Unbalanced score: focus on weak sections or not? Review concepts or work on passages?

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TragicalDrFaust

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Just took TPR's first online practice test. I got a somewhat unbalanced 502 (124 on Bio, 127 on CARS, 123 on Chem and 128 on PS - all about what I expected). My goal is to score a 506 when I take the test July 20. I have 4 days/week to prepare. Given my scores, should I focus on improving Bio and Chem or prepare for the 4 sections evenly? Beyond that, I feel there are some basic areas in Chem and Bio that need review rather than just diving in to passages. Is that a high-yield strategy? A lot of guides here suggest working on passages predominantly.

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@aimstosneeze thanks for your question and good work on your practice exam! You are well on your way to reaching your goal score. I would say it's best at this point to focus on your weak sections, but make sure not to completely neglect CARS and P/S, because those scores will likely decrease if you do. It's much easier to improve a 123 than it is to improve a 127/128 and since you're fairly close to your goal score, I feel confident in saying you should focus on your weaker areas a bit more.

You definitely need a solid background in the science topics to do well in B/B and C/P. I think a good way to go about it is to do practice passages and exams and then thoroughly review them. If you're missing questions because you didn't know specific background information about the topic or an answer choice, then go back into your review resources and study that topic once more. It's more efficient to study this way than to just do a blanket review over everything because with this method you'll only review the concepts you don't already know and that'll save you time.

If you're missing problems because you're misinterpreting the passage, then make sure you spend extra time during review to see how they make the connection between the passage and the answer choice. Make sure to find what the gap in your understanding was. The more times you do this, the better you'll get at recognizing these gaps on new questions.

Scores of <125 on C/P and B/B indicate some weakness on background information, so make sure to thoroughly review all questions that you miss. I think working on some discrete problems as well, especially for C/P, will help you reinforce the information you have learned. There are several different resources for discrete problems and if you need recommendations, please let me know.

Don't get discouraged at all! You are doing great and have shown amazing progress in CARS and P/S. Don't completely neglect those sections and make sure you stay sharp in them, but definitely shift your focus a little more towards C/P and B/B. It'll be much easier to go from a 123 to a 125-126 than it would be to go from a 128 to a 130.

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out! Good luck and keep up the good work!
 
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