How to be flawless in LR and RC? Forum

[thecactus]

For anyone who consistently scores -0 in the LR and RC sections, do you have any specific advice of how to accomplish this?

Right now I always get -2 on my RC sections (every...freaking...time), and anywhere between -1 to -4 on my LR sections. This is frustrating because I'm at the point where every question matters, and these little mistakes add up.

I have been studying the questions I miss, and there doesn't seem to be a distinct pattern.

I remember when I took the SAT in high school, for the Reading and Writing sections, I had this feeling where everything just "clicked" while I was doing the test, and I walked out of the test knowing I got every single question right (and turns out, I did). Is there a similar feeling for those who perform flawlessly on the LR and RC sections, and if so, how do you get there?

[dooood]

For anyone who consistently scores -0 in the LR and RC sections, do you have any specific advice of how to accomplish this?

Right now I always get -2 on my RC sections (every...freaking...time), and anywhere between -1 to -4 on my LR sections. This is frustrating because I'm at the point where every question matters, and these little mistakes add up.

I have been studying the questions I miss, and there doesn't seem to be a distinct pattern.

I remember when I took the SAT in high school, for the Reading and Writing sections, I had this feeling where everything just "clicked" while I was doing the test, and I walked out of the test knowing I got every single question right (and turns out, I did). Is there a similar feeling for those who perform flawlessly on the LR and RC sections, and if so, how do you get there?

lol

[JamMasterJ]

On this note, what are your suggestions for raising RC scores? I have pt's in which I'll break 170 but have as many missed questions on RC as the rest of the test combined

[tomwatts]

You can spend as much time on those last few points as you spent getting to where you are in the first place. It's grueling and irritating. But once you're down to only a few wrong in each section, you have to treat each individual mistake as a pattern: "Okay, on this question, I didn't completely finish reading this answer choice before I made up my mind, but the end of the answer choice was actually the part that made it wrong, so I have to make sure that I finish reading answer choices before I mentally choose an answer. On this question, I got it down to two, felt that I was taking to much time, and bailed, just guessing, so the next time, I have to make sure that when I get it down to two, I really do come up with a good reason to choose one over the other and don't just panic. On this question...."

And you'll have a list of a handful of things to pay attention to next time. I swear I made every possible mistake on the test before I started nailing down perfect sections — but I only made each mistake once (or at most twice). That's you're goal.

[thecactus]

lol

Haha yeah, looking back on that, I probably sounded like a douche that still cares about SAT scores. I guess I was just trying to get at the fact that there is a certain mindset that perfect scorers have that others don't, and I can't seem to get back into that mindset.

tomwatts, thanks for the advice. It's good to know that all the time going over the minutia of every little question will pay off.

[PinkCow]

For anyone who consistently scores -0 in the LR and RC sections, do you have any specific advice of how to accomplish this?

Right now I always get -2 on my RC sections (every...freaking...time), and anywhere between -1 to -4 on my LR sections. This is frustrating because I'm at the point where every question matters, and these little mistakes add up.

I have been studying the questions I miss, and there doesn't seem to be a distinct pattern.

I remember when I took the SAT in high school, for the Reading and Writing sections, I had this feeling where everything just "clicked" while I was doing the test, and I walked out of the test knowing I got every single question right (and turns out, I did). Is there a similar feeling for those who perform flawlessly on the LR and RC sections, and if so, how do you get there?

LR is sometimes a grab-bag, but for RC I think for many people (myself included) it comes down to concentration. It's so easy to breakdown into skimming mode, especially when passages are boring (and many seem to be). Once you start skimming, that's when the questions will bite you in the butt.

Looking back on my prep, my best RC scores always happened when I was fully focused on the material. Whatever method works for you is best, but for me I was best able to concentrate when I convinced myself that I was interested in what I was reading. Think of it as a game or something. Really "actively" read.

[Stanford4Me]

You have to be BORN and BRED for SUCCESS and ACHIEVEMENT!

[suspicious android]

I started to more consistently get 174+ on my preptests only after I allowed myself not to freak myself out about getting A PERFECT SCORE. I told myself it's not a big deal if I miss a question, I can still miss one on each LR and RC section and still get a score above every school's 75th percentile. Worked for me on the real thing too.

[Grizz]

Use Sub Zero to freeze your opponent over and over again, then uppercut him each time.

[JamMasterJ]

Use Sub Zero to freeze your opponent over and over again, then uppercut him each time.

TITCR
Mortal Combat is always TCR

[bp shinners]

LR is sometimes a grab-bag, but for RC I think for many people (myself included) it comes down to concentration. It's so easy to breakdown into skimming mode, especially when passages are boring (and many seem to be). Once you start skimming, that's when the questions will bite you in the butt.

I think this is spot on, but it also relates to LR. It's easy to read something too quickly and miss a 'not' or a 'rarely', or remember something incorrectly. Keeping yourself in the questions (and the method for doing this is going to end up different for every person) is key.

Also, don't aim for that perfect score. The only people I know who can hit that consistently are those who teach the LSAT full time, and have done so for several years. Short of that, I don't know that it fully clicks to the point where a 180 is a matter of course. I know that my score was as much a result of luck on test day (and a belly full of Cajun Gator) than a complete understanding of the material.