Reading Economist to help improve RC score. Effective? Forum

[Lsataddict175]

Just ordered a 25 week subscription to Economist magazine. I heard that the articles found in the paper closely resemble LSAT passages. I am taking the LSAT either in June or October 2014 and really wanted to strengthen my reading skills. Will reading the magazine weekly in its entirety for the next 6-8 months really enable me to become a better reader?

More importantly, what should I focus on when reading the articles? Should I read painstakingly or just for pleasure? Would love to hear from my fellow TLS'ers regarding this issue. Happy Holidays and thank you in advance!

[LcarpetronD543]

The economist is a fine publication, and I would recommend it to anyone. But I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone for the sole purpose of improving RC. If you keep in mind some of the key components to doing well in RC when reading the Economist, such as getting excited about the material, focusing on detail, developing a system of diagramming that works well for you, and developing a balance between speed and retention, then it can be a valuable tool. However, I still think that the best way to get prepared for RC is to do every passage available, but if you're looking for some preliminary strengthening, I'm sure the Economist wouldn't hurt. Don't rely on it to make any drastic changes for you though.

[Dr. Dre]

the new yorker is the cr

[Kimikho]

the new yorker is the cr

welcome back, dre.

the cr answer is to just read a lot, and then read LSAT passages. the only thing that preps you for the lsat is the lsat.

[nothingtosee]

Just ordered a 25 week subscription to Economist magazine. I heard that the articles found in the paper closely resemble LSAT passages. I am taking the LSAT either in June or October 2014 and really wanted to strengthen my reading skills. Will reading the magazine weekly in its entirety for the next 6-8 months really enable me to become a better reader?

More importantly, what should I focus on when reading the articles? Should I read painstakingly or just for pleasure? Would love to hear from my fellow TLS'ers regarding this issue. Happy Holidays and thank you in advance!

Don't wanna be a hater...but Economist is not at the level of RC except maybe the actual economics passages. Most of it is like "If you don't know a thing about Italian politics, here you go." (What I mean is, their coverage of the Obama-Romney campaign really was more shallow than staying up to date on 538.com). But it does give you the widest variety of stuff of any print magazine. So you might find some new interests, which is great.

If you really want to "get on that level," you are better off with New York Review of Books (nybooks.com) or London Review or Books (http://www.lrb.co.uk) or Times Literary Supplement (http://www.the-tls.co.uk) for Humanities and Social Science), and maybe clicking links that don't especially interest you on http://www.sciencedaily.com (e.g. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 143524.htm). For the former, although you'll be reading 3-8,000 word entries often, you'll have a better handle overall.

But honestly, I think what will help you more is for you to start enjoying a wider variety of readings - and I think NYRB will help especially for that. If you are actually like "Oooh a new kind of pathogen! Or huh, I guess an individual based intellectual property license doesn't make sense for a tribe that believes the ideas are communal" you'll be better off.

What should you look for? I think when you're done with a full article, you should be able to tell someone "This is the one thing you need to understand, this is an example of that, and this is one thing I used to think that I was wrong about/didn't understand but actually it works like this." You should also be very able to point to words, sentences, and concepts that you don't get. Wikipedia them.

$.02

[alexrodriguez]

Economist will not prepare you for LSAT RC.

I bought the 52 week subscription with all the online benefits.

I've read through like 7 magazines from start to finish. However, I read them in a leisurely way. I suppose if I marked all over the pages and attempted to analyze them the way my Manhattan RC guide suggests it would be a different story.

I think the economist will enlighten you and I think its a good way to keep your mind sharp.

It will certainly make you more knowledgeable about the world.

I think a great lawyer should have a solid grasp about the world around him. Just don't confuse the necessary with the sufficient.

[NapoleonXV]

will not help.

I would suggest Scientific Americans for science passages and academic journals for the rest.

[AnonymousAlterEgoC]

This depends on how you intend to read The Economist. If you do so with an eye for structure and stop after each paragraph to construct the argument, then it will help. If you are just reading, it probably will not.

[Balthy]

Just ordered a 25 week subscription to Economist magazine. I heard that the articles found in the paper closely resemble LSAT passages. I am taking the LSAT either in June or October 2014 and really wanted to strengthen my reading skills. Will reading the magazine weekly in its entirety for the next 6-8 months really enable me to become a better reader?

More importantly, what should I focus on when reading the articles? Should I read painstakingly or just for pleasure? Would love to hear from my fellow TLS'ers regarding this issue. Happy Holidays and thank you in advance!

Don't wanna be a hater...but Economist is not at the level of RC except maybe the actual economics passages. Most of it is like "If you don't know a thing about Italian politics, here you go." (What I mean is, their coverage of the Obama-Romney campaign really was more shallow than staying up to date on 538.com). But it does give you the widest variety of stuff of any print magazine. So you might find some new interests, which is great.

If you really want to "get on that level," you are better off with New York Review of Books (nybooks.com) or London Review or Books (http://www.lrb.co.uk) or Times Literary Supplement (http://www.the-tls.co.uk) for Humanities and Social Science), and maybe clicking links that don't especially interest you on http://www.sciencedaily.com (e.g. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 143524.htm). For the former, although you'll be reading 3-8,000 word entries often, you'll have a better handle overall.

But honestly, I think what will help you more is for you to start enjoying a wider variety of readings - and I think NYRB will help especially for that. If you are actually like "Oooh a new kind of pathogen! Or huh, I guess an individual based intellectual property license doesn't make sense for a tribe that believes the ideas are communal" you'll be better off.

What should you look for? I think when you're done with a full article, you should be able to tell someone "This is the one thing you need to understand, this is an example of that, and this is one thing I used to think that I was wrong about/didn't understand but actually it works like this." You should also be very able to point to words, sentences, and concepts that you don't get. Wikipedia them.

$.02

Great advice.

[Walrus]

I am not sure about Economist but I think in order to be prepared for RC you should be especially good in understanding of extremely dense arguments on topics that are not familiar to you.

My suggestions:
John Locke: Second Treatise of Government
Really really DENSE arguments. Thousands of logical connections on one page.

Charles Darwin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection
Is familiar to LSAT science passages. Results of experiments and observations are used to support old/propose new/refute old hypothesis. Also helps you to learn how to stay focused on explanations of how ants make slaves and other strange stuff.

Friedrich Engels: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
A big number of distinctions, dense arguments.

Neuroscience, nutrition (an so on) textbooks

Should I read painstakingly or just for pleasure?

IMHO painstakingly.

[Trojan18940]

This depends on how you intend to read The Economist. If you do so with an eye for structure and stop after each paragraph to construct the argument, then it will help. If you are just reading, it probably will not.

Agreed. Actively reading the passages, with an emphasis on retention and understanding the content, is essential. Doing so is the only way to accurately gauge your comprehension.

To get the greatest dividends, read the articles as though you were completing an LSAT RC passage. You don't have to waste time conjuring up questions such as "The ethnographer's experience is most parallel to which one of the following situations.", but read with a general focus on main point, structure of passage, general inferences, etc.

Just ordered a 25 week subscription to Economist magazine. I heard that the articles found in the paper closely resemble LSAT passages. I am taking the LSAT either in June or October 2014 and really wanted to strengthen my reading skills. Will reading the magazine weekly in its entirety for the next 6-8 months really enable me to become a better reader?

More importantly, what should I focus on when reading the articles? Should I read painstakingly or just for pleasure? Would love to hear from my fellow TLS'ers regarding this issue. Happy Holidays and thank you in advance!

Don't wanna be a hater...but Economist is not at the level of RC except maybe the actual economics passages. Most of it is like "If you don't know a thing about Italian politics, here you go." (What I mean is, their coverage of the Obama-Romney campaign really was more shallow than staying up to date on 538.com). But it does give you the widest variety of stuff of any print magazine. So you might find some new interests, which is great.

If you really want to "get on that level," you are better off with New York Review of Books (nybooks.com) or London Review or Books (http://www.lrb.co.uk) or Times Literary Supplement (http://www.the-tls.co.uk) for Humanities and Social Science), and maybe clicking links that don't especially interest you on http://www.sciencedaily.com (e.g. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 143524.htm). For the former, although you'll be reading 3-8,000 word entries often, you'll have a better handle overall.

But honestly, I think what will help you more is for you to start enjoying a wider variety of readings - and I think NYRB will help especially for that. If you are actually like "Oooh a new kind of pathogen! Or huh, I guess an individual based intellectual property license doesn't make sense for a tribe that believes the ideas are communal" you'll be better off.

What should you look for? I think when you're done with a full article, you should be able to tell someone "This is the one thing you need to understand, this is an example of that, and this is one thing I used to think that I was wrong about/didn't understand but actually it works like this." You should also be very able to point to words, sentences, and concepts that you don't get. Wikipedia them.

$.02

Great advice.

Solid reading list (especially Science Daily). However, I disagree when you say the Economist is not at the "actual level" of LSAT RC, with the exception of economics. The science passages bare striking similarity to articles published in the RC, not only in density of content but also passage length. J.Y. from 7sage thinks so as well. --LinkRemoved--

I wouldn't say that just because the Economist provides less depth on certain issues, e.g. Romney / Obama campaign (as you mentioned) that that means it's "not at the level" of LSAT RC. The LSAT RC is similar to the Economist in that it provides the core, essential information on a given topic in a dense and concise way. Reading a 2200 word article in the TLS is great, but it doesn't mirror the actual task of reading an LSAT passage, which is shorter in length.

[bp shinners]

The biggest benefit to reading any of the publications often mentioned is to start to relax that fear people have when they read something on a subject with which they are unfamiliar. You're not reading The Economist to practice RC; you're reading it so that when you hit an RC passage on prion disease, your brain doesn't freeze up when it mentions amyloids because your brain has experience learning new topics while they're being referenced in a non-introductory-text-book manner.

[withoutapaddle]

A lot of people have trouble with science related articles so I highly recommend:

https://www.sciencemag.org/

Also, what I learned to do with RC and LR is to not really care about what the words mean. If you can't pronounce a word, it doesn't matter. You just need to see the relationships between the words. If MRSA occurred because a doctor left sponges in a patients abdomen. You need to recognize that relationship. Doesn't matter if you know what MRSA is.

LSAT is a fun test IMO (Besides the time constraints)

[fnma2jd]

Everyone always says to read random stuff like economist, WSJ, new yorker, etc but, depending on how long you have, why not just do RC from PTs 1-40 untimed. If you have to read anything, why not read something directly applicable. what seemed to help me was doing LSAT passages and questions because it allowed me to create a system and start to anticipate answers the same way that I do with LG and LR. That being said my RC is pretty inconsistant (anywhere from -1 to -9) so take my advice with a grain of salt.

[Trojan18940]

Different types of texts require different reading strategies. Use relevant outside material (material similar in length, content, density / complexity, etc as LSAT passages.) to solidify your reading strategy and comprehension.

Reading a 50 page article about the rise of NGOs in China for an IR class is a different task than understanding a 500-700 word article discussing the evolution of Chinese calligraphy for the LSAT. You have to practice adapting and developing your reading strategy to the test to achieve success. The more frequently you use your faculties to understand material that mirrors that of the LSAT, in ways that the test demands, the greater your chances of success will be, because you will have developed an effective strategy for understanding test material.

The best way to do this, with limited time, is drilling RC sections. That being said, I think there's a benefit to being able to understand similar material without having to annotate / mark up the page. Moreover, there's a benefit to training your brain to "think like the LSAT," by learning to actively read and engage in the material without having the questions created for you.

Familiarity / comfort with approaching different topics is a benefit. But don't let familiarity give you too much confidence or comfort with the material. Sometimes the passages I performed the worst on were ones related to topics and themes related to my discipline; part of this was over-confidence.

[03152016]

.

[FlowBro]

I'll keep it simple.

Reading Economist helped me go from -10 on RC to -1 on test day. Albeit I took the LSAT 3 times but I do credit the Economist. Also, you do learn quite a bit and pick up a lot of interesting news that would otherwise go unnoticed. Makes for great conversation starters with random people you may run into.