Strategy on how to close gap between Timed Score and BR

Comments

• 4 Likes

  runiggyrun Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  February 2016 2481 karma

  The best way to close the gap is to take more PT's. It's hard to know exactly what's going on based on one datapoint. If you take a couple more and your BR's are still very high, then you'll know they are not a fluke, and you need to work on your timing and your confidence.
  Several more PT's, and paying attention to what's bringing your timed scores down should help you devise a strategy to bridge the gap (maybe you spend too much time on time sync questions, maybe you don't trust your instinct enough and overthink answers, whatever it is for you specifically).
  If your BR scores are consistently high, it does bode well for a score, but it's not a guarantee - you still need to work on performing under pressure, but it shows pretty solid command of the material, which puts you in a good position to improve with practice.
  Hope to hear back from you in a few weeks reporting that your BR scores are still nice and high and you have an idea of what's lowering your timed scores.
• 2 Likes

  DumbHollywoodActor Alum Inactive ⭐

  February 2016 edited February 2016 7468 karma

  Agree with everything @runiggyrun says above. Another thought: Are you only Blind reviewing the questions that you circled? If not (meaning you’re blind reviewing EVERY question), then your BR score might be inflated.
• rafaelito Alum Member

  October 2016 1063 karma

  @DumbHollywoodActor Hey DumbHollywoodActor, can you discuss the inflated BR score a little more and the pitfalls of this? I have scored a few times in the low 160s and high 150s and both BR was 175. The first PT i BRed the whole test, the second one only circled questions.
  
  I acknowledge that I need more data but going forward should I only BR my circled questions? Thanks.
• 1 Like

  DumbHollywoodActor Alum Inactive ⭐

  October 2016 7468 karma

  @RafaelBernard said:
  but going forward should I only BR my circled questions?
  

  Yeah. Definitely. You want to differentiate your incorrect questions that contain confidence errors (questions you got wrong but didn’t circle) from your other incorrect questions. Confidence errors are immediately wrong on BR because you don’t get to change their answer, so your BR score should reflect that.
  
  For over confidence errors, you have to do some deeper analysis than just the mechanics of the question (why did you not circle this questions? What led you to think you were so certain?)
  
  If you’re getting a BR of 175 even after only blind reviewing the circled questions, then you’re probably suffering from under confidence, which probably means you need to go back to the curriculum and master the fundamentals (grammar, argument, forms, abstraction, etc...) and drill between PTs until you know that stuff cold.
• Alejandro Member Inactive ⭐

  October 2016 2424 karma

  There is no magic bullet or magic strategy. Just keep practicing!
• 1 Like

  rafaelito Alum Member

  October 2016 1063 karma

  @DumbHollywoodActor that is exactly what I decided to do! I bought the trainer and am reading through it. I think I learn better by reading than by listening (and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the trainer and 7sage CC have similar strategies so they're compatible). But yeah, I think that makes sense about having a high BR. Like I understand concepts but I do not have mastery over them (which probably also means I don't understand them as well as I think I do). I jumped from getting a basic understanding (which quickly brought my score up a few points) to doing PTs, Under pressure I am wasting time thinking about things I shouldn't, probably double-checking right answers, spending too much time on easy ones etc. Back to the basics and then on to mastery.
  
  So anyway, that was my thinking. I believe it aligns with what you said.
  
  and yes @Alejandro there is no magic bullet. for some of us that needs to be hammered in a few times before it sticks.
• 1 Like

  MrSamIam Inactive ⭐

  October 2016 2086 karma

  @runiggyrun and @DumbHollywoodActor covered it all. I'm in the same boat as you, BRing high enough to be within the HSY median scores, but PTing too low to even consider applying there. Just keep PTing and figure out what it is that's hurting you. As was mentioned about, it's likely a combination of a lack of confidence and a timing issue.
• 1 Like

  blah170blah Alum Inactive ⭐

  October 2016 3545 karma

  I also noticed that one of the sources contributing to the gap between my PT scores and BR scores was rooted in habits. Anyone who has been on this forum long enough has seen me mention habits at least a million times.
  
  It's important that you're not creating two sets of logical reasoning strategies for yourself. I noticed that when I took PTs, I would freak out about the time element and not take the time through to eliminate ACs concretely - I relied too much on my gut feeling. Yet, when I BR'ed (and I BR'ed clean copies of sections), I would rarely rely on my gut feeling to get an answer. Sure enough, my BR was better because it was the true practice of applying the fundamentals while my PT scores was one step removed from guessing.