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1 Like
Consistency in the 170s
nathanieljschwartz
Alum Member
My PTs have been ranging between 168-173.
Does anyone have any advice on how and what helped them to push into the 175+ range?
Comments
Have you seen this? https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/
Hey, @sillllyxo , great webinar. That has definitely helped me immensely in my journey from 163+,
I just watched and figured maybe the third phase would help you out.
I was just about about to post this question!
I am in the same boat -- I have averaged 170 on my last six PTs. I am super happy for this accomplishment but I would like to push further.
I know that for me, I need to get faster and work on timing and skipping. Now, I finish most sections right on time, with one or two minutes to go (a bit more for LG). This leaves me no time to review the questions that I then get correct during BR. It also makes me frantic on the last two questions. I also need to become more conscious of not wasting time. I have been putting off filming myself doing a PT but I think the time is now.
Mostly, I get -0 on LG, and that is crucial for my high score, as I am averaging about -2/3 on LR and RC. I want these at -1. All my recent BRs are in the 99th. My incorrect answers do not seem to be tied specific question types, but rather not paying attention, misreading, misunderstanding, stimulus difficulty, or interpreting the lawgic incorrectly.
Does anyone here consistently get -0 during BR?? HOW do you do it? Infinite patience?
Perhaps I should note that I have been studying on and off for a year, but doing serious PTing for about three months.
I think my focus is as good as it will get, but I need to find ways to keep my energy higher, especially on the third section. Maybe I should start PTing with 5 sections?
Sometimes, I slack on prephrasing, which leads me to wasting time on answer choices because I don't have a clear idea of what I am looking for.
I'm looking forward to any and all input on this!
Since your pting so high i wouldnt do any drastic changes, but i try to keep to the 25 in 25 method this gives me the relative freedom to go back and hit anything i miss.
It is crucial to have a good notation strategy for when you are going back over the questions in LR
@karenkaren have you tried doing a new PT and an old (retest) PT (so you don't waste valuable material and it may help you see old passages in RC in a new light) back to back, this may help with endurance, or begin adding a 5th section on your weakest section? Just a thought. Videoing yourself to maximize efficiency on sections/questions, etc, is definitely a way to propel you into that next dimension from what I've been told. Also, I've heard, for the questions you're missing type out explanations for each aspect. Hope this helps.
@FirstOne that's a really good idea. I'll try the new+old back to back strategy. Are you talking an entire old PT, so 4 new + 4 old sections? Seems like a great way to train endurance.
@karenkaren yes, back to back, so in essence two (2) full tests back to back. For endurance. It also will provide you additional insights into testing from your old PTs, realizations that you didn't and couldn't notice otherwise (i.e., like how you read RC passages and what you may notice on a second run through of those passages now verses before). Just a thought.
@karenkaren I don't know if you need this, or ever encounter a situation where you run into a snag (in RC & get stuck), in LG freeze for an extra minute or so trying to figure things out, or forget how something translates in LR, here's some of what I call 'Get you out of a jam stuff (concrete vs variables)' for each section:
LG: Always quickly take stock (JY says this), look at the Contrapositive(s) & the Out Group interaction with them as you move from there, then go to Pieces (players) Inventory.
LR: Unless translation, either "if not" or "must be' in the sense that it must happen" should work. For example, 'You can't drive unless you are at least sixteen (16) years old'.
No translation, this is the other one I've heard: 'No cats are dogs' or come up with something that you can easily remember.
RC: i) work with the context: what's happening around the confusing portion, what's the author doing, presenting or defining a term or articulating a side in the argument.
ii) contain the damage: reread the sentence for clarity, note it with a question mark, so you can mentally move on without allowing that fuzziness to throw you off your focus with the rest of the passage.
iii) rename complex ideas: come up with a nickname or shorter name for long, difficult words. Categorize confusing terms to one side or the other in an argument/debate, is this difficult word a 'good guy' or 'bad guy' in the text.
iv) visualize: try to picture things, characters as you read doing some action in the text, and low res your way through.
These are just somethings I've learned along the way, don't know if you need any of it, but there you have it for what it's worth.
Some good advice here.
My advice:
BR at 180 every time. Don't get lazy on this. Dissect every question in immense detail, forcing yourself to write out the analysis. BRing below 180 should feel like a major disappointment.
Keep working on fundamentals, if you're occasionally scoring below 170 timed, then there's probably a missing gap somewhere. Find that gap and fill it. I actually do think there is a noticeable difference in underlying knowledge and skills between 170-173-175+. It's small but it's there.
Get very very fast on easy questions. Hard questions are hard for everyone. If you are able to do LR in 25 minutes every time, then you will have extra time to give those tough questions a good second look. This pairs with under confidence: build aggression and confidence to move faster through the section. Practice confidence drills, become ok with moving on without reading all ACs for the easy stuff, work on going faster without sacrificing accuracy. All these time savings will add up and pay off when you invest that time into uncertain/hard questions.
Thanks @AllezAllez21. Yeah i really want to maximize my time with speeding through easy questions. My main issue is def RC, its so damn volatile. I scored my best yesterday with a -2 on RC. I just cant seem to crack it. Im averaging -4/5. I really want to get that to consistently missing no more than 3
I think strength/study allocation was most important to me. Getting consistent -0's and -1/2's on LG and LR respectively is the first step. It's a straightforward goal and you can tell pretty easily when you're there. After that, you can just keep drilling RC until you get at least in the -6 to -3 range. Any decent RC score in that range will get you the 173+ if you're only missing 3 questions on the rest of the test.