Reusing practice tests?

J_Clarkson

What are the pros/cons?

Nanchito-1-1

I like to use retakes to practice my skipping strategies and really hone in on things ive gotten wrong twice. Yes, the actual score does not hold as much weight, but they are still extremely valuable in my opinion.

Alex

Doing retakes is the single most useful LSAT strategy I have implemented. You just get so much out of it. You have a little bit of confidence, and you can really see if you have learned and rectified problems or questions you missed on the first time around. I highly recommend retakes!

Retaking RC sections was a big part of my improvement there as well!

J_Clarkson

Thanks @nanchito and @"Alex Divine" !

That's what I was thinking too. Do you have tips on how to combine retakes/drills with a PT schedule?

danielznelson

Yes, yes, and yes. This is great that your outlook on retakes is already here. It was over a year before I started taking advantage of retakes, and that was largely because of my ever-diminishing supply of fresh PTs.

I personally never had a set schedule for interspersing retakes with fresh PTs, though I never had much of a schedule for any part of my LSAT prep. The ratio and frequency of raw/used PTs really depends on a lot of factors, your prospective test day being one of the bigger factors. A big factor for me was again the limited number of untaken PTs I had. Especially towards the end, I took one new PT to about every three retakes, waiting at least three months for a retake. Six months out, I barely remembered anything; three months out, I remembered bits, but I wasn't answering questions simply off of memorization.

Definitely take some of the 70s months before your real test day and not just because you need plenty of time to adjust to the newest tests. Taking these tests far enough out will allow you to retake them - a very helpful strategy for nailing down the content of the newest tests.

I would also focus on tests on which you underperformed, but take your more successful and/or recent takes when just a week or so out from test day.

I concur with @"Alex Divine". Retakes have pushed me over the plateau more than anything else and have proven to be one of the most helpful strategies in my prep.

Sorry I can't get too specific, since again, I didn't really get specific with scheduling myself. I studied for about two years before just taking the test, and will probably retake almost regardless in December just to see if I can improve. Given the long duration, I went pretty "low and slow" with test prep.

Finally, I actually do think scores on retakes are very helpful. Especially over time, your retake scores will show your improvement just as will your scores on raw PTs. Also, higher scores will demonstrate that you didn't get too lucky on a lot of questions you answered correctly on the first go. A nice increase in your score on a retake shows your last score was at the very least likely not overinflated, and you of course have plenty to learn from questions you still get incorrect (and correct, frankly).

twssmith

@nanchito said:
I like to use retakes to practice my skipping strategies and really hone in on things ive gotten wrong twice. Yes, the actual score does not hold as much weight, but they are still extremely valuable in my opinion.

As others have said, retakes are invaluable especially if spaced far enough apart. On some retakes I missed questions 4 times:( 1st take, BR, 2nd take, BR - It was an incredible tool especially for the PT's I took at the beginning of the PT phase after the curriculum when I didn't have a clue and was just learning the BR process.

The greatest part of retakes as Nancy said is for practicing skipping strategy once you get further in your PT phase, also for RC working on a personal blend of notation strategies and for LG making sure to have a definite rule & diagramming strategy so you don't miss a rule until the final seconds before time is called like I did on the real thing Saturday:)