Any Advice? Doing worse on 2nd LR than 1st LR

[ttunden]

1st LR I get -2. 2nd LR I usually get -6 or -8.

Is this mostly due to endurance issue? Should I focus on my endurance to improve this, to make it consistent? I am reviewing the past PT's I have taken, and this seems to be a trend. The questions aren't harder I believe. There are a few that are tough, but its about the same as the first LR section.


The only reason I'm asking you guys here is that this trend use to be backwards for me. I use to do bad on the first section then much better on the 2nd section.Not sure what has happened since then

Interested to hear your responses.

[christine.defenbaugh]

Thanks for posting your question ttunden!

Without more specific information, it's difficult to say for sure, but it does sound like an endurance issue. When you go back to review the sections, are you fully reviewing every single question, including the ones you got correct? Are you asking yourself why you missed those questions?

I actually mean that. We miss questions for very specific reasons, and figuring out what those is a critical key for continued improvement. I will admit that it is often a very difficult question to answer!

It's likely that it is test fatigue, but there are different ways test fatigue can occur. Are you missing questions that you simply *should* have gotten right? In other words, when you review some of your misses from the second section, do you slap your forehead and say 'd'oh, of COURSE the answer is C, what was I thinking?' If so, then it's a fairly simple question of mental discipline. Become your own piano teacher with the ruler, wrapping your own knuckles! Consciously remind yourself to stay engaged and focused at various points during the exam.

But it might be something else. It could be that there are the same number of borderline questions in each section - questions you struggle with, narrow it down to two perhaps, and then either guess or decide with low confidence. If that's true, and you are simply missing more of them in the second section, that indicates you are simply losing your sharpest edge as the test progresses. In this case, you can learn a lot from looking at how you handle the borderline questions you got right in section 1, and comparing that to your mental approach to the borderline questions you got wrong in section 2.

Both are variants of test fatigue, but they function a bit differently. In addition to the above, practice is always beneficial. Make sure that you are taking 5 section exams, so that you aren't simulating an easier test experience than what you'll get on test day. I often recommend that students take 6 section exams in the final stretch to get a real endurance workout! Do this by chopping up exams.

But remember, don't test yourself into oblivion! Targeted practice is where you really build your comprehension skills, and you should be fully reviewing the entirety of any full length test that you take!

Please let me know if you have additional questions!

[ttunden]

Thanks for posting your question ttunden!

Without more specific information, it's difficult to say for sure, but it does sound like an endurance issue. When you go back to review the sections, are you fully reviewing every single question, including the ones you got correct? Are you asking yourself why you missed those questions?

I actually mean that. We miss questions for very specific reasons, and figuring out what those is a critical key for continued improvement. I will admit that it is often a very difficult question to answer!

It's likely that it is test fatigue, but there are different ways test fatigue can occur. Are you missing questions that you simply *should* have gotten right? In other words, when you review some of your misses from the second section, do you slap your forehead and say 'd'oh, of COURSE the answer is C, what was I thinking?' If so, then it's a fairly simple question of mental discipline. Become your own piano teacher with the ruler, wrapping your own knuckles! Consciously remind yourself to stay engaged and focused at various points during the exam.

But it might be something else. It could be that there are the same number of borderline questions in each section - questions you struggle with, narrow it down to two perhaps, and then either guess or decide with low confidence. If that's true, and you are simply missing more of them in the second section, that indicates you are simply losing your sharpest edge as the test progresses. In this case, you can learn a lot from looking at how you handle the borderline questions you got right in section 1, and comparing that to your mental approach to the borderline questions you got wrong in section 2.

Both are variants of test fatigue, but they function a bit differently. In addition to the above, practice is always beneficial. Make sure that you are taking 5 section exams, so that you aren't simulating an easier test experience than what you'll get on test day. I often recommend that students take 6 section exams in the final stretch to get a real endurance workout! Do this by chopping up exams.

But remember, don't test yourself into oblivion! Targeted practice is where you really build your comprehension skills, and you should be fully reviewing the entirety of any full length test that you take!

Please let me know if you have additional questions!

Hi Christine,

When I review the LR questions I got wrong(for LR2) I can get it right when blind reviewing. Most of the problems do not seem difficult to me when I am conducting blind review. In fact, If I was doing LR2 on a rest day as a first section I would for sure get them right because I found them easy. When I took LR2 the other day my mind was tired and I had a strong temptation just to get the test over with. Now don't get me wrong, on LR2 there were 1 or 2 questions that either had very convoluted answer choices that confused me, or that I eliminated to a 50/50 situation and picked the wrong choice.

I am going to implement your advice(reminding myself to stay engaged/focused) today when I take one of the recent PT. I typically miss most questions right after the break. I will probably start doing the six section tests as well in a few weeks.

What do you mean by targeted practice? Like drilling weak areas you identify?


Thanks for answering my question. I appreciate it a lot.

[christine.defenbaugh]

Definitely typical test fatigue! Exert that conscious pressure on yourself!

What I meant by 'targeted practice' is zeroing in on a particular theme - whether that's strengthen questions, formal logic questions, causation questions, scary looking science questions, etc. Sitting and doing short sets of a particular problem type, then immediately reviewing thoroughly is the best way to fully engage yourself and absorb what you've done. Short sets mean that your review is closer in time to when you went through the original thought process, and that better enables you to crack open your own mental paths.

Full length practice absolutely has its place - particularly in smoothing down issues like sheer test fatigue! It's just not where the most interesting and useful comprehension skill building takes place.

Does that make sense? Please let me know if you have more questions!