Praise the 7Sage gods! Took my first timed official PT LR sections today and only got 5 wrong!

JohnnyKarate

I know to you who are PTing in the 170's this may seem laughable, but I was started at -11 in LR under timed conditions, and I feel like this is a huge step forward. I didn't think the nerves would get to me though to be honest (I just did this at home) but I felt almost as anxious as I would have if I had been taking the real thing, so I think once I get those nerves under better control I certainly think I can improve even more. What do y'all think? Any experiences like this?

FixedDice

At least some of us have been there. I don't think your achievement is laughable (and I am fairly sure I am not the only one in that regard). Quite the contrary.

Testing anxiety does play a part, but I think the bigger concern lies in being confident of your answers. Testing anxiety will always be there to a certain degree. Your confidence may not be.

keets993

Nah no one's gonna think lightly of this, everyone started somewhere and most people know how difficult this test is. From what I've seen on 7sage, I think a lot of people start in 140s or 150s but there's stigma about how it's a low diagnostic and PT score, so it's not discussed a lot except for in the past tense. There's nothing wrong with it though, every step is a small victory.

Congrats on this progress! Test anxiety does exist even during untimed sections, I think it subsides the more exposure you get and sections/PTs you do but it will definetly be there on test day. That's why it's so important to have a process that you've labored to create and trust so that you can rely on it during the actual test.