Just thought I'd add my two cents here and not just in my bid group:
I'm back and cozied up in SLC. I think I did all right...we'll see. The big takeaways I had:
-I used
ATCPrep. I do think it was worth the $30, but echoing what some had said, don't use it so much you expect it to be the exactly the same. On the Visual Relationships section, I thought it was o
ptional to use "Enter/+" keys for YES and NO. Being somewhat of a gamer and using computers quite a bit in my professional life, I was used to using the mouse and clicking Yes or No. I got pretty quick at hovering in the space between the YES or NO boxes and using my reflexes to swing up or down for my responses...
YOU CAN'T USE THE MOUSE ON THIS SECTION. Woops. So don't be a moron like me and get comfy using the mouse. I did do the sample run multiple times to
try and get used to the "Enter/+" keys. I wish I could get another stab at this section because I was scoring 97% on ATCPrep but definitely missed more on the actual test.
- Might sound silly, but practice the test wearing your mask. I put in my ear plugs, had my mask on, and would get into "serious" mode....and literally forgot to breathe during the Differences section. Like I would just hold my breath, as if I was playing a video game during some intense moment. Then when the section would end, I'd realize how out of breath I was and breathe deeply lol. Not sure if I just blew it, but on all rounds it ended in the middle of a problem. So either I was slow AF and didn't finish, or there are unlimited problems and they're seeing how many you can do.
- Radar game. ATCPrep does a decent job, but the real thing is much more chaotic. I think I had 3 collisions. 2 of which happened on the same round. Woops. ALSO, when the arithmetic questions are going, I got used to looking at the last digits of the problems and using that as a shortcut...that didn't pan out as well on the test. There are questions that have decimals as answers and that threw me a bit. Again, like others have said, I just prioritized separating the dots first and did the math questions when I could. Had plenty go unanswered.
-Value/Relations. Saw quite a few people asking for tips on this...I would simply read it aloud (quietly) to myself, and visually put the "A" to left of the screen, "B" on the top of the screen, and "C" to the right of the screen. So as the values showed, I would point to the side and repeat the value, cycling through. As the questions showed, I think it helped my brain to point to "where" it was and recall. Idk if it'll help you.
IE:
A = 3
B = Ax2
C = A + 1
My process was to visually "move" A to the left of the screen and repeat its value. When B pops up, I would say aloud "A2", do the math, and then CYCLE the values thus far. So I'd point to the left, say "3", point up, say "6", and REPEAT until C shows up, to which I then start from "3" to "6" to "4", all while pointing. When the tests asks for the answers, often not alphabetically, I would point to "where they were", and forget it the moment I input the answer. If it's a division value, I say to myself "over" instead of "divided by". Faster...idk if it helped. Sorry if that doesn't make sense.
Reading Comp/Logic Word problems: Not as hard as LSAT questions but I did think it helped to prime my mind for it. I was worried about time, since you don't have a lot of it, and "quick answered" through the middle section, thinking it'd be better to rush the middle questions and have time to go through the last questions, as opposed to realizing you don't have enough time and purely guess the last third of questions. Seemed to work, I did feel confident about my answers. My tip would be to read the question first
before reading the passage. So you know what to look for while you're skimming through it.
Welp hope this helps! Good luck to all.