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How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:36 pm
by agalang
So I hate RC...but that's beside the point.

Does anyone have an effective method of how to review wrong RC answers that they'd like to share with me? For LR, I've been doing the whole a) why you chose that answer, b) what's wrong with your reason, c) what you believe the correct answer to be, d) why that answer is correct, e) how you will avoid making that mistake in the future, and it really helps me to conceptualize everything. But for RC, not so much. Any advice you could give me would be great; RC is by far my worst section so I could use all the help I can get!!

Thanks!!

Re: How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:41 pm
by paulshortys10
i second this.

Re: How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:51 pm
by Sloth Hero
Are you struggling with timed or untimed RC passages?

If you are getting problems wrong because time is a factor, maybe re-evaluate your strategy for attacking the passage as a whole? Also, try retaking the Passage under untimed conditions (like 24 hours later), and work through the problems. You might then be able to isolate your issue. Also, you should probably compile some sort of database so you can pinpoint trends. Maybe you get a lot of inference questions wrong on Humanities passages? It will probably be necessary to figure out what your weakness is as a whole, instead of just being like "I didn't have enough time to verify in the text the answer choice so i just winged it"

If you are getting a lot of RC questions wrong while you are untimed, DEFINITELY need to format the question type that is tripping you up. If it seems sporadic then I think you just need to read more. :P

And make sure you read a lot. Not just LSAT passages, but now is probably a good time to develop a LOVE FOR READING because if you get into a good law school you won't be doing much else.

Timed RC is a concern for me as well right now, I'll let you know if I develop anything that I think is worth sharing.

But don't read Zizek. He's dumb. :D

Re: How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:09 pm
by Manhattan LSAT Noah
agalang wrote:So I hate RC...but that's beside the point.

Does anyone have an effective method of how to review wrong RC answers that they'd like to share with me? For LR, I've been doing the whole a) why you chose that answer, b) what's wrong with your reason, c) what you believe the correct answer to be, d) why that answer is correct, e) how you will avoid making that mistake in the future, and it really helps me to conceptualize everything. But for RC, not so much. Any advice you could give me would be great; RC is by far my worst section so I could use all the help I can get!!

Thanks!!
I have students prove the correct answer by finding line numbers that support the answer. Then, for each wrong answer, categorize it (out of scope, unsupported, contradicted, too narrow scope, etc.)

If it's a particularly tough passage, re-read it the "way you wished you had read it" - which, in our system, means grasping the scale correctly.

Then do 10 push-ups.

Edit: forgot about re-read

Re: How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:41 pm
by agalang
Manhattan LSAT Noah wrote:
agalang wrote:So I hate RC...but that's beside the point.

Does anyone have an effective method of how to review wrong RC answers that they'd like to share with me? For LR, I've been doing the whole a) why you chose that answer, b) what's wrong with your reason, c) what you believe the correct answer to be, d) why that answer is correct, e) how you will avoid making that mistake in the future, and it really helps me to conceptualize everything. But for RC, not so much. Any advice you could give me would be great; RC is by far my worst section so I could use all the help I can get!!

Thanks!!
I have students prove the correct answer by finding line numbers that support the answer. Then, for each wrong answer, categorize it (out of scope, unsupported, contradicted, too narrow scope, etc.)

If it's a particularly tough passage, re-read it the "way you wished you had read it" - which, in our system, means grasping the scale correctly.

Then do 10 push-ups.

Edit: forgot about re-read
This sounds great! I will definitely try this today. Thank you!!

One more question, since I frequently follow your posts :) When doing untimed PT's, should I truly not time myself at all? Or should I give myself say, 45 minutes and then work my way down? What's the best way to divide time between doing untimed and timed PTs?

Re: How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:47 pm
by Manhattan LSAT Noah
agalang wrote:
Manhattan LSAT Noah wrote:
agalang wrote:So I hate RC...but that's beside the point.

Does anyone have an effective method of how to review wrong RC answers that they'd like to share with me? For LR, I've been doing the whole a) why you chose that answer, b) what's wrong with your reason, c) what you believe the correct answer to be, d) why that answer is correct, e) how you will avoid making that mistake in the future, and it really helps me to conceptualize everything. But for RC, not so much. Any advice you could give me would be great; RC is by far my worst section so I could use all the help I can get!!

Thanks!!
I have students prove the correct answer by finding line numbers that support the answer. Then, for each wrong answer, categorize it (out of scope, unsupported, contradicted, too narrow scope, etc.)

If it's a particularly tough passage, re-read it the "way you wished you had read it" - which, in our system, means grasping the scale correctly.

Then do 10 push-ups.

Edit: forgot about re-read
This sounds great! I will definitely try this today. Thank you!!

One more question, since I frequently follow your posts :) When doing untimed PT's, should I truly not time myself at all? Or should I give myself say, 45 minutes and then work my way down? What's the best way to divide time between doing untimed and timed PTs?
I actually don't usually recommend untimed sections - but maybe I'm forgetting some errant piece of advice I threw out there while posting in an LSAT-induced psychosis. The only time I usually recommend this is for when you're reading a chapter on a new strategy and are first learning to implement it - so, perhaps then you're going untimed to walk your brain through a new set of moves. Otherwise, the clock forces you to default to your old way of doing things. What we do is then expose folks to a set of a certain question type so they can do those timed and still remember what their objective is (i.e., it's easier to remember what you're trying to do if you're not switching question types). Then, it's into the lion pit with a mixed set.

I guess if you're really set on doing an untimed section, the important thing is that you're telling yourself to do things the way you want to do them.

I hope that's helpful.

Re: How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:50 pm
by JamMasterJ
Manhattan LSAT Noah wrote:
agalang wrote:So I hate RC...but that's beside the point.

Does anyone have an effective method of how to review wrong RC answers that they'd like to share with me? For LR, I've been doing the whole a) why you chose that answer, b) what's wrong with your reason, c) what you believe the correct answer to be, d) why that answer is correct, e) how you will avoid making that mistake in the future, and it really helps me to conceptualize everything. But for RC, not so much. Any advice you could give me would be great; RC is by far my worst section so I could use all the help I can get!!

Thanks!!
I have students prove the correct answer by finding line numbers that support the answer. Then, for each wrong answer, categorize it (out of scope, unsupported, contradicted, too narrow scope, etc.)

If it's a particularly tough passage, re-read it the "way you wished you had read it" - which, in our system, means grasping the scale correctly.

Then do 10 push-ups.

Edit: forgot about re-read
+1 this.

Re: How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:52 pm
by anewaphorist
In case anyone is contemplating reading Zizek, despite Sloth's mixed messages (lol), read his only decent book: The Parallax View.

Re: How do you review wrong answers on RC?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:59 pm
by agalang
Manhattan LSAT Noah wrote:
agalang wrote:
Manhattan LSAT Noah wrote:
agalang wrote:So I hate RC...but that's beside the point.

Does anyone have an effective method of how to review wrong RC answers that they'd like to share with me? For LR, I've been doing the whole a) why you chose that answer, b) what's wrong with your reason, c) what you believe the correct answer to be, d) why that answer is correct, e) how you will avoid making that mistake in the future, and it really helps me to conceptualize everything. But for RC, not so much. Any advice you could give me would be great; RC is by far my worst section so I could use all the help I can get!!

Thanks!!
I have students prove the correct answer by finding line numbers that support the answer. Then, for each wrong answer, categorize it (out of scope, unsupported, contradicted, too narrow scope, etc.)

If it's a particularly tough passage, re-read it the "way you wished you had read it" - which, in our system, means grasping the scale correctly.

Then do 10 push-ups.

Edit: forgot about re-read
This sounds great! I will definitely try this today. Thank you!!

One more question, since I frequently follow your posts :) When doing untimed PT's, should I truly not time myself at all? Or should I give myself say, 45 minutes and then work my way down? What's the best way to divide time between doing untimed and timed PTs?
I actually don't usually recommend untimed sections - but maybe I'm forgetting some errant piece of advice I threw out there while posting in an LSAT-induced psychosis. The only time I usually recommend this is for when you're reading a chapter on a new strategy and are first learning to implement it - so, perhaps then you're going untimed to walk your brain through a new set of moves. Otherwise, the clock forces you to default to your old way of doing things. What we do is then expose folks to a set of a certain question type so they can do those timed and still remember what their objective is (i.e., it's easier to remember what you're trying to do if you're not switching question types). Then, it's into the lion pit with a mixed set.

I guess if you're really set on doing an untimed section, the important thing is that you're telling yourself to do things the way you want to do them.

I hope that's helpful.
I actually didn't get the untimed thing from one of your posts but I saw that students on here frequently practice with untimed PTs. I took a prep course and we never did untimed PTs (the outline of the course was very similar to how you described it above) and it was just something I never thought about so I figured I'd get your opinion on it. Thanks again!