nicole Hopkins

Watch—we'll run the numbers for PT78 (the June test) and mysteriously A will be most popular ... mwahaha ...

stepharizona

LSAC reflecting on the June test... "Wow... thats a lot of B's"

MrSamIam

You know you've been studying for too long when you somehow manage to turn a lesson-learned thread into a "what should I guess" thread!
I always just guess the AC that I chose the least for that section.

stepharizona

@MrSamIam said:
I always just guess the AC that I chose the least for that section.

One of my study partners suggested the same thing, to look at the section and see whats missing. I mean guessing is guessing, but its still fun to have a bit of a strategy, if you need it.

MrSamIam

@stepharizona Yup, that's exactly why I do it. I figure if I'm just going to guess, I better have some reason not to beat myself up about guessing incorrectly...just sayin'

rachel

Wow - amazing thread. I can't help but read it and think about a classic movie -- I know I'm dating myself -- "Summer School" with Mark Harmon and that girl from Melrose Place. One of the kids in remedial English has to race through the end of his Scantron... and he goes "C... C...C...C...C." until the end of his test.! Anyone?? Bueller...

Addistotle

@MrSamIam said:
You know you've been studying for too long when you somehow manage to turn a lesson-learned thread into a "what should I guess" thread!

I did turn the conversation in that direction when I mentioned that I should've filled in my guess answer choice!

Plus developing a sound strategy for these situations is important for test day, since it is bound to happen! I guess if I've eliminated some answer choices I should pick the one with the highest % based on what section of the test the question is found in?