Voyager's RC Strategy Forum

[jack123]

12k+ hits, majority consensus for go-to-guide RC help and still no sticky...retarded mods

[170plusX]

This works. I fluked into it today. The passages are very structured to the point where they questinos are actually very straight forward if you have a short paraphrase of the strcutre/info of each paragraph. Took me 5 min to read the passage and make the notes, but only a couple of minutes to answer the questions.

[rocketman]

bump

[CE2JD]

12k+ hits, majority consensus for go-to-guide RC help and still no sticky...retarded mods

I dunno, I actually think this approach would be too time-consuming for most takers. Sure, if you're taking untimed sections and learning about Reading Comprehension passages, this would be a great approach to help you notice important parts of the passages, etc. But actually marking everything mentioned in this strategy would be waaaay too time consuming for the average test taker.

Also, RC is a section that everyone should approach differently because everyone reads differently. So one approach cannot possible work for everyone.

[Helmholtz]

I dunno, I actually think this approach would be too time-consuming for most takers. Sure, if you're taking untimed sections and learning about Reading Comprehension passages, this would be a great approach to help you notice important parts of the passages, etc. But actually marking everything mentioned in this strategy would be waaaay too time consuming for the average test taker.

Also, RC is a section that everyone should approach differently because everyone reads differently. So one approach cannot possible work for everyone.

+1

[rocketman]

ok, after extensive practicing this past month, my verdict is that most of what is recommended by this strategy is wholly unnecessary. i dont mean this as a knock on it or anything, if it helps someone, that's great. but i think if you are a good enough reader, you should be able to retain the information in the passage easily enough without needing to write down the main points. i think the most important thing is just to underline what you personally feel is important, but that's no different than what is recommended by any strategy.

[cornell]

i think if you are a good enough reader, you should be able to retain the information in the passage easily enough without needing to write down the main points.

Like what Voyager said, this approach is utterly retarded.

[doyleoil]

routinely missed 0-1 on rc on timed pt's (took 20+, including all the modern ones) - never underlined or wrote a single thing in any margins - why do i bring this up? only because it annoys me to see people say you HAVE to do X in order to "MASTER" rc - you don't HAVE to - but if you suck at it (as i suck at lg) it probably behooves you to strategize a little (as i had to on lg) - and strategizing a little probably involves taking some (not necessarily all) of the very good advice found on this thread

[CE2JD]

i think if you are a good enough reader, you should be able to retain the information in the passage easily enough without needing to write down the main points.

Like what Voyager said, this approach is utterly retarded.

...except for when it works and you get a 180.

[doyleoil]

^^^^ i'm with this guy....and i LOVE the fashion sense displayed by his avatar

[Rocky Estoppel]

I've been practicing using this method and I've seen a noticeable improvement in my RC scores. I believe this to be for a couple of reasons. By "engaging" the passage, I am forcing myself to read even the most boring subjects with an active eye so to say. I'm looking for what to box and underline, so it forces me to soak in the information at some level.

Anyway, I've enjoyed this and hopefully with more practice I can get my RC score to around -2/3

I also found that breaking up the paragraphs by drawing a line between each one, then numbering them, along with the labeling of the main point of each, helped a lot. By drawing a line between the paragraphs it made it feel not so overwhelming and I actually felt like in each paragraph I was dissecting a LR stimulus instead of a long passage.

[sporkdevil]

I have been trying this option to a point. I have found out that doing too much breaks my flow on reading the passage, and my quick rephrase is almost pointless.

However, this has been very helpful. This is my worst spot on the test, about 1/3rd of my wrong answers, if not a bit more, are on the RC. I have increased a few points by circling names and definitions, or anything that is really important. I underline anything that seems important, which tends to be just 3-5 things per passage. I have also numbered anything that should be, such as possible explanations for a phenomenon, or something that has more than 1 possibility.

And anything that ever points out another point of view (mostly they will say "Some critics"... or whatever) will always be a question.

I also quickly browse over the questions, and I look for line numbers (if they are there, I underline the lines, and write out the question number) or the "format" question. I was awful at the format question, but have realized that after each paragraph, you can skip to this question, and after the 2nd paragraph you should be able to get the answer. There is no way after you read the passage, you can answer a few questions, then compare one question summaries of each paragraph. It helps with the specific questions, which are directly from the text, and it's good, at least to me, to point out and figure out these questions ahead of time, like when they specify a line or say this is the setup of the question. I would say that approach on those 2 question types has helped me with 4 questions per section.

[ColtonDLong]

w

[SpAcEmAn SpLiFF]

i like this...bump for you.

im always too lazy to write down the main point of each paragraph, and i just underline a sentence in the paragraph that most closely mimics the main point instead. i guess i feel like itll save me time from the actual writing.

gonna try this technique on my next couple practests...

[redskinsgibbs]

I tried writing stuff down on test day. It does not work. It just leaves less time to do the questions. I was trying to perfect my RC and made it worse by following the RC bibles advice. Before i use to just read the passage and answer the questions with no marks.

I would usually 25/28 or 24/27. The questions i would miss would usually be a detail question that i could not find in the passage.

I bought the RC bible. They basically tell you to mark everything. On test day i did. Did terrible on RC. I was not understanding the reading but more attacking. I do better when i just read. Writing things down takes away from my focus. I was the same way in school. When i was writing notes i would not understand what the teacher was saying until i got home and read the notes.

[Voyager]

The hardest part of RC for me is stamina. It's so damn long, and if I had both LR sections before it, it's even harder.

drill drill drill. Practice builds endurance. But I guess that point, made a year late, is somewhat useless now...

[lakerfanimal]

RC probably kept me out of the score range I wanted to be in last time, so I think I will try this in my preparation this time, thanks!

[Voyager]

heh. sorry. can't resist. tired of studying for my last exam...

ok, after extensive practicing this past month, my verdict is that most of what is recommended by this strategy is wholly unnecessary. i dont mean this as a knock on it or anything, if it helps someone, that's great. but i think if you are a good enough reader, you should be able to retain the information in the passage easily enough without needing to write down the main points. i think the most important thing is just to underline what you personally feel is important, but that's no different than what is recommended by any strategy.

Hey, if you can regularly score perfectly or -1 without it then by all means, carry on... But front loaded prep makes the questions VERY easy.... and fast.

[GypsyGrL]

I am having the weirdest RC experience. I am at the beginning of my prep and haveonly done 3 timed sections, but I finished my first one on time and missed 4 (not my ideal, but certainly acceptable on a diagnostic). My second 2 tests I didn't get more than 1 question done on the last passage. Has anyone else had this experience? Why the drastic difference in time management?? I guess the passages were just more dense in the second 2 tests but this worries me. Seems odd that there would be such a drastic difference from one test to another. I took these after full 8 or 9 hour workdays so I was not in an ideal state of mind, but I certainly don't think that's an excuse for this shithole performance.

[La Grind Date]

Voyager,

Thanks for your posts. I have a question. You say sometimes you must be careful when answering questions without looking at the passage. when do you feel comfortable answering sans passage? when don't you?

Thanks,
STA

[Dawson]

You don't seem like a very likable person..

[pithypike]

You don't seem like a very likable person..

If you were in the brown reading group in 2nd grade, thought reading books and writing papers was for "dorks" in high school, graduated from some shit-hole college (anything with the word "state" in the title, for example) or any combination of the previous, you will have a difficult time with the LSAT.

This part kinda pissed me off. It's a weird combination of academic elitism and an utterly illogical, unsupportable and unintelligent statement.

Overall Voyager seems okay though, just arrogant and elitist, like 90% of this board.

[honeyskinned1]

I really like this strategy. Although I haven't mastered it completely, on my last practice section I only missed one compared to missing three to four in each section previously. Thank you, Voyager!

[cubswin]

Have many people that started using this method gotten worse before they got before they got better? I tried margin notations for the first time today, and I had almost no time left for the last section. Ended up with my worst RC performance yet.

[Think_lax86]

Following up on the kid who suggested using different color highlighters... you cna bring multiple colors on the test, and I too think this would be a really good strategy, but I am pretty poor at reading comp and dont really know how the color key should be split up, anyone have any thought on how to break this up? I know in the book Law School Confidential they talk about highlighting in different colors and for this past semester I did something like this for my notes and it really works... if anyone has any guides about how to master this strat please let me know