Difficulties with first LR section

YesSarah

I'm not sure if any of you have this trouble but I seem to be missing quite a few more questions (2-3) on the first LR section than the second. This is especially prevalent when LR is the first section of the exam. Any suggestions to remedy this?

abisin1234

I was looking into this as well (I scored significantly lower on my first LR which was the first section, than on the second one), and I just chalked it up to not having been "warmed up" yet. I found on a couple different posts on the discussion forums (if you search "warm up") and there are some good suggestions such as doing 5 or so LR questions before starting a preptest.

Alex

@YesSarah ,

I absolutely agree with @abisin1234 about this being possibly caused by lack of a warm up. I recommend doing Qs 15-26 on an old PT to warm-up, as usually these are the more challenging questions, and after doing those you'll be on a roll!

Cant Get Right

Yep, this is quite common. I do a whole LR section as my warmup. Helps me get in the zone and find my rhythm.

YesSarah

Thanks guys! The only concern I have about warming up is that I won't be doing it before the actual test. Or do you recommend also doing it the morning of the exam?

Cant Get Right

Definitely @YesSarah . Just don't do anything foolish like grading it! I'm going to do a retake I did particularly well on. It's just about getting in the right mental space, so just make sure not to do anything that could potentially lead to a crisis of confidence.

danielznelson

This usually happens to me as well. I can't imagine most don't have this problem.

Skipping strategies help me; often, some of the easiest questions are ones I can't pin down right away, so I quickly skip and move on. Later, when I'm afforded plenty of time to review the questions I haven't yet answered, the pressure has lessened, and I have a fresh look at easier questions that are preceded by the more difficult questions I did later in the section.

@"Alex Divine" I'm going to run with that strategy as well, I think.