LR and RC. A bad LG can hit anyone and bring them to -4 but if you are consistently getting -1 in Lg that is not your problem area.
-7 to -13 in LR almost breaks the 170 curve by itself. That means you'd need a -0 in Lg and RC on most tests to still shoot for a 170.
Same with RC. -7 to -10 is the entire 170 curve.
My suggestion? Work on LR. My RC improved as I worked on LR. If you can blind review LR to perfection you might want to look at time. Are "easy" LR questions eating up your time for the harder ones? Are you finishing with seconds or minutes to spare? I would record yourself taking a few timed LR sections and see what is eating up your time.
I'd also use the analytics here on 7sage to see which question type continues to get you. I promise there are ones you miss more than others, keep and eye on it and drill weaknesses as they come.
I'd also suggest a confidence drill. Do a timed LR section and as soon as you prephrase an answer, or spot one you think is right, pick it and move on, no question asked. Once done see what you missed. This will show how much confidence plays a role in your LR. It will show weaknesses and it will show you where you struggle because answers won't just pop up.
Thanks for that detailed response, it is greatly appreciated! I am going to stop doing individual LG/RC sections (except for PT's), and just focus all in on LR.
The confidence drill is also a great idea, and I'm going to do that for sure! I know time is an issue for me, but I am working on making doing 25 in 25 and having plenty of time for review.
This is really encouraging, thank you again!!
Going from low 160's to 170 (or 175, as the title says) is a huge jump. It's not the same as a seven to ten point jump in the lower scores. [It's like asking how you can get a raise in salary from 50K a year to 200K a year.] People can study for months and months to make that jump. The first step to making this jump is not to expect it to happen in 6 weeks, and to realize how big of a task it really is.
Do not take 2-3 tests per week. That is way too many for where you're scoring and where you hope to one day score. You are likely to use up all the tests before you get to your goal.
No offense, but I don't think you have the fundamentals down. You should be scoring consistently 175+ on BR if you have the fundamentals, if not closer to 178+. I would say you are scoring high enough where a blanket review of the core curriculum is not necessarily worthwhile. Instead, you need to analyze your weaknesses in specific--but not too specific--regions. Things like logic diagramming, intersectional inferences, the negation test, etc. Those are the kind of "regions" that have overlapping usefulness for multiple LR question types. Go back to the core curriculum and really drill these problem areas, then apply it to question type drilling.
If you haven't nailed down a skipping strategy, do that. If your ultimate goal really is 175+, then work on the fundamentals before you work on the execution. Execution is probably the difference between 3ish points scaled.
For RC, I think fool proofing is actually a decent way to go. Read old RC passages and explicitly write out paragraph summaries, main point, purpose, viewpoints, tone, and structure. If you do this over and over, your mind will eventually subconsciously do this when you are taking a timed test.
For LG, keep fool proofing. Until you are going -0 nine times out of ten, there is more fool proofing work to be done. If you're aiming for 175+, then realistically you can only go max -1 on LG.
Comments
LR and RC. A bad LG can hit anyone and bring them to -4 but if you are consistently getting -1 in Lg that is not your problem area.
-7 to -13 in LR almost breaks the 170 curve by itself. That means you'd need a -0 in Lg and RC on most tests to still shoot for a 170.
Same with RC. -7 to -10 is the entire 170 curve.
My suggestion? Work on LR. My RC improved as I worked on LR. If you can blind review LR to perfection you might want to look at time. Are "easy" LR questions eating up your time for the harder ones? Are you finishing with seconds or minutes to spare? I would record yourself taking a few timed LR sections and see what is eating up your time.
I'd also use the analytics here on 7sage to see which question type continues to get you. I promise there are ones you miss more than others, keep and eye on it and drill weaknesses as they come.
I'd also suggest a confidence drill. Do a timed LR section and as soon as you prephrase an answer, or spot one you think is right, pick it and move on, no question asked. Once done see what you missed. This will show how much confidence plays a role in your LR. It will show weaknesses and it will show you where you struggle because answers won't just pop up.
This is how I would start personally.
Thanks for that detailed response, it is greatly appreciated! I am going to stop doing individual LG/RC sections (except for PT's), and just focus all in on LR.
The confidence drill is also a great idea, and I'm going to do that for sure! I know time is an issue for me, but I am working on making doing 25 in 25 and having plenty of time for review.
This is really encouraging, thank you again!!
I feel your pain. I just watched/listened the "Post Core Curriculum Strategies" webinar by Josh and it helped me identify a few changes I can make to break the plateau.
https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/
Listen to Skipping Strategies, when to diagram in LR and Allison 170+ webinars (on 7Sage site), they may provide you some insight.
Going from low 160's to 170 (or 175, as the title says) is a huge jump. It's not the same as a seven to ten point jump in the lower scores. [It's like asking how you can get a raise in salary from 50K a year to 200K a year.] People can study for months and months to make that jump. The first step to making this jump is not to expect it to happen in 6 weeks, and to realize how big of a task it really is.
Do not take 2-3 tests per week. That is way too many for where you're scoring and where you hope to one day score. You are likely to use up all the tests before you get to your goal.
No offense, but I don't think you have the fundamentals down. You should be scoring consistently 175+ on BR if you have the fundamentals, if not closer to 178+. I would say you are scoring high enough where a blanket review of the core curriculum is not necessarily worthwhile. Instead, you need to analyze your weaknesses in specific--but not too specific--regions. Things like logic diagramming, intersectional inferences, the negation test, etc. Those are the kind of "regions" that have overlapping usefulness for multiple LR question types. Go back to the core curriculum and really drill these problem areas, then apply it to question type drilling.
If you haven't nailed down a skipping strategy, do that. If your ultimate goal really is 175+, then work on the fundamentals before you work on the execution. Execution is probably the difference between 3ish points scaled.
For RC, I think fool proofing is actually a decent way to go. Read old RC passages and explicitly write out paragraph summaries, main point, purpose, viewpoints, tone, and structure. If you do this over and over, your mind will eventually subconsciously do this when you are taking a timed test.
For LG, keep fool proofing. Until you are going -0 nine times out of ten, there is more fool proofing work to be done. If you're aiming for 175+, then realistically you can only go max -1 on LG.