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A little bit about my background: I took the LSAT in october this year and got 165. I'm really unhappy with the score so I decide to take it again next year February and take a gap year to apply. My GPA is pretty awful w a 3.4, even though I do go to a top 10 university (doesn't matter that much i guess)

More on my October test, I think (haven't really counted) I got around 10 wrongs on the RC, 7 wrongs on LR and 3 wrongs on LG (even though I was expecting worse after the test for this section).

Right now I am trying to come up with a study plan for February 2014 retake. Between now to mid December I am still in school, have to deal with papers/finals, then 3 weeks break, and back to school again after that. I am debating if I should read the Manhattan/powerscore books again and do the cambridge bundle for LG/LR, every section in order (while also taking some RC sections weekly). It just feels like it's a lot of questions and not targeted enough if I do every type on the list. Or if I should retake a lot of pretests and then maybe focus on drilling questions only on types that I have most trouble with.

Also would love some suggestions on how to on my worst section RC in less than 3 months time.

As someone who scores −1 to −3 on RC regularly, I would say do the following:

1) read for structure: New York Times and The Economist are good, but get on JSTOR and read some interesting academic papers as well and read them for structure. What’s the main-point? How does pgh 2 relate to pgh 1? How does X’s hypothesis relate to Y’s? The LSAT RC passages are dense and boring and not written like a popular newspaper, so forgetting what you read is easy.

2) Develop a notation strategy: some say take notes, other say don’t take notes. Personally, I jot down abbreviated terms to keep myself engaged with the passage but don’t really refer to them during Qs. For example, “PV1” in my notation strategy refers to “point of view #1” and I can easily contrast it later on with a subsequent viewpoint stated by the passage. Find what works for you.

3) Focus on timing later. Getting into an RC groove requires getting the strategy/methods down and then doing it within 35/33/32 mins depending on your scoring goal.

Hope this helps. RC may be the toughest to improve but you CAN improve on it — just read everything you normally would (newspapers, books) and pretend like its an RC passage.

OVOXO wrote:As someone who scores −1 to −3 on RC regularly, I would say do the following:

1) read for structure: New York Times and The Economist are good, but get on JSTOR and read some interesting academic papers as well and read them for structure. What’s the main-point? How does pgh 2 relate to pgh 1? How does X’s hypothesis relate to Y’s? The LSAT RC passages are dense and boring and not written like a popular newspaper, so forgetting what you read is easy.

2) Develop a notation strategy: some say take notes, other say don’t take notes. Personally, I jot down abbreviated terms to keep myself engaged with the passage but don’t really refer to them during Qs. For example, “PV1” in my notation strategy refers to “point of view #1” and I can easily contrast it later on with a subsequent viewpoint stated by the passage. Find what works for you.

3) Focus on timing later. Getting into an RC groove requires getting the strategy/methods down and then doing it within 35/33/32 mins depending on your scoring goal.

Hope this helps. RC may be the toughest to improve but you CAN improve on it — just read everything you normally would (newspapers, books) and pretend like its an RC passage.

thank you so much!!! Also how can I improve on lr?

I think something that is very important is.........

1) Learning how to approach LR, LG, RC
2) Practice (Drill by type & mixed review). Review Thoroughly
3) PTing under strict timing and similar standards. Review Thoroughly.

Don't spend too much up front time on number 1 and 2. Learning is important to this, but memorizing facts isn't as important as your study habits. I believe if someone took PTs 1 -70 and review their mistakes and understood where they went wrong, they would be able to score in the 170s. I spent way too much time on the learning approach and it shows. If I would have drilled and PTed more, I think my score would have improved drastically. Over the past month I have seen a large improvement by just practicing timed as well as untimed work with review. You will see your mistakes and be able to repair them only by practicing and reviewing.

I think it also helps to get a study partner or group (no more than 4 people). Correspond with them regularly, if not daily. Ideally, try to build a diverse group, where some PT well with LG, some LR, some RC. It helps to bounce ideas off of each other and it will help with motivation.

Good Luck!