Is it best to PT using 5 sections?

Comments

• 2 Likes

  Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  September 2018 8392 karma

  Well, JY's advice and my actual habits are different, so it's hard to answer your poll haha. I definitely think there's an advantage to taking 5 section PTs. That is what JY recommends, and what many people around here do.

  I occasionally do a 5 section PT, but the vast majority of the time I do 4 sections. I felt that, for myself, the extra section wasn't going to be a huge deal. Adrenaline does carry you through a lot of it on test day. Since I work full time and I did have some burn out at one point, I mostly kept to 4 sections just to keep my stress and time levels down. There are people here that even do 6 section PTs, to really push yourself. That makes test day easier than your average PT! If you have the time, I don't think that's a bad idea either (although if you do that, I strongly think you should do no more than 1 PT per week).

  So, it's a personal choice. If you're new to PTs, you might want to do 4 for your first couple and then move up to 5 once you think you've built up the stamina. Or if you'd rather grind and push yourself to do it right away, start out with 5. Maybe push to 6 if you want. I think a lot of people will take another test and use the 4 sections from it spread out over 4 PTs, so when you take 4 PTs, you've finished an extra one in that time. You can take your sections from that and add it up into the analytics. That's a pretty smart way to do it, I think.
• gkoebel1 Member

  September 2018 122 karma

  I would definitely recommend taking at minimum your last 5-10 PT's at five sections. Going from four to five sections is a difference, at least in my opinion !
• 1 Like

  CantStopWontStop Alum Member

  September 2018 1270 karma

  I actually find 5 a little annoying. I do 6 sections. You get an extra test in every 2 sittings
• Regis_Phalange63 Alum Member

  September 2018 edited September 2018 1058 karma

  OP,

  IMHO, I say getting used to 4 sections is too risky. If you're doing 4 sections only, are you going to take a break after the third section? And after 15 mins of break, just do one more section and be done? yet this is still better than taking a break after the second section because you will never have that luxury during the real exam. You need to get used to working for 105 mins with no breaks in between. At a bare minimum 5 sections but 6 is a great practice. Just my thoughts
• 1 Like

  NotMyName Alum Member Sage ⭐

  September 2018 5320 karma

  I always used 4 and I don't think it affected my scores on test day.
• 1 Like

  MissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐

  September 2018 3256 karma

  I think it's good to do at least a few five section tests but to be honest I always did four sections in practice and on test day I didn't feel too tired for the fifth one.