PT comparisons

[MichaelG780]

Hello Everyone!!
I have been taking some of the early preptests, 45 to mid 50s, and scoring in the 170s consistently. I've heard that the test as a whole got much harder after pt 70 or so. Is this true, and if so, should I expect a decrease in scores once I hit the 70s?
Thanks!
Michael

[ohthatpatrick]

Yeah, you might see your score dip by a few points (at least in the short term).

Noteworthy differences:

GAMES - fewer weird (I've never seen this before) games, more "I know this type of game but these questions are taking forever" games. You tend to get four medium / medium-hard games in a section, or you get two super-easy ones (5-6 mins) balanced out by a hard one and a unique one.

It's rare to get any easy game without being punished for it elsewhere in the section.

And, from test 60 or so onward, there is a type of question called Rule Equivalency (only one per test, but they're annoying).


LR - Necessary Assumption is getting increasingly challenging, particularly as correct answers are often using conditional logic or sounding stronger than they would have on older tests.

Sufficient Assumption is less about solving for perfect missing links and more about the mindset of, "well --- if I add this to the facts from the evidence, can I derive the conclusion?"



RC - a handful of correct answers have MORE support than other choices but still don't feel like they have ADEQUATE SUPPORT.

correct answers to Main Point are more gist-y. They are less likely to encompass the whole passage (giving you only the author's main clause) and they are less likely to regurgitate wording from a thesis sentence.



Overall, though, the difference just seems to be that there are fewer questions where we get to our correct answer easily and with almost no brainpower. The test as a whole feels more taxing because it seems like you have to work harder for the correct answers that used to come easily.

[MichaelG780]

Thank you, this information is very helpful. How long should it take for me to get my score back to what it was on previous prep tests if I study efficiently for 2-3 hrs. per day?

[ohthatpatrick]

I'd be totally making up a number. It's hard to say. I would think that a month is enough, if it's gonna happen. And maybe some people would find a couple weeks are enough.

But it's not like, through repetition and exposure, I've gotten to the point where the modern tests are the same difficulty as the older ones.

They will always remain harder to me because there are more credited responses that involve judgment and interpretation, as opposed to strict logic and proof.

I end up saying a lot of things to myself such as
- we're looking for the "best available" answer, not a perfect answer
- even though this answer isn't fully supportable, I can still potentially pick it (depending on the other answers' being worse), because Some Support > No Support