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Those who scored or is scoring on their PT's above 170's, are you people avid readers?

Is there anyone out there who didn't read that much when they were young nor read a lot now who still scored well on the test?

I'd like to hear some advice from the latter group.

169. I like reality television.

I'll let you know after dec scores come back but I basically don't read at all and was getting mid 170s pretty consistently. RC was of course my worse section but I think the most I missed on an RC was 8. Just do lots and lots of them back to back to back... Some answers just start to "sound" righter than others which is how I pick. Basically going with my gut.

Yes, but I don't read particularly challenging material. I read for enjoyment probably around 75 pages a day, but it is all fiction and none of it is particularly dense.

I was scoring in the 170's in my pt's and yes I've always been a fairly avid reader. I think what you're trying to get at, is can a person who is not particularly strong at reading score in the 170's, and I think they can. They'd have to put significant work into RC, and obviously learn the LR throughout and through, but I'm sure it can be done.

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ekbrown09 wrote:Haha definitely not. Haven't read a book that wasn't assigned for school since like elementary school.

I find that depressing.

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guinness1547 wrote:

ekbrown09 wrote:Haha definitely not. Haven't read a book that wasn't assigned for school since like elementary school.

I find that depressing.

Very. Also, I will echo the typical Economist recommendation. If you can take a philosophy class on either analytic philosophy or logic, that's also good.

emkay625 wrote:Yes, but I don't read particularly challenging material. I read for enjoyment probably around 75 pages a day, but it is all fiction and none of it is particularly dense.

This is me, except I read more like 200 pages a day. Similar in reading taste, though. I don't think you need to be slogging through Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche to get some of the same benefits.

guinness1547 wrote:

ekbrown09 wrote:Haha definitely not. Haven't read a book that wasn't assigned for school since like elementary school.

I find that depressing.

Incredibly fucking depressing.

Related note: the family that lives next door to my dad has a teenage girl. My dad was sorting through a couple of bookshelves to get rid of some books, and he asked the girl if she wanted to look through them to see if she wanted any.
"No thanks, I don't read books, I use MySpace." (obviously a few years ago when MySpace still was popular.)

I got a -1 on RC, a 176 total and before my LSAT I read literally one novel since high school. I am Legend, it's like 200 pages and about vampires.

I don't have a very good imagination. I can't visualize things at all in my mind. I prefer films.

roranoa wrote:Those who scored or is scoring on their PT's above 170's, are you people avid readers?

Is there anyone out there who didn't read that much when they were young nor read a lot now who still scored well on the test?

I'd like to hear some advice from the latter group.

I scored a 177 (-1 RC, -1 LR), and I haven't read an entire book since, um... I think I read an easy novel once when I was 14. This is including all the assigned readings in college that I didn't read. My parents didn't read to me much as a kid either. However as a philosophy major, I read many small passages and really analyzed what the author was arguing and what I thought about it. So in my eyes it's more about understanding what the argument is, understanding the function of each piece of information provided within that argument, and familiarity with what types of questions appear and what they're looking for. I'd say this is true of RC and LR.

Obviously timing is important, and maybe this is a reading skill issue, but I'm generally a slow reader, so I tend to think it's more about being so familiar with the test that you instinctively read the passages from the perspective of analyzing arguments. Actually I did better on the test when I slowed down my reading to make sure I was retaining everything, so I don't think being a fast reader is as important and being able to pace yourself properly and focus intensely while you read.

In short, you can do it, even if you haven't read a lot, because it's more about the quality of the reading than the quantity. I would recommend you get the powerscore bibles, buy some RC passages and Difficult LR passages from Cambridge LSAT and drill the hell out of them, maybe get a tutor who did well on LR and RC if you find that helpful, and develop a timing strategy.

I think Hank the Cowdog was the secret to my RC successes.

ekbrown09 wrote:Haha definitely not. Haven't read a book that wasn't assigned for school since like elementary school.

But you still scored in the 170's?

Tom Joad wrote:I think Hank the Cowdog was the secret to my RC successes.

I'm not familiar with that cultural reference .

I barely qualify--got a 170. But I am a very, very avid reader.

177 -3 RC or something, read a few books a year or something, nothing crazy just the more popular nonfiction books that come out like freaknomics and whatnot. very easy reads, nothing that would have helped me on the dry as hell RC passages. just practice RC with more RC sections imo, nothing is as efficient.

ekbrown09 wrote:

guinness1547 wrote:

ekbrown09 wrote:Haha definitely not. Haven't read a book that wasn't assigned for school since like elementary school.

I find that depressing.

Yeah... it's probably not a good thing. But oh well... can't go back and change it now.

This is bullshit. I didn't read anything until like 1 year ago because I was a math and science freak and studied engineering. This didn't stop me from reading the shit out of everything when I started getting interested in law and other things. It's a lot easier to change your habits and improve your abilities than you think.

havent read a book since probably 8th grade, unless you count humorous websites as educated reading.

dstars823 wrote:havent read a book since probably 8th grade, unless you count humorous websites as educated reading.

I've learned so much from Cracked.com.

This thread is depressing as hell.

Yeah, I read a lot. However, I don't think my bookshelf full of trashy romance novels has really helped me except in the sense that I could get through the test faster. As long as you're a quick reader I don't think it matters if you read on a regular basis.

polkij333 wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:I got a -1 on RC, a 176 total and before my LSAT I read literally one novel since high school. I am Legend, it's like 200 pages and about vampires.

+1
173

You're proud of this? How sad.