Highest Possible Gain in RC Forum

[RobertGolddust]

Just curious, what is the highest gain anyone has seen in their own RC score?

[toothbrush]

Just curious, what is the highest gain anyone has seen in their own RC score?

not to be a dick, but does it really matter? Anecdotally I personally improved 0 from diag to real test - and yet I've seen people say they improved -10 to -0 every time. Does it matter?

Maybe you should ask "how to make big gains in RC" and then I'd suggest different threads / guides. (Voyager's RC is legit)

[RobertGolddust]

I looked at it. But, your right what does it matter? I am utterly obsessed with this test, and I am just looking for confirmation.

[toothbrush]

I looked at it. But, your right what does it matter? I am utterly obsessed with this test, and I am just looking for confirmation.

I know the feel. In retrospect I wish I had spent more time obsessing over the test by actually doing it and working through it as opposed to reading about other peoples' success'.

[manofjustice]

I looked at it. But, your right what does it matter? I am utterly obsessed with this test, and I am just looking for confirmation.

I know the feel. In retrospect I wish I had spent more time obsessing over the test by actually doing it and working through it as opposed to reading about other peoples' success'.

Practice, practice, practice...

You know how SAT prep companies advertise that they can blow up your score? By making you do like 5,000 practice tests until you bleed.

Literally, you have to make structural changes to your brain to achieve score gains. Reading TLS will make the wrong kind of structural changes to your brain.

[toothbrush]

I looked at it. But, your right what does it matter? I am utterly obsessed with this test, and I am just looking for confirmation.

I know the feel. In retrospect I wish I had spent more time obsessing over the test by actually doing it and working through it as opposed to reading about other peoples' success'.

Practice, practice, practice...

You know how SAT prep companies advertise that they can blow up your score? By making you do like 5,000 practice tests until you bleed.

Literally, you have to make structural changes to your brain to achieve score gains. Reading TLS will make the wrong kind of structural changes to your brain.

lul

[steel_shot]

I don't think we will know, but I've heard that a lot of people can, through practice, get their score down to about -3 or so.

[Theopliske8711]

Focus and retention are everything here. You need a way to conceptualize what is going on; find a way to keep track of the movement of the passage and know what role each paragraph plays in the entirety. Minute facts that will be questioned are harder to retain, so you may need to create a visual way to remember what is going on. Perhaps imagine a narrative that creates image associations in your head.

[RobertGolddust]

Focus and retention are everything here. You need a way to conceptualize what is going on; find a way to keep track of the movement of the passage and know what role each paragraph plays in the entirety. Minute facts that will be questioned are harder to retain, so you may need to create a visual way to remember what is going on. Perhaps imagine a narrative that creates image associations in your head.

Sage advice

[totoro]

Just curious, what is the highest gain anyone has seen in their own RC score?

I went from about -5-6 to -2-3. A couple points doesn't seem like a big gain, but it is if you can do it consistently and really master the RC sections, because that's a full 2-3 points added to your LSAT score.

I think Manhattan's RC helped me find the right amount of time on annotating/reading versus time on answering questions, which helped a lot.

[kwais]

assume that you have the ability to go -0, and then study hard to get as close as possible. There is no determined limit to your potential.

[CyanIdes Of March]

I started off around -7 to -9. I got down to -4 to -5 after taking every single RC section, many of them twice. On test day I went -3 (very surprised) but that was mitigated by a much worse than usual LR section so I figure it was just an easier than average RC section.

[RobertGolddust]

I started off around -7 to -9. I got down to -4 to -5 after taking every single RC section, many of them twice. On test day I went -3 (very surprised) but that was mitigated by a much worse than usual LR section so I figure it was just an easier than average RC section.

Good to hear, that's about what I'm at and I'm basically taking the same approach. I may read a prep-test book on RC, or I may not. Haven't really decided yet.

[CyanIdes Of March]

I partially read the Manhattan RC book, maybe I should have given it more time, but I skipped large swaths that I thought were superflous or not beneficial for me personally. I think it helped learn to structure it mentally a bit, but it didn't help nearly as much as the Manhattan LG did.

EDIT: This just made me realize I didn't have an in/out game on my LSAT... and that's pretty lame because I love those games and that's what Manhattan really broke through for me.

[Theopliske8711]

In/Out were a horror for me. I didn't follow the Manhattan LG method, found it too hard to do in test taking circumstances, but I did manage to get a solid enough system (not as thorough but worked well) that allows me to roll through In/Outs now.

[arcanecircle]

Cyan, care to elaborate any on your RC section prep? Particularly how you would go over your work or how you dealt with RC passage redos. My accuracy is about where yours was initially. I'm pretty sure I'm reviewing my mistakes inefficiently.

[WhiskeynCoke]

I went from missing around 5 or 6 to consistently missing around 0-2. The quickest way to improve your RC is to develop your test taking strategy. Specifically, you need to get better at handling the questions. This gain often comes through improving at logical reasoning. Here are some tips.......

When reading the passage:
- Read at a pace that allows you to fully understand everything the first read through (slow some places, quicker other places)
- Don't worry about marking up the passage. Focus on UNDERSTANDING what the author is getting at. (constantly be "translating" and reasoning/arguing with the author)
- Pause after each paragraph to get your bearings as to the direction/gist of the passage.
- After finishing the passage, make sure to articulate the authors main point and also attitude before moving to the questions.

When tacking the questions:
- PRE-PHRASE!!! This means that you answer the question BEFORE looking at the answer choices. You should have a clear answer in mind when you are scanning the choices so you know what you're looking for. Otherwise, they will all look the same and will DESTROY YOU. Obviously some types of questions don't allow this, but you get the idea.

This should get you started. FWIW I improved from a 167 (1st try)--------> 179 (3rd try).

[sky888fa]

Any books good to improve RC?

[cricketlove00]

I didn't go through and read everyone's posts, so I apologize if I'm repeating...

I'm of the belief that you can improve up to -0 always. There's no reason anyone can't. However, I will concede that RC is the most difficult section for me and it's still a work in progress.

To me, RC is more about personal strategy. It's good to read Manhattan and Powerscore RC books for their strategies, but ultimately I think you need to find what works best for you. It's a total pain in the butt, and it'll take a lot of work, but I found that writing out the arguments and subarguments to the side really helped me navigate the passages. The more you do it the quicker you'll be at it.

[RodneyRuxin]

Started out missing about half the questions; ended up missing 3-5.

[steel_shot]

I went from missing around 5 or 6 to consistently missing around 0-2. The quickest way to improve your RC is to develop your test taking strategy. Specifically, you need to get better at handling the questions. This gain often comes through improving at logical reasoning. Here are some tips.......

When reading the passage:
- Read at a pace that allows you to fully understand everything the first read through (slow some places, quicker other places)
- Don't worry about marking up the passage. Focus on UNDERSTANDING what the author is getting at. (constantly be "translating" and reasoning/arguing with the author)
- Pause after each paragraph to get your bearings as to the direction/gist of the passage.
- After finishing the passage, make sure to articulate the authors main point and also attitude before moving to the questions.

When tacking the questions:
- PRE-PHRASE!!! This means that you answer the question BEFORE looking at the answer choices. You should have a clear answer in mind when you are scanning the choices so you know what you're looking for. Otherwise, they will all look the same and will DESTROY YOU. Obviously some types of questions don't allow this, but you get the idea.

This should get you started. FWIW I improved from a 167 (1st try)--------> 179 (3rd try).

Thanks for this advice! It's pretty similar what I'm trying to do right now, but always good to hear it from a pro. Do you suggest any supplemental reading, like The Economist? I just moved my test to June, and RC is really the only thing that keeps me from a mid 170s score, so I bought every section to drill but still want to increase my chances in whatever way possible.

[gobosox]

I went from missing around 5 or 6 to consistently missing around 0-2. The quickest way to improve your RC is to develop your test taking strategy. Specifically, you need to get better at handling the questions. This gain often comes through improving at logical reasoning. Here are some tips.......

When reading the passage:
- Read at a pace that allows you to fully understand everything the first read through (slow some places, quicker other places)
- Don't worry about marking up the passage. Focus on UNDERSTANDING what the author is getting at. (constantly be "translating" and reasoning/arguing with the author)
- Pause after each paragraph to get your bearings as to the direction/gist of the passage.
- After finishing the passage, make sure to articulate the authors main point and also attitude before moving to the questions.

When tacking the questions:
- PRE-PHRASE!!! This means that you answer the question BEFORE looking at the answer choices. You should have a clear answer in mind when you are scanning the choices so you know what you're looking for. Otherwise, they will all look the same and will DESTROY YOU. Obviously some types of questions don't allow this, but you get the idea.

This should get you started. FWIW I improved from a 167 (1st try)--------> 179 (3rd try).

Great info-- lets get some more thoughts! I'm struggling immensely ( -3-5 in RC) and RC accounts for usually at least half of my wrong answers. I'll try anything!!!

[jemthey17]

Take my advice with a grain of salt, as I haven't taken the actual LSAT yet and will not be taking it for a while, but it helps me to underline the main point of each paragraph and to look for a conclusion in the passage. Focus on what the main point of the passage is and then identify what the author uses as evidence or support for the point of the passage. RC used to be my worst section, but now it is my best.

Also, I don't know how long you have been studying and if you have been doing this, but you should do some untimed drilling in this section just to get used to the kinds of questions that are asked. You can always improve your speed later, but if you can't do it without the pressure of time, you will have a very hard time figuring it out under a more stressful, timed situation.

And as someone else mentioned, coming up with an answer to the question before you read the answers is key. It will keep you from getting tripped up by an attractive, cleverly written trap answer.

[JDot]

this advice only applies if you are a fairly fast reader...I found my greatest improvements came when I simply just read through the passage once and then as soon as I was finished immediately read through it again, the passages started to sink in a lot better when I started reading them twice in a row and the time it takes to read the passage twice is offset by not having to go back very much and dig through the passage again for answers during the questions…just my 2 cents

[RhymesLikeDimes]

Went from consistently getting 3-4 wrong to consistently getting 2-3 wrong. So much of it depends on the passages for me. I can get really interested in some and nail the questions, then get mauled by some monster wall of text about property rights of female immigrants in the 19th century.