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Best tip I can give for the RC, is read fast. I mean FAST. I switched from underlining all kinds of things to mayyybe the topic sentences and main point, with the occasional list thrown in. I'm also seeing the majority of my wrong answers (-4 to -5 avg) are reasonably dumb. I feel like in the past I was over thinking every little detail and this actually detracted from my score on the section. Anyone else in a similar boat?

Also, someone posted about skimming the paragraph really fast before beginning (maybe 15-20 seconds). I really REALLY recommend this also.

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Personally, I can't focus or take anything in if I read quickly, and I find scanning just a waste of time. I drastically minimized errors when I stopped just reading and started making quick notations to help find my answers more efficiently (and focus on the passage in general).

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I totally understand where you are coming from. I have read bible, and must say none of those techniques helped me. What helped me was reading RC passages slowly without any notation. If I do notate something it is point of view, or something that I feel is very very important. Once I cut back on notation my score improved drastically. This might not work for everyone but it worked for me. I just get so confused by notation. I focus more on my notations looking pretty than on the content itself. I couldn't understand anything I was reading. I would understand maybe couple of points but that's it.

I think from your perspective this is a good idea.

Underlining tons of stuff is a complete waste of time, and not only are you constantly interrupting the flow of information into your brain, but you are taking time away from the questions.

I think reading very quickly will give you a better sense of the passage as a whole, and give you much more time on the questions you need to go back to and look up.

As others have said though, overall it's just not a very good strategy. The best thing to do is to read at a comfortable pace while making minimal notations. Then you'll answer many of the detail questions almost from memory (although it's good to confirm your AC anyway) and you'll still have a better sense of the passage as a whole since you didn't constantly interrupt yourself with all your notations.

You might be referring to a guide I posted here a while back. I recommend skimming AFTER reading the passage. It improves your familiarity and retention of details. I don't think it's useful to skim before reading, you have nothing to latch the information on to.

Here's the guide I wrote over on Reddit:

http://www.reddit.com/r/LSAT/comments/u ... rehension/

Im able to read the first 3 passages on the newer LSATS efficiently and accurately and get to the final passage with 5 or 6 mins to go which is obviously not enough. I'm guessing I just need to do more practice passages to get faster. Or like you said just read faster.

gspiel1232 wrote:Best tip I can give for the RC, is read fast. I mean FAST. I switched from underlining all kinds of things to mayyybe the topic sentences and main point, with the occasional list thrown in. I'm also seeing the majority of my wrong answers (-4 to -5 avg) are reasonably dumb. I feel like in the past I was over thinking every little detail and this actually detracted from my score on the section. Anyone else in a similar boat?

Also, someone posted about skimming the paragraph really fast before beginning (maybe 15-20 seconds). I really REALLY recommend this also.

Please, GTFO of the internet