I’m stuck scoring mid 1400s on practice tests. One thing I’ve noticed throughout is that I’ll miss multiple problems in a row, and often it is near the end of the section. For example, this past practice test I answered correctly 1-40 on the reading section, then missed 5 of the last 12. Another thing that happens quite often to me on the no calculator section is I will usually fly thru the first 10 or so with no issue, then right before I get to the write-in answer part is where I’ll miss some. This past test I was correct on 1-11 and 15-20, but missed 12-14 and felt like I was barely able to attempt them.
I was wondering if anyone else has run into this issue? I find that I tend to relax or, it sounds bad, stop trying at a certain point. On the reading, if you look at my notes it’s clear the difference in my focus on the first 3 passages vs the last 2. It’s as if I am mentally spent or “just done.” And on the math (especially no calculator) near the end of multiple choice it’s almost as if I have trouble even reading the problems. It feels like I cannot comprehend them. I have taken 1-8 practice tests.
Near the end of the multiple choice, the math is objectively harder–seems like a more likely explanation for that.
As to the reading, I don’t know what to tell you other than to keep up the effort throughout. If the problem is really as you describe it, then you seem to know the problem and the solution.
The passages in the reading section are all a certain type like one is fiction and the other is a science passage. I suggest you find the types of passages you like and generally find easier and attempt those first. You want to get as many correct anwsers as you can so it’s better to spend less time getting all the easier passages out of the way and save the harder ones for last rather than spend lots of time on the hard ones and stress out on whether you’ll have enough time to complete the easy passages. For math, I get the same thing where I find the later questions are harder. I suggest doing the free response questions first because if you run out of time, you can always guess on the multiple choice. Then, just rush the beginning questions of the math as fast as you can while trying to make no mistakes at the same time. If you go fast enough, you’ll have enough time to let your brain relax for a few seconds before you proceed with the harder math questions. This is just my suggestion which I found worked for me. If you found a better way to take care of your problem, then I encourage you to do it that way instead.
I like your idea of doing the free response questions first, I’ll try that on my next practice test, thank you! Before I was doing the easier problems first like you said and then progressively going through the harder ones based on difficulty. For reading I think that probably the only thing I can do at this point is practice more lol. This previous test (even with saving the hardest section for last) I found it overall to be quite easy but did not even get to read a few of the questions and ended up guessing. I thought I was managing my time well but ended up flying through the last section.