RC non-timing related difficulties Forum

[tskela]

I've never done better than -3 in RC even untimed/BR. This suggests to me that there's some flaw in my understanding of RC test theory.

My biggest issues are "this passage suggests", "the author implies" etc where I can't point to something specific in the text. I don't know how big of a jump I can make from what's explicitly stated in the passage. Sometimes I'll stick with the answer choice that's close to the text but a little bit off, and then the right answer turns out to be a good deal broader than the scope of the passage (hence my temptation to avoid it). Other times I'll go with the broader choice but it turns out to be wrong because it's TOO broad.

I'll read and watch explanations and still believe my (wrong) choice was defensible.

Anyone have any tips to overcoming this hurdle? I don't generally have issues with any other type of RC question

[Kopetz]

I've never done better than -3 in RC even untimed/BR. This suggests to me that there's some flaw in my understanding of RC test theory.

My biggest issues are "this passage suggests", "the author implies" etc where I can't point to something specific in the text. I don't know how big of a jump I can make from what's explicitly stated in the passage. Sometimes I'll stick with the answer choice that's close to the text but a little bit off, and then the right answer turns out to be a good deal broader than the scope of the passage (hence my temptation to avoid it). Other times I'll go with the broader choice but it turns out to be wrong because it's TOO broad.

I'll read and watch explanations and still believe my (wrong) choice was defensible.

Anyone have any tips to overcoming this hurdle? I don't generally have issues with any other type of RC question

What's your strategy while you read the passage itself? Notation, summarizing, underlining, etc?

The sentence I bolded is an issue, because it indicates you're not fully grasping what you got wrong on a given question. LSAT questions aren't matters of subjective weighing or relative correctness; there are four wrong answers and one right one.

[tskela]

I've never done better than -3 in RC even untimed/BR. This suggests to me that there's some flaw in my understanding of RC test theory.

My biggest issues are "this passage suggests", "the author implies" etc where I can't point to something specific in the text. I don't know how big of a jump I can make from what's explicitly stated in the passage. Sometimes I'll stick with the answer choice that's close to the text but a little bit off, and then the right answer turns out to be a good deal broader than the scope of the passage (hence my temptation to avoid it). Other times I'll go with the broader choice but it turns out to be wrong because it's TOO broad.

I'll read and watch explanations and still believe my (wrong) choice was defensible.

Anyone have any tips to overcoming this hurdle? I don't generally have issues with any other type of RC question

What's your strategy while you read the passage itself? Notation, summarizing, underlining, etc?

The sentence I bolded is an issue, because it indicates you're not fully grasping what you got wrong on a given question. LSAT questions aren't matters of subjective weighing or relative correctness; there are four wrong answers and one right one.

I underline, but find this only helps up to a certain point. Often I'll have already isolated the relevant lines but just can't exactly match them to one of the answer choices, or I can match them to two answer choices.

I know Major issue.

[Bebop]

Next time you see one of those stems, before reading the answer choices, try to form in you mind what you think the answer is, then read the answer choices and choose the one closest to that.

See if that helps.

[appind]

I've never done better than -3 in RC even untimed/BR. This suggests to me that there's some flaw in my understanding of RC test theory.

My biggest issues are "this passage suggests", "the author implies" etc where I can't point to something specific in the text. I don't know how big of a jump I can make from what's explicitly stated in the passage. Sometimes I'll stick with the answer choice that's close to the text but a little bit off, and then the right answer turns out to be a good deal broader than the scope of the passage (hence my temptation to avoid it). Other times I'll go with the broader choice but it turns out to be wrong because it's TOO broad.

I'll read and watch explanations and still believe my (wrong) choice was defensible.

Anyone have any tips to overcoming this hurdle? I don't generally have issues with any other type of RC question

What's your strategy while you read the passage itself? Notation, summarizing, underlining, etc?

The sentence I bolded is an issue, because it indicates you're not fully grasping what you got wrong on a given question. LSAT questions aren't matters of subjective weighing or relative correctness; there are four wrong answers and one right one.

it's usually true, but not always. sometimes you have question items that are not removed from scoring and have flaws or are still only relatively correct.

[Kopetz]

I've never done better than -3 in RC even untimed/BR. This suggests to me that there's some flaw in my understanding of RC test theory.

My biggest issues are "this passage suggests", "the author implies" etc where I can't point to something specific in the text. I don't know how big of a jump I can make from what's explicitly stated in the passage. Sometimes I'll stick with the answer choice that's close to the text but a little bit off, and then the right answer turns out to be a good deal broader than the scope of the passage (hence my temptation to avoid it). Other times I'll go with the broader choice but it turns out to be wrong because it's TOO broad.

I'll read and watch explanations and still believe my (wrong) choice was defensible.

Anyone have any tips to overcoming this hurdle? I don't generally have issues with any other type of RC question

What's your strategy while you read the passage itself? Notation, summarizing, underlining, etc?

The sentence I bolded is an issue, because it indicates you're not fully grasping what you got wrong on a given question. LSAT questions aren't matters of subjective weighing or relative correctness; there are four wrong answers and one right one.

it's usually true, but not always. sometimes you have question items that are not removed from scoring and have flaws or are still only relatively correct.

I can't say that it's true 100% of the time, but I don't remember any non-removed questions where the four wrong answers didn't have some critical flaw, or where the right answer did. Even if assuming the case that non-withdrawn flawed LSAT questions exist, they are extremely rare. The "Well, my answer was also kinda right" mindset is wrongheaded and damaging to test-takers' abilities to self-assess their mistakes and improve their scores.

I underline, but find this only helps up to a certain point. Often I'll have already isolated the relevant lines but just can't exactly match them to one of the answer choices, or I can match them to two answer choices.

I know Major issue.

I'm in the annotation camp personally, but there's apparently a diversity of opinion regarding RC techniques. At the very least, try jotting down the main point of the text in your own words -- RC passages are generally persuasive writing, so if you can suss out not just the theme of the passage but the author's attitude toward that subject, that'll go a long way toward getting the right answers or eliminating the wrong ones.

You can usually treat "this passage suggests" or "this author implies" questions like LR inference questions. If the question gives you a relevant section of the passage, reread that section and for each answer choice ask "given this information, must this answer choice be true?"

[tskela]

Next time you see one of those stems, before reading the answer choices, try to form in you mind what you think the answer is, then read the answer choices and choose the one closest to that.

See if that helps.

I do this to a damaging extent I think. Like I'll get frustrated when the answer choices don't match the perfect response I've formed in my mind and instead of the right answer jumping out at me, I tend to see issues with all of them

[galeatus]

I fell into this trap not so long ago.

Do remember that RCs are not LRs, the correct answer is not absolutely flawless, it's always the relatively correct one - you shouldn't be picking out which is correct, you should be crossing off the ones that are just blatantly wrong. Usually after all the ridiculous ones are crossed off you'll be left with 2 that both look attractive - ask yourself what's the difference between them? The correct one will be ever so slightly more supported by the passage than the other one.