So we're are all anxious, I know I am. I've been scoring in the low 160's on the practice tests but recently I have gotten a few 167's. I'm trying to break 170 for this june lsat.
My errors typically look like this:
-1 or 0 on LG
-6 or -7 on both LR sections combined
-6 to -8 on RC
Obviously my RC section is weakest and with less than 10 days to go, I feel like I'll get the most score improvement by focusing on my RC section.
To those of you who excel in RC sections....what kind of advice can you give me? I tend to miss more on science passages because the details overwhelm me. Law-related passages are a bit difficult for me as well. My problem with RC questions is that sometimes, the question has more than 1 attractive answer choice, and this happens frequently....
If I can just miss about 4 problems less on RC, I think I can break 170....How should I study for the june lsat? I already looked over RC bible from powerscore but that didn't do crap.
Less than 10 Days left until judgment day Forum
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February1088
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:52 pm
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Helicio
- Posts: 482
- Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:22 pm
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
I'm the opposite of you. I do great in RC and LR, but badly in LG. I think this is partly because I love reading/writing and hate math, which LG actually seems to have a bit in common with.
It is too late for you to read novels at night like I like to do, but you can prepare for RC by getting some heavy reading and spending the next 10 days reading. I suggest some philosophy. Pick up anything that floats your boat. I think Niezetche is good because he is so abstract and understanding what he means can be tough sometimes.
Anyway, my answer to you in short is: read, and when you are done reading ask yourself if you understand what the author means.
In addition to this, of course, get RC sections out of real LSAT tests and do them OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. Don't worry about the other sections, especially LG. You are doing great in LG. You have 10 days left to improve though, and since your worst section is RC I suggest you go batshit all over RC.
Good luck!
It is too late for you to read novels at night like I like to do, but you can prepare for RC by getting some heavy reading and spending the next 10 days reading. I suggest some philosophy. Pick up anything that floats your boat. I think Niezetche is good because he is so abstract and understanding what he means can be tough sometimes.
Anyway, my answer to you in short is: read, and when you are done reading ask yourself if you understand what the author means.
In addition to this, of course, get RC sections out of real LSAT tests and do them OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. Don't worry about the other sections, especially LG. You are doing great in LG. You have 10 days left to improve though, and since your worst section is RC I suggest you go batshit all over RC.
Good luck!
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WhatSarahSaid
- Posts: 293
- Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:01 pm
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
RC is really hard to improve quickly, unfortunately.
Did you use the LSAT SuperPrep tests? Maybe the detailed explanations would help you.
Did you use the LSAT SuperPrep tests? Maybe the detailed explanations would help you.
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incompetentia
- Posts: 2277
- Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:57 pm
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
With RC, are you having timing issues?
This can often be an indirect source of missing a lot of problems. If you're either finishing with a LOT of time left or running out of time constantly, then that could be it.
If not...
I was consistently -4 to -7 on RC during PTs but managed to outperform this on test day, thanks to a few tips I tried to internalize:
1) Don't feel like you have to answer the questions in order. If you know that there are types that you can knock out of the park no matter what, get those out of the way first so that you feel free to spend more time on the more challenging ones.
2) If you have to guess, check your answer against the passage an extra time to confirm that it sounds correct. At least for me, I was able to correct a decent number of wrong answers (and rarely flipped the opposite way on this) due to this.
If you come down to multiple possible answer choices, you could see if there are any similarities, and then concentrate on the differences.
This can often be an indirect source of missing a lot of problems. If you're either finishing with a LOT of time left or running out of time constantly, then that could be it.
If not...
I was consistently -4 to -7 on RC during PTs but managed to outperform this on test day, thanks to a few tips I tried to internalize:
1) Don't feel like you have to answer the questions in order. If you know that there are types that you can knock out of the park no matter what, get those out of the way first so that you feel free to spend more time on the more challenging ones.
2) If you have to guess, check your answer against the passage an extra time to confirm that it sounds correct. At least for me, I was able to correct a decent number of wrong answers (and rarely flipped the opposite way on this) due to this.
If you come down to multiple possible answer choices, you could see if there are any similarities, and then concentrate on the differences.
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OhOkay
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:14 am
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
Hey incompetentia,
What would you recommend if someone is consistently running out of time? I end up spending about 3-4 minutes on the passage (I guess I try to minimize the chance that I have to reread, although this is not usually the case when I get those WTF q's where two or more answers seem like equal contenders). Depending on how hard the questions are, this makes me go 9-10 mins on some passages, leaving me around 6 minutes by the time I get to last one. Any tips on speeding up and how to approach the initial reading of the passage?
What would you recommend if someone is consistently running out of time? I end up spending about 3-4 minutes on the passage (I guess I try to minimize the chance that I have to reread, although this is not usually the case when I get those WTF q's where two or more answers seem like equal contenders). Depending on how hard the questions are, this makes me go 9-10 mins on some passages, leaving me around 6 minutes by the time I get to last one. Any tips on speeding up and how to approach the initial reading of the passage?
incompetentia wrote:With RC, are you having timing issues?
This can often be an indirect source of missing a lot of problems. If you're either finishing with a LOT of time left or running out of time constantly, then that could be it.
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incompetentia
- Posts: 2277
- Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:57 pm
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
If you go 3-4 minutes on the passage itself but spend 9-10 minutes on the entire section overall, it sounds like you're taking about the right amount of time to answer the questions, but spending too long on reading.
Do you typically underline or mark a lot in the passage? What is it that you do mark (if you do)?
Is the 3-4 minutes spent going through the passage once, or do you typically reread or reskim in that period of time (either all of it or section by section)?
Following this strategy, are there any question types that you're still missing consistently (or are relatively inconsistent with)?
I had horrible trouble with main-points myself, so I would do nothing but skim (no marks) the first time through, answer all the main-point and viewpoint questions, and then simply pick specific sections to refer back to when answering the more specific questions. This doesn't necessarily work for (or even apply to) everybody, though. If you're not really missing any at your 10-minute rate, changing to this method would be pointless
Do you typically underline or mark a lot in the passage? What is it that you do mark (if you do)?
Is the 3-4 minutes spent going through the passage once, or do you typically reread or reskim in that period of time (either all of it or section by section)?
Following this strategy, are there any question types that you're still missing consistently (or are relatively inconsistent with)?
I had horrible trouble with main-points myself, so I would do nothing but skim (no marks) the first time through, answer all the main-point and viewpoint questions, and then simply pick specific sections to refer back to when answering the more specific questions. This doesn't necessarily work for (or even apply to) everybody, though. If you're not really missing any at your 10-minute rate, changing to this method would be pointless
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February1088
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:52 pm
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
I AM having a lot of time issues actually. I usually finish 3 passages and I have like 2 or 3 minutes to finish the last passage.incompetentia wrote:With RC, are you having timing issues?
This can often be an indirect source of missing a lot of problems. If you're either finishing with a LOT of time left or running out of time constantly, then that could be it.
If not...
I was consistently -4 to -7 on RC during PTs but managed to outperform this on test day, thanks to a few tips I tried to internalize:
1) Don't feel like you have to answer the questions in order. If you know that there are types that you can knock out of the park no matter what, get those out of the way first so that you feel free to spend more time on the more challenging ones.
2) If you have to guess, check your answer against the passage an extra time to confirm that it sounds correct. At least for me, I was able to correct a decent number of wrong answers (and rarely flipped the opposite way on this) due to this.
If you come down to multiple possible answer choices, you could see if there are any similarities, and then concentrate on the differences.
But even when I sit down and give myself extra time to finish all 4 passages, my accuracy on them is about minus 2 questions per passage. I found that comparative passages are easier to read but the level of difficulty on the questions seem to be harder plus its more time consuming cuz it will ask you retarded questions like "what was said in passage A but not said in passage B?"
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rinkrat19
- Posts: 13922
- Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:35 am
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
+1incompetentia wrote:If you go 3-4 minutes on the passage itself but spend 9-10 minutes on the entire section overall, it sounds like you're taking about the right amount of time to answer the questions, but spending too long on reading.
Do you typically underline or mark a lot in the passage? What is it that you do mark (if you do)?
Is the 3-4 minutes spent going through the passage once, or do you typically reread or reskim in that period of time (either all of it or section by section)?
Following this strategy, are there any question types that you're still missing consistently (or are relatively inconsistent with)?
I had horrible trouble with main-points myself, so I would do nothing but skim (no marks) the first time through, answer all the main-point and viewpoint questions, and then simply pick specific sections to refer back to when answering the more specific questions. This doesn't necessarily work for (or even apply to) everybody, though. If you're not really missing any at your 10-minute rate, changing to this method would be pointless
3-4 minutes reading the passage seems very long to me. I take about 30 seconds per selection, which I realize may be faster than average, but I don't think it should take more than 1-2 minutes. That's a lot of extra time to spend on answering questions.
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incompetentia
- Posts: 2277
- Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:57 pm
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
What types of questions are you currently missing? If it's more along the lines of main-point and author-viewpoint questions, you might want to try to scale back the first reading and then go back afterward (see above).February1088 wrote:I AM having a lot of time issues actually. I usually finish 3 passages and I have like 2 or 3 minutes to finish the last passage.
But even when I sit down and give myself extra time to finish all 4 passages, my accuracy on them is about minus 2 questions per passage. I found that comparative passages are easier to read but the level of difficulty on the questions seem to be harder plus its more time consuming cuz it will ask you retarded questions like "what was said in passage A but not said in passage B?"
What kinds of time are you spending on the actual reading right now? It seems like you're at 10-11 minutes per passage, so either you're spending 90 seconds per question, 4-5 minutes on the passage, or both numbers may be able to improve. Unfortunately, with this amount of time until the test, the changes can't be drastic, but based on that we should still be able to figure out something to help improve those numbers.
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rubydandun
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2011 3:58 am
Re: Less than 10 Days left until judgment day
Here's what helped me:
1.) Be VERY VERY careful with note-taking - they are a time killer, and really, how often do you refer back to them? I saw a 2-3 point increase as soon as I put my pencil down and stopped taking notes. Taking notes was also distracting me.
2.) As someone said earlier - don't do the questions in order, do them as you please, if at the very least to build confidence.
3.) When you get to a part of the passage that is WTF - realize that it's difficult by design and re-read it until you internalize and understand it. Oftentimes the most difficult portions of the passage contain key information (author's POV, a new view, evidence for an old view, etc).
4.) Realize that all RC passages are the same. You have to track viewpoints, analyze the evidence for each, and "comprehend" the passage's details, structure, and arguments. To absorb these, try this:
-At the end of each paragraph, take a second to think about what you just read, and PREDICT where it will go next.
-Pretend like the arguments being made are by someone you know well or dislike - and critically assess everything being said. This mode of thought will make you a more active reader.
-Be very good at picking out a passage's structure
Good luck
1.) Be VERY VERY careful with note-taking - they are a time killer, and really, how often do you refer back to them? I saw a 2-3 point increase as soon as I put my pencil down and stopped taking notes. Taking notes was also distracting me.
2.) As someone said earlier - don't do the questions in order, do them as you please, if at the very least to build confidence.
3.) When you get to a part of the passage that is WTF - realize that it's difficult by design and re-read it until you internalize and understand it. Oftentimes the most difficult portions of the passage contain key information (author's POV, a new view, evidence for an old view, etc).
4.) Realize that all RC passages are the same. You have to track viewpoints, analyze the evidence for each, and "comprehend" the passage's details, structure, and arguments. To absorb these, try this:
-At the end of each paragraph, take a second to think about what you just read, and PREDICT where it will go next.
-Pretend like the arguments being made are by someone you know well or dislike - and critically assess everything being said. This mode of thought will make you a more active reader.
-Be very good at picking out a passage's structure
Good luck
