New Tests v Old Tests

Comments

• FindingSage Alum Member ⭐

  July 2020 2042 karma

  Congrats on a great score. But no matter what you score during practice you should never expect any score on the real thing, as test nerves, technical issues ect sometimes get the best of us. But as to differences between the older tests and the newer ones I can tell you about that. Older PT's tend to have more miscellanous games, so I would say the games sections tend to be more difficult that the newer PTs. But with the more difficult games comes much more generous curves. I took either PT 16 or 17 and it had a minus -14 curve. For August, seeing as it is a Flex, realistically you are looking at more like -7 to -9 curve, though of course there is less questions.

  A big difference from the older tests to the newer tests is that the older tests do not have compartive reading, a trouble spot for some test takers. I also feel the answer choices in RC are easier. LR in the older tests is heavier in conditional logic, so if that is something you are good at you will find a lot of it missing in newer LR. There is a subtly in the newer LR sections versus the old. This is seen mostly in answer choices but I know many test takers, including myself have missed an "agree" question because we were trying to answer a "disagree" question. This is espechially apparent in the tests in the 80's, where is easy to think you are doing a lot better than you actually are. As another example, I took the July Flex test and there was a lot of flaw questions, none of which were "classic" flaw questions like in the older tests. I would reccomend you try a variety of different PT tests to get a better gauge of a range you might score in if everything goes right
• Sandwichelle Alum Member

  July 2020 edited July 2020 234 karma

  I have pondered the question of old scores vs. newer test scores myself. I mean, all things being equal one would think the tests would be very close to consistent difficulty overall. I agree that a good gauge would be to always challenge yourself with a wide variety of test questions and hopefully you will learn and grow from each type. I had a tutor scoff at the older tests, but I think there is knowledge to be gained by using questions even if they are from the 1990's. I believe that they're included in the 7Sage test prep package because they are an important facet of a limited resource!