Increasing RC score Forum

[UCLAHopeful2014]

Hi All,

So, I started studying in September for the Dec LSAT and began PTs in Nov. I was scoring consistently at 162-164. However, my last PT was 167. I usually missed -1 on LG, -12 on LR, and -7 on RC.
I took the December LSAT and scored a 160. -12 on RC, -9 on LR, and -5 on LG (made a transcribing error, which caused me to waste time and cost me 4 correct answers).
I have started studying again and am using Voyager's RC strategy to improve that section. I want to get down to -1 and at most -4.

Does anyone have suggestions on RC or know about the success of Voyager's strategy?

Also, if I score 168 or 169 on the June/Oct LSAT, do schools consider the lower score?

Thanks!

[WhatOurBodiesAreFor]

I don't know anything about voyager.

But to your second question, if you are confident that you can score higher, absolutely do so. If you increase your score on the second time, schools will all but look past your first score. I think this is especially true once you hit the mid 160s.

I took the test three times. I increased by several points each time. I really don't think this hurt me at all.

In the case of a two-time test taker who increased from 160 to mid/high-160s, rest assured your 160 will all but just be taking up ink on the paper.

[bp shinners]

Here's something quick lsatkid007 threw together from a number of my 'quick tip' posts:

A) Get yourself excited to read the passages

B) Read the passage carefully

C) Pause, examine, and anticipate after each paragraph

D) Read for Primary Structure / Organization Structure / Secondary Structure

1. You read for primary structure so you can know what the different viewpoints are on the topic, and who holds those viewpoints. They will help you answer the viewpoints questions.

2. You read for organization to help you understand the passage better and to answer question. It will help you understand the passage better because if you know what the sentence/paragraph is trying to accomplish (e.g. "This paragraph is listing reasons why Species-Specific Model is better than General Evolution Theory"), then even if you're lost in the content, you know what it's trying to do. Sometimes that's enough to break it open. It'll help you answer the questions in two different ways. First, it will just straight up answer the role questions. Second, it will tell you where to look for the specific reference questions.

3. You read for secondary structures because they always show up in questions. These structure are a) Cause/Effect, b) Question/Answer, c) Example, and d) Classifications. These lend themselves to particular questions. If they completely define the passage (if the conclusion is causal, for example), then they might lend themselves to the Main Point and other questions as well.

E) Write the MP / Author’s Attitude / Author's Purpose (LSAT can’t fool you if you have them written down)

F) Attack questions:
Specific reference question refer back to passage
Structural questions refer back to your notes

G) Do the HAPPY DANCE!!!!

[crazyrobin]

Here's something quick lsatkid007 threw together from a number of my 'quick tip' posts:

A) Get yourself excited to read the passages

B) Read the passage carefully

C) Pause, examine, and anticipate after each paragraph

D) Read for Primary Structure / Organization Structure / Secondary Structure

1. You read for primary structure so you can know what the different viewpoints are on the topic, and who holds those viewpoints. They will help you answer the viewpoints questions.

2. You read for organization to help you understand the passage better and to answer question. It will help you understand the passage better because if you know what the sentence/paragraph is trying to accomplish (e.g. "This paragraph is listing reasons why Species-Specific Model is better than General Evolution Theory"), then even if you're lost in the content, you know what it's trying to do. Sometimes that's enough to break it open. It'll help you answer the questions in two different ways. First, it will just straight up answer the role questions. Second, it will tell you where to look for the specific reference questions.

3. You read for secondary structures because they always show up in questions. These structure are a) Cause/Effect, b) Question/Answer, c) Example, and d) Classifications. These lend themselves to particular questions. If they completely define the passage (if the conclusion is causal, for example), then they might lend themselves to the Main Point and other questions as well.

E) Write the MP / Author’s Attitude / Author's Purpose (LSAT can’t fool you if you have them written down)

F) Attack questions:
Specific reference question refer back to passage
Structural questions refer back to your notes

G) Do the HAPPY DANCE!!!!

Love the advices!!!!
One question though, would you please explain D) Classification? I have no idea what does this mean. Thanks!!!

[bp shinners]

One question though, would you please explain D) Classification? I have no idea what does this mean. Thanks!!!

Classification is when one subject is broken down into multiple sub-classes, or one phenomenon is explained by different theories. When you see this, you should understand the differences between the two worlds, as there will be questions that ask you about each one individually.

The two biggest areas for this are those science passage where there are competing theories and art passages where there are differing styles. The science passages will have questions about what experiment would best bolster Theory X, or which of the following weakens Theory Y - so it's important to understand the differences. The art passages will talk about artwork that falls under each classification (see the Cultural Revolution/Native Soil/Scar art passage for a classic classification passage).

[RobertGolddust]

I personally found that reading a lot over a long period of time will increase your score on RC. If you can find the time to get through books like The Wealth of Nations or Aristotle's Analytics you will cruise through RC. This is because dexterity increases with repetition, and reading is essentially dexterity.

Here are a few books I have read the past year that have made me a proficient reader:

1) Dubliners, Joyce
2) Nichomachean Ethics, Aristole
3) Leviathan, Hobbes
4) The Gay Science, Nietzsche
4) Dr. Faustus
5) Brave New World, Huxley
6) Heart of Darkness, Conrad
7) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke
The Anti-Christ, Nietzsche
9) Twilight of Idols, Nietzsche
10) Paradise Lost, Milton
11) Moby Dick, Melville (highly recommended, even it doesn't increase your RC it still is The best book ever written.
12) Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway
13) The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
14) The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
15) To the Light House, Woolf (This is a chick book. However I have never encountered a sentence structure as rich and complex as Woolfs. So, even though this book is written by a bitch, it is valuable.)

Along with these long works I read all of Emerson's essays and lots of poetry before I went to sleep. Poetry's and odd thing, it makes you focus on every word and engage your imagination (this is where the images come from) rather than your logic. So, I am not sure if poetry is the way to go if your looking for a boost in RC.

The most beneficial prose for RC is the scholarly type. Dissertations, critical Essays, literary analysis, are the most dense writing a set of eyes can scan-- The scholarly types are rather funny, they tend to say things that are not so difficult to say in the most distinguished, comprehensive style (probably because there contribution to knowledge is where their power and self worth comes from).

I have no evidence to prove the assertions of this post, except for an increase in my RC score from (-10) to (-2), a few (-0) but not consistent. I will say the (-10) came on a cold diagnostic and I was fatigued during the test, but the jump is bigger then most believe is possible. It took over a year to reach this point but I am glad I did it. Not because of the RC boost but because I turned away from my pride and licked my one and only love's pussy (KNOWLEDGE!). So, although I am now a pussy licker,--which is just as bad as a pole smoker, if not worst--I can say I do what makes me happy.

Good luck with the RC, munch its box,

Truly,

Robert F. Golddust.

[TheMostDangerousLG]

Here's something quick lsatkid007 threw together from a number of my 'quick tip' posts:

A) Get yourself excited to read the passages

B) Read the passage carefully

C) Pause, examine, and anticipate after each paragraph

D) Read for Primary Structure / Organization Structure / Secondary Structure

1. You read for primary structure so you can know what the different viewpoints are on the topic, and who holds those viewpoints. They will help you answer the viewpoints questions.

2. You read for organization to help you understand the passage better and to answer question. It will help you understand the passage better because if you know what the sentence/paragraph is trying to accomplish (e.g. "This paragraph is listing reasons why Species-Specific Model is better than General Evolution Theory"), then even if you're lost in the content, you know what it's trying to do. Sometimes that's enough to break it open. It'll help you answer the questions in two different ways. First, it will just straight up answer the role questions. Second, it will tell you where to look for the specific reference questions.

3. You read for secondary structures because they always show up in questions. These structure are a) Cause/Effect, b) Question/Answer, c) Example, and d) Classifications. These lend themselves to particular questions. If they completely define the passage (if the conclusion is causal, for example), then they might lend themselves to the Main Point and other questions as well.

E) Write the MP / Author’s Attitude / Author's Purpose (LSAT can’t fool you if you have them written down)

F) Attack questions:
Specific reference question refer back to passage
Structural questions refer back to your notes

G) Do the HAPPY DANCE!!!!

This is fantastic. Do you have any particular advice for analogy Qs and for generally decreasing time?

[bp shinners]

This is fantastic. Do you have any particular advice for analogy Qs and for generally decreasing time?

Analogy questions: First, come up with a generic motto that applies to the subject in the passage, then see which one aligns with it. If that doesn't work, try replacing the nouns of the AC with the nouns of the passage to see if you can get it to mean the same thing. If that fails, POE - any little difference can throw an AC out (other than subject matter).

Decreasing time on RC is all about going slowly. If you only have to read each word once, and if you fully comprehend the passage the first time through, you'll be in much better shape than if you read it quickly but have to constantly refer back to it.

[eric922]

I personally found that reading a lot over a long period of time will increase your score on RC. If you can find the time to get through books like The Wealth of Nations or Aristotle's Analytics you will cruise through RC. This is because dexterity increases with repetition, and reading is essentially dexterity.

Here are a few books I have read the past year that have made me a proficient reader:

1) Dubliners, Joyce
2) Nichomachean Ethics, Aristole
3) Leviathan, Hobbes
4) The Gay Science, Nietzsche
4) Dr. Faustus
5) Brave New World, Huxley
6) Heart of Darkness, Conrad
7) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke
The Anti-Christ, Nietzsche
9) Twilight of Idols, Nietzsche
10) Paradise Lost, Milton
11) Moby Dick, Melville (highly recommended, even it doesn't increase your RC it still is The best book ever written.
12) Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway
13) The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
14) The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
15) To the Light House, Woolf (This is a chick book. However I have never encountered a sentence structure as rich and complex as Woolfs. So, even though this book is written by a bitch, it is valuable.)

Along with these long works I read all of Emerson's essays and lots of poetry before I went to sleep. Poetry's and odd thing, it makes you focus on every word and engage your imagination (this is where the images come from) rather than your logic. So, I am not sure if poetry is the way to go if your looking for a boost in RC.

The most beneficial prose for RC is the scholarly type. Dissertations, critical Essays, literary analysis, are the most dense writing a set of eyes can scan-- The scholarly types are rather funny, they tend to say things that are not so difficult to say in the most distinguished, comprehensive style (probably because there contribution to knowledge is where their power and self worth comes from).

I have no evidence to prove the assertions of this post, except for an increase in my RC score from (-10) to (-2), a few (-0) but not consistent. I will say the (-10) came on a cold diagnostic and I was fatigued during the test, but the jump is bigger then most believe is possible. It took over a year to reach this point but I am glad I did it. Not because of the RC boost but because I turned away from my pride and licked my one and only love's pussy (KNOWLEDGE!). So, although I am now a pussy licker,--which is just as bad as a pole smoker, if not worst--I can say I do what makes me happy.

Good luck with the RC, munch its box,

Truly,

Robert F. Golddust.

Impressive, most impressive. However, I have one final challenge for you. Get through Das Kapital and the LSAT will RC will seem like Dr. Seuss.

[RobertGolddust]

Impressive, most impressive. However, I have one final challenge for you. Get through Das Kapital and the LSAT will RC will seem like Dr. Seuss.


Kapital is on the words to look at before I die list. My Only concern is it may provoke my slightly unstable nature, and the result could be a rebellion and reformation of my obscure Jesuit University. But I'm glad someone understands my approach to RC.