Advantages of retaking PTs?

YesSarah

Hello!

I apologize if this is a repeat discussion - I saw a few similar discussions here but none that specifically answered my questions. I recently took the June LSAT and received a relatively decent score (164) but am looking to improve to a 170. I had completed the PTs from 62-70 while preparing for the June test (as well as using the Powerscore books) and am wondering if retaking them would be beneficial. I'm guessing there are some advantages to retaking, but I'm wondering how to best utilize the old PTs. Should I retake them first, save them for right before the September LSAT, or switch off between the old PTs and new PTs?

Any advice is appreciated.

Ron Swanson

I also scored a 164 on the June LSAT, looking to get up to 170, and have taken all of the PTs..here are my thoughts on retakes:

While it definitely sucks to not have as many fresh takes left retakes in general can be extremely useful. When PTing in general, don't fall into the trap of trying to see a high score, but look at the process as pure improvement. Depending on when you first took the PT you're now retaking, you may remember a question or 2 during the test. Your retake score will be about +3 tops of where you'd score fresh assuming there's been a few months between takes.

With that said, if you have 70-77 fresh, I'd recommend spacing out your fresh takes with retakes however you feel comfortable. I would just suggest front loading a bit on the fresh takes and use the retakes more down the stretch because right before the exam you want to be at peak confidence. Nothing worse than getting a bad PT score to rattle you right before the test

YesSarah

Thank you - this was very helpful! Very true about getting rattled before the test due to bad PT scores. The last 4 PTs I took were a good 5 points under my average and I'm sure that did nothing to help with the nerves.

Good luck

Cant Get Right

I also used Powerscore until I joined 7Sage, and I've found that the value of my retakes is diminished surprisingly little because I didn't BR using the Powerscore method. Of course I'd glance over the ones I missed until I could say "Oh okay, I see," but that falls so far short of the value of a proper Blind Review that I gained very little from those tests. So on retakes, I feel like everything I didn't learn from them the first time is still in there for me to extract, and that amount is quite substantial.

The more time between retakes the better, but I wouldn't worry about that too much. If you do come across one that you just remember "Oh, I remember this one was D," just force yourself to work back through it until you can say why it's D.

Sure, your scores will be inflated, but who cares? PTs aren't for generating scores, they are for furthering your understanding and building experience. So for where it really counts, retakes are almost good as new. (Almost!)

blah170blah

Sure, your scores will be inflated, but who cares? PTs aren't for generating scores, they are for furthering your understanding and building experience. So for where it really counts, retakes are almost good as new.

^^ THIS! A THOUSAND TIMES THIS! PTs are important to see how you can apply your understanding in a timed setting. They are an opportunity to consistently hone your reasoning. I think it's so important to distance yourself from the score of your PT as much as possible.

YesSarah

@"Cant Get Right" Is it necessary to finish the core curriculum before starting back up with the PTs?

Cant Get Right

@YesSarahWaste , yeah, it really kind of is. There are a lot of concepts that 7Sage does differently/much better than Powerscore, and you want to supplement or replace those areas. If you PT before you're finished with the curriculum, you're doing so without all of the tools at your disposal; and you lose the opportunity to gain value from the PTs on everything you haven't covered yet. So to maximize what you can get out of a PT, you really do want to wait until you feel like you've mastered the curriculum.

And, in case no one has mentioned it already, there's very little difference between the recent and older PTs. So don't feel like you need to shy away from the 30's through the 50's. You've got lots of fresh material left, so by mixing in your retakes you can really create an effective PT schedule.