Best Periodicals or Stuff to Practice RC? Forum

[jwinaz]

Curious if anyone's find some good periodicals or other reading materials they are using for RC practice?

Or do you guys think it's dangerous to read non-LSAT stuff? ....I've heard some mixed advice on this. Some say the LSAT passages are very very unique and it's better to just stick with them, while others say that you can probably find a magazine like The Economist or Scientific American (those are theo only two I've heard) that would simulate LSAT reading.

Any views on this? ....TVM!

[mindarmed]

use the search function

[03152016]

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[Squintz805]

You have hundreds of RC Passage available on previously administered LSATs.

I know a lot of people recommend reading the Economist and such, but I see more benefit using relevant reading material from the actual LSAT.

[062914123]

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[RobertGolddust]

I think you misused the word obtuse, have you not seen the shawskank redemption?

[jingosaur]

Read the Culture section of The Economist. Find the most boring and uninteresting topics that you can find and then when you're done, start writing questions that the LSAT would potentially ask and write down the answers.

[062914123]

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[objection_your_honor]

RC isn't any more technical than pop history/science books. I've found that, in my free time, switching to reading nonfiction exclusively (rather than novels) may have had an impact on my RC score over the course of a year.

Plus, every now and then you get an RC passage on a topic you've recently read a book about.

[A.Taarabt7]

I personally like to read the op ed of NYT , WSJ, or any other major newspaper in your area.

I feel they are the most similar to an RC passage in terms of structure as compared to other type of articles you will find from those newspapers or magazines such as The Economist. I like to usually read the ones written from lawyers, law professors, or prominent authors such as Thomas Friedman or Scott Turow.

I have also heard that reading books can help gain some familiarity with the topics seen in RC. From this website, I have seen Jared Diamond - Guns,Germs, and Steel recommended as well as A Short History of nearly Everything ( forgot authors name...think it is Bill Bryson).

The other users are right that the RC passages available are the best way to prep but if you need additional practice or don't want to burn through all RC sections available then I would recommend the above. What I do is click the print friendly version of the OP ed and then paste in word. I then print it out and practice my technique for marking/notating the passage.

Hope this helps and good luck in your prep

[Hrun]

I like the Smithsonian or Scientific America. I don't think the writing accurately represents what you'll see on RC, but the content is similar. They both report cultural, historical and scientific discoveries in short essays. If you get bored of the LSAT prep, you could always try and read choice articles from either magazine and get in the habit of reading them quickly while highlighting themes and scope. Plus, you can usually find several back copies in the library. My library sometimes even sells very old copies for a quarter. Hope this helps.

[jingosaur]

Use this:

http://insidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/

It gets stale after a while because the same arguments repeat over time.

[JamMasterJ]

Economist and Scientific American

[prāna]

to improve your RC i would suggest practicing these:

1. super old 1990s RC passages you are not going to take as PTs
2. Scientific American (for subject matter and focus)
3. Economist (for style and word density)
4. anything else that makes use of argumets/evidence

[03152016]

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[A → B ⊨ ¬B → ¬A]

i know people always rec the economist, but i never really understood that. have you ever actually read an issue of the economist from cover to cover? it's almost nothing like an lsat passage. i get that it's supposed to acclimate you to reading slightly dense, concise passages of text, but i really think going through real RC passages will help 100x more. tbqh, the thing that most helps me with RC (which is definitely my strongest section, and the one that i go -0 on 99.9% of the time) is my background from ug (philosophy). if you really want to challenge yourself with difficult, obtuse text, i'd suggest reading through philosophical treatises. once you've gone through a few of them, RC will be a breeze. of course, there are other fields that i'm sure will work equally well, just saying what works for me.

cr. read real rc passages. if you run out of rc passages, read some academic papers. some people say read hegel. don't read hegel. try some bertrand russell

[jrsbaseball5]

to improve your RC i would suggest practicing these:

1. super old 1990s RC passages you are not going to take as PTs

How do you find these?

[03152016]

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