New Logic Games on Recent PTs

[lsatodyssey]

Hi

I noticed an alarming trend for me personally with the most recent tests...

I had been chugging through pts 40-58 since july as full timed tests...I had been scoring perfect or near perfect on pretty much all of these tests on the LG section

However, I have saved the most recent tests 59+ for these last two weeks. I took 66, 68, 66, and 61 in the last 8 days and saw a big drop in my score on LG (average wrong is +4 with the highest wrong was dropping 9 questions on the last two games of PT 68).

With this in mind, I have revamped my strategy with the goal of completing all of the 60s tests (at least the LGs timed sections) by next Monday.

I will then run full timed sections of 59+ during off days in the remaining time before the test.

I guess my question boils down to three parts:
1. Are the newer games sections harder? I am finding that I tear through the first one or two games at high speed (for ex. finished the first two games of PT 68 in 8 minutes with perfect accuracy but proceeded to fail terribly on the last two games). I am also finding a few "weird games" that I cannot seem to picture mentally (test day trap major flaw #2 as stated in the MLSAT LG book).

2. Is my revamped strategy ok for trying to take the 60s test earlier to see what I am up against? I saved PT 69 as a true litmus test for this coming saturday.

3. is the strategy of running [and reviewing] full modern (59+ tests) game sections the best I can do to prepare at this point? Anything else that you recommend?

I was pretty shaken because I thought I had gotten games under control and this is my third attempt after a year of doing this -- I am solid on the other sections.

Thanks in advance for your feedback! This forum has been a lifesaver...I owe a lot of my improvement to the techniques in the MLSAT books and to this forum...

You guys rock

[matthew.mainen]

Would also appreciate some input on this as well.

My hunch is that to a degree its psychological. Over time the games do evolve, but it appears the core is the same. For example, the rules in today's linear games phrased a little differently than the games 10 years ago, but at the end of the day, it's still a linear game.

[joshringu]

I may be of help. But I am not an expert or anything, I am just going to put in my personal experience.

I am retaking the LSAT in three weeks, and took it June 2013 but cancelled. A few things I did wrong before the June LSAT. My goal was also to do all the preptests, which I did, but I noticed my score dropping significantly. The games, to me anyways, did not change much. The page format, however, did, but that should not be a big deal. You did 4 preptests in 8 days. I did around the same, maybe 3 preptests a week. That will definitely burn a person out.

By the time of the June LSAT, I was doing 3-4 preptests a week and did it every single day for hours. One important thing I learned is don't worry about taking ALL the LSATs. Save some just in case, and give yourself a break. Maybe try to do some logic games instead of taking a test one day? And go to the beach. Maybe you can do the Logic Games for the recent preptests that you don't touch.

All I'm saying is it might be psychological. My RC and LR scores started to drop and I was wondering if the recent preptests changed a lot. Compared to the 40s and 50s, there was not that big of a change. I realized then it was burn out. Now I am taking 1-2 preptests and in between those days I am doing 1 or 2 sections of whatever I want to work on. Because of that my score actually increased.

Hope that helps!

[hovaLSAT]

but there seem to be twists on the new games/ new combinations of stuff we havent seen...for ex. pt 68 game 3 or pt 62 game 2... a lot of the questions it seems that you have to test them out extensively... not a lot of major inferences to drive them...


would be interested in hearing what one of the MLSAT folks have to say..