What is the BEST reading comp prep book??????!?!?!?! Forum

[Think_lax86]

I am taking the LSAT for a 4th and final time in october/december... I have taken the Kaplan course for the first 2 times and scored 151, and 157 respectively... I took it a 3rd time just reviewing the Kaplan stuff and got a 159...

I am sick of Kaplan, although its mastery book and endurance prep books are helpful... I downloaded the old version of Powerscores Logical Reasoning and Logic Games Bibles because I heard they are really good... I havent heard so much about the Reading Comp Bible tho and so I am trying to figure out which would be the best book to get for this section... Reading Comp is easily my worst section and I am determined not to let it screw up my score again... I need 1 book for reading comp and I need to know which reading comp prep book I should invest in? PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!!

[cubswin]

Voyager, an older TLS posters, has a pretty good strategy. It used to be filled with asshole-ish comments like this:

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.

It looks like he deleted them. You should check it out.: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... f=6&t=7240 "Front-loading" is an excellent way to do RC.

[Atlas LSAT Teacher]

I am taking the LSAT for a 4th and final time in october/december... I have taken the Kaplan course for the first 2 times and scored 151, and 157 respectively... I took it a 3rd time just reviewing the Kaplan stuff and got a 159...

I am sick of Kaplan, although its mastery book and endurance prep books are helpful... I downloaded the old version of Powerscores Logical Reasoning and Logic Games Bibles because I heard they are really good... I havent heard so much about the Reading Comp Bible tho and so I am trying to figure out which would be the best book to get for this section... Reading Comp is easily my worst section and I am determined not to let it screw up my score again... I need 1 book for reading comp and I need to know which reading comp prep book I should invest in? PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!!

It's hard to believe folks tooting their own horn, but take a look at ours -- most folks who come to us after taking various courses rave about our RC approach: http://www.atlaslsat.com/lsat-books.cfm Good luck!

[Bert]

I think its ironic that you are asking for a RC book with the understanding that you will read and comprehend the book enough to help you read and comprehend short passages in the LSAT.

PS - I would say get a tutor for RC as it is the hardest section to bring up if you are having problems.

[Think_lax86]

hmm... that is ironic... yeah your right because test strategy books are usually written in the convoluted LSAT context with LSAT questions so theres no way i would be able to "comprehend" that book, seeing how all books are written in LSAT format... good advice though boss, ill look into that

[splitterhopeful]

The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. Oprah recommends it.

[nonpareilpearl]

My biggest issue with RC is the ability to stay focused on the (reasonably) dry material they choose. I've heard from a few sources now that reading articles from the NY Times business section and The Economist (or similar) can help you used to reading dry, occasionally boring material.

[The Invisible Man]

The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. Oprah recommends it.

+1

[cubswin]

I think its ironic that you are asking for a RC book with the understanding that you will read and comprehend the book enough to help you read and comprehend short passages in the LSAT.

PS - I would say get a tutor for RC as it is the hardest section to bring up if you are having problems.

I can't tell if the first half of this post is a joke. Reading (and comprehending) a book is entirely different from mastering the RC section. No irony here.

I would not recommend getting a tutor solely for the RC section. It's the hardest to improve on, and most of your improvement is going to come from work you do on your own. Finding a strategy you are comfortable with and applying it consistently is one of the keys to improving. Doing as many RC sections as possible is probably the most important thing you can do. You will start to get a feel for what LSAC is going to ask you about (and thus what to focus on) and for how they construct attractive wrong answers.

[modestsquirrel]

First understand the questions that are asked on this section, because they repeat the same basic types (main point, authors point of view, etc.) Give Powerscore a shot. Give yourself roughly 8 minutes per passage and do them individually, focus your attention specifically on that passage. I found that it is easier to build up endurance when you do it this way. Repeat. Sounds obvious. Also, read more carefully and quickly...

[Always Credited]

The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. Oprah recommends it.

+1

++1.


If you can comprehend it, you can comprehend the incomprehensible.

[Atlas LSAT Teacher]

Finnegan's Wake?

[modestsquirrel]

Ulysses

End post.

[MLBrandow]

I am taking the LSAT for a 4th and final time in october/december... I have taken the Kaplan course for the first 2 times and scored 151, and 157 respectively... I took it a 3rd time just reviewing the Kaplan stuff and got a 159...

I am sick of Kaplan, although its mastery book and endurance prep books are helpful... I downloaded the old version of Powerscores Logical Reasoning and Logic Games Bibles because I heard they are really good... I havent heard so much about the Reading Comp Bible tho and so I am trying to figure out which would be the best book to get for this section... Reading Comp is easily my worst section and I am determined not to let it screw up my score again... I need 1 book for reading comp and I need to know which reading comp prep book I should invest in? PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!!

Think_lax86,

Here are two pieces of information that I can offer you.

1) If you feel like you have a fit of ADHD any time you sit down to read a book (and you don't actually have ADHD), it's because your brain has become acclimated to being visually over-stimulated. This means you spend too much time on the internet flipping web-pages, or too much time watching TV. This isn't to say you have this problem, but many people do. This requires a bit of a lifestyle change, but you can "fix" your brain in as little time as a week just by forcing yourself to read. Sometimes all that's needed is a bit of concentration.

2) There is a definite dichotomy in "what's the best RC prep?" One is to mark everything up so you don't have to remember anything two minutes later, and the other is to not mark anything and just read carefully and for content, and just rely on your brain and your short term memory. A lot of people tout the first and shun the second, but if you can read and pretend like what you're reading is the most fascinating stuff ever, you might find that less is more, and the lack of marking will keep you from breaking your concentration every 5-8 seconds. For me, I felt like I mastered both ways with a lot of work, but I always finished sections several minutes faster by just reading and not marking anything.




And regarding actual RC Prep Material, here are my opinions on what I have tried:


RC Bible

mudbug25,

I actually just picked this up yesterday. As Mall_cop$ mentioned, there are at least a few other very helpful threads on the topic. But if you are too lazy to search, here is the executive review as I remember it:

- The RC Bible is probably of minimal value, but seems helpful.
- It is certainly the best published guide on RC.
- If you have the money and time to spare, it isn't a bad investment.
- Be wary of doing all the examples in the book, as almost all of the comparative reading sections available are printed therein, as well as other passages from the most recent tests. This may skew your preptest scores.


At least for me, the only real RC Prep I have done other than outside reading is the Examkrackers RC guide last spring. I'm only two chapters in to the RC Bible, but the concept of drilling in itself is probably going to be a solid confidence builder. At least that's why I picked up the book. I'm pretty sure the only real stumbling block for me is my diagramming, and this book proposes a workable solution.

This probably also is covered in either back search, but a former poster (and current HLS student) Voyager posted his method for RC which is touted as one of the better--and free--approaches to RC.

Best of luck in your prep.

Examkrackers RC Guide:

Examkrackers RC Book Review

First off, buy this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking the June LSAT. I have spent hours in my local bookstores sifting through RC strategies from other companies (call me a cheap ass), as well as reading through the free samplings on google's e-book cache (call me a cheap ass more). This book is well worth the $23 if you are finding yourself in a heap of trouble on RC.

Here is what makes this book more useful than anything else I've come across yet:
- It focuses on breaking up the passages by how the main point is presented and the arguments are structured, rather than by what the passage is about (a la Kaplan and a few others).
- It has a few in-chapter drills which hone the specific skills it teaches as you learn them, rather than delving into RC all at once by taking whole sections from the get-go.
- Each lecture focuses on one passage type and one question family.
- The mini-exams corresponding to each lecture are excellent. Each focuses solely on the relevant material you learned.
- It's the only book that I've come across yet with a comprehensive comparative reading section (17 pages).
- Many of the "typical wrong answer choices" that correspond to each answer type do, in fact, come up often, and are easy to spot once made aware.
- I like the book's use of color to draw attention to certain wrong answers, although this is ancillary at best.


Here are shortcomings of this book:
- If you are anal like me and have every PrepTest that can be feasibly attained, then the "extra practice" sections at the end are useless. It has 95 questions spanning roughly 15 passages that are all pulled from actual LSATs. However, if you are lazy and don't like buying all the PrepTests (bad idea, but hey, that's your prerogative), then this belongs in the other category.
- The paper this book is printed on pisses me off. It's glossy and reminds me of my high school textbooks rather than of the LSAT.
- There is a little sun-shaped mascot in various persona aside most of the pages, and it's really annoying.
- While the information this book provides is valuable, the method of presentation is questionable. I would like to see more examples in each lecture (it's pretty barren, only one per chapter), and I would also like to be given the opportunity to process a problem for myself rather than having to be walked through it.
- While some of the explanations are pretty solid, a few of the wrong answer choice explanations are too brief.
- The Title of Chapter 11 (the Reading Comprehension Review), is referred to in the subsequent page headers as Chapter 9. This indicates to me a bit of a rushed product.
- This book does not place enough emphasis on parsing. It simply says "remember this" in some cases where parsing would be very helpful.


Conclusion:
Overall, the biggest pluses this book has to offer are its dissection of different passage types and the mini-exams, which drill specific passage- and question-types. The biggest drawback was the lack of examples.

This book is laden with useful information, but you do have to get by its sometimes peculiar presentation to glean that information from it.


Rating:
Relative Usefulness - 4.5/5 (versus existing prep books)
Absolute Usefulness - 3/5 (in terms of what is necessary to master RC)
Clarity - 4/5
Quality of information - 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Recommendation:
Buy this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking the June LSAT. Consider buying this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking a later LSAT, as Powerscore's RC Bible will be released July/August.





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original post:
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DayDay11,

This looks like it might be quite a helpful book.

Here is a direct link:

--LinkRemoved--

I would be interested to see reviews on this product. I have never heard of Examkrackers before.


Edit: I noticed that it just came out a few weeks ago, so I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon.com for $22.00. I'll volunteer myself to be the guinea pig, as this is really the only section giving me grief.

I'll send out a review in a few weeks.

EDIT: http://www.buy.com/prod/Examkrackers_LS ... 05563.html

$13.79 (shipping included) via special offer on Buy.com

I hope you realize the improvements you seek!

[cubswin]

Finnegan's Wake?

Haha, no one understands Finnegan's Wake, they only pretend to do so. I sometimes suspect that book is just a 600 page middle-finger from James Joyce to the world's literati.