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Related Discussions
20 Point Gap. Advice?
JerryClarke242
Alum Member
So I took a PT last Monday, after over a month of resumed studying.
Actual score: 139 (highest PT was 138) BR: 159 (Highest BR was 154).
Any suggestions on how I might close that gap?
Thanks.
Comments
Congratulations on being able to improve your BR score! BR is where the magic happens. I would suggest identifying the question types that are challenging for you and drill those. Also, while taking the timed exam, I would encourage you to implement skipping more difficult questions if you don't already do this, so you can answer more questions correctly.
At a 139, I would focus on hitting the CC again. Go through all of the lessons again in detail, do the appropriate drills in each lesson, focusing on LR question types that you have trouble with and also LG game types that you struggle with as well. If you haven't done so already, I would make it a habit of reading dense publications like the Economist or Scientific American as often as possible to familiarize yourself with complex text and so that you can approach such text efficiently.
What are your sectional scores? I think you should stop PTing and focus on doing section drills.
Have you foolproofed LG?
I currently foolproof LG by type. Haven't gotten through 1-35 yet and I also practice LR questions by type after redoing all the CC lessons for the particular type I want to work on.
When I did the BR, at least 19 of the 20 points came from doing questions I felt too stressed to process at the time or time simply ran out before I got to it. It's not like I'm getting a ton of stuff wrong.
@akistotle you mean in terms of the actual score or the BR score?
The actual sectional score and the BR sectional score. I think you should maximize your points on LG first, but I would like to see where you lose your points. Your BR score shows that you have room for improvement.
Also, what is your goal score? Unless you are aiming for a 180, you don't have to solve all the questions to get to your goal. You should strategically miss hard questions.
Actual-
RC: -19, LR: -14, LG:-13 LR: -14
BR-
RC: -10
LR: -7
LG: -2
LR: -4.
Goal score: 150+ but after seeing my BR improvement, I'm beginning to feel a bit more ambitious despite not needing beyond a 150+ for the schools I am currently targeting.
@JerryClarke242
I agree with the advice to stop PT'ing and to focus on learning the fundamentals from the CC. I think the best way is to work (untimed) for a while on drilling LR/LG by question type.
First, you should definitely fool-proof LG to go -2 under the timed condition. This is definitely possible as your BR score shows.
Let's say you are good with a 150. This means you can miss around 45 questions. Even with RC -19, you can miss 26 questions in LR and LG.
So forget RC for now, and you first should aim for:
RC: -19, LG: -2, LR: -12, -12
As for LR, you should drill MC and easy SA questions so that you can always get them under 30 seconds. I think you should video record yourself to see where you are losing time.
Also, you should not try to solve difficult questions. If it doesn't click after reading the stimulus and answer choices, you should skip immediately. Under the timed condition, if you can successfully skip (=miss) 7 questions that you couldn't solve during BR, that's a win.
Unless you are scoring in 170s, your actual score will be like -10 of your BR score. So try to improve your BR score to above 160+.
I think you can aim 160+ but for now, you should maximize your LG score to get to 150+.
Thanks!
Ok. I'm not really a fan of PTs atm anyway, haha.
I'm getting less and less activity here, but if you want someone to bounce ideas off for LR let me know.
So its been a month since I last took a PT and my actual score went from 139-144 and my BR went from 159-166. I'm guessing the advice is still the same? or?
Congrats on that 5 point improvement! I feel like it's so easy to get discouraged but I just remind myself that it takes time. If you keep on taking PTs, it's just going to keep giving you the same information over and over again and is also a waste of perfectly good PTs. I've had to learn this the hard way.
For me, the easiest way of breaking through to the 160s at first was becoming really good at LG, which is the most learnable section people say. Try to get -0 in LG. Foolproof all the games. But don't disregard LR and RC. Even reading the Economist or the NYer is considered supplementing for RC studying, in my book at least.
Good luck
This is major, congrats on the improvement. I think whenever your BR is above your target score, you can move to improve things like timing and start timed section drilling. However, don't keep taking practice tests over and over again. Try to finish 15 LR questions in 15 minutes. See how well you do when you go with your instinct. If accuracy is low when you go at a fast pace, you probably need to return to untimed drilling and focus on fundamentals to ensure 100% accuracy. A 144 tells me that you're probably still missing many of the fundamentals. a BR of 166 is promising though.
How are you on LG? have you fool-proofed 1-35 yet?
That's a solid improvement for a month. Just jeep it going. Assuming you are still missing quite a few games questions, I would still foolproof games first. Once they are a consistent -2, move on to LR.
With LR go back through the core curriculum and repeatedly drill the questions by type. You want to get faster at the ones you are good at, better at the ones you can just barely do, and for the ones you can't do in blind review you need to get better at them but also get better at identifying and skipping them on a timed test. Everytime you blind revew LR you should be writing out the Lawgic.
As far as reading comp, for now just do the reading comp sections when you PT, blind review them, and in your spare time read something academic on a subject that interests you. Worry more about RC after LG and LR are more manageable.
Don't aim for the minimum to get into your target schools. Aim for the best you can do. Maybe your target schools will change or maybe you'll get a big scholarship at your current target schools.
This is just what I needed to see. After I finished CC I felt kinda lost on what to do next. Now I know I should drill sections I'm weak at and work on LG like crazy. My highest PT was 154 timed and 156 on BR and that was due to an easy LG. I can't rely on luck. I need to pin that down. Plus I heard if you work a lot on LG it comes in handy for LR. I see all the humble brag style "I only got a 171, woe is me" on here all the time, its nice to see something different.
Thanks for the advice! LG is my best timed section now, but when I first started it was my worst. I am still in the process of foolproofing, and I'm starting to enjoy it.
After I drill the question types I struggle with, I will start doing timed LR sections. Up to this point, I only time myself with LG but if I want to see 150+ and beyond, I'm going to need to face the music and start doing timed LR and RC. I'm full proofing 1-35 by game type. I have made progress, but I still have a ways to go.
Congrats on the progress! I'd also recommend going back to the CC grammar lesson. It's invaluable.
Congrats on the improvement! I probably wouldn’t have given the same advice to hold off on pting. I think closing gaps between timed and br scores has a lot to do with test taking strategy. Do you make every second count? Do you have significant pauses throughout the test?
I’d make sure that you’re in tune with when you should or shouldn’t skip. If you get to a question that isn’t flowing, then come back to it later. Try to save time at the end to get the questions right you’re getting right during br.