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171, RC holding me back, please help!

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:49 pm
by ftw
Hi everyone,

I've been studying for about 4 months now and doing PTs for about 2 months. I did about 40-45 of them so far.
I started out from about 163-164 and now I'm at about 171 average, sometimes hitting 174 or 175.

I finish LG with 0 or 1 mistakes, and my LR has improved over time - currently I make 3-5 mistakes for both LR combined.
My only concern is RC. There have been some times where i only got 2 mistakes from the entire section, but my results are very volatile - today for example I got 8 mistakes. I get more bad results than good results. I don't seem to be showing any improvement in RC after all this time and I feel like it's the only thing holding me back.

I assume if my RC was good, I would be at a consistent 175, which is what I'm aiming for, but because of RC I'm getting around 170-171.

Please help me out guys. The test is in 18 days and I don't know what to do. Practice doesn't help, and I don't feel confident about RC at all. Is there anything that you could recommend? Thanks

Re: 171, RC holding me back, please help!

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 12:13 pm
by imjustjoking22
I generally have good accuracy in RC and the only thing I do that others don't seem to do is make a lot of notes(I take notes like I'm reading the passage for class). Of course, you need to be good with your shorthand and semi-neat, but I often go -1 with 6-8 min per passage because I can just blast through Qs with a strategically marked passage and some good notes.

I'd also recommend reading some tough stuff outside of LSAT prep- I'm reading one book in a language I'm not fluent in and also Feynman's QED... So when I get to RC, I always am relieved that it is in my language and not about physics... Probably all in my head, but it helps :p

Re: 171, RC holding me back, please help!

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 6:03 pm
by wolfpack-avvocato
Read The Economist and Scientific American. Not previous knowledge generally required but it will help you get used to reading dense topics without going cross-eyed.

Re: 171, RC holding me back, please help!

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 6:50 pm
by lrslayer
imjustjoking22 wrote:I generally have good accuracy in RC and the only thing I do that others don't seem to do is make a lot of notes(I take notes like I'm reading the passage for class). Of course, you need to be good with your shorthand and semi-neat, but I often go -1 with 6-8 min per passage because I can just blast through Qs with a strategically marked passage and some good notes.

I'd also recommend reading some tough stuff outside of LSAT prep- I'm reading one book in a language I'm not fluent in and also Feynman's QED... So when I get to RC, I always am relieved that it is in my language and not about physics... Probably all in my head, but it helps :p
What are the key notations that you make and find to be most relevant to answering the questions?
Whats your style of notations also?
Thanks