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http://7sage.com/lsat-reading-comprehen ... ry-method/

anyone used it with success?

really interested in this as well

me too!

This is nothing new or different than the basic RC advice all good prep sources give that anybody that has prepped for the LSAT at least a little bit has already been told, but it is really important stuff since many people fail to do these simple basics.

It simply describes the way you are supposed to read the passage:

Read paragraph, pause, think about and determine main point(s) of that paragraph/summarize.
Read next paragraph, do the same as above.
etc. for each paragraph.

Then at the end list the main points of each of the paragraphs and think about how they relate to form the overall main point.

Go to questions.

It's the standard way you should be reading if you want to retain it well. It's the mental steps that you at first have to force yourself to do until they become habit. For some reason many people need to be told over and over that they should actually pause at the end of each paragraph and briefly think about what they just read to digest it before rushing into the next paragraph to try to quickly cram even more confusing material into their head. Many people don't force themselves to pause and think about stuff to process it while they read because they seem to think it takes too much time or some nonsense like that due to time pressure.

Read the passage to understand and remember the main points, and do that by pausing after and summarizing each paragraph as you go. Simple as that, if you don't read it that way, you'll have unnecessary trouble with the questions, so just do it.

Jeffort wrote:It simply describes the way you are supposed to read the passage:

Read paragraph, pause, think about and determine main point(s) of that paragraph/summarize.
Read next paragraph, do the same as above.
etc. for each paragraph.

I already do this but I literally write out a sentence summarizing each paragraph because I have a problem retaining all that information in my head. My issue is that it takes wayyyy to long, I only end up finishing 3 passages (with about -1 or-2). My question is do you think that trying the memory method might increase my short term memory so that I can stop having to write out the summaries?

sashafierce wrote:

Jeffort wrote:It simply describes the way you are supposed to read the passage:

Read paragraph, pause, think about and determine main point(s) of that paragraph/summarize.
Read next paragraph, do the same as above.
etc. for each paragraph.

I already do this but I literally write out a sentence summarizing each paragraph because I have a problem retaining all that information in my head. My issue is that it takes wayyyy to long, I only end up finishing 3 passages (with about -1 or-2). My question is do you think that trying the memory method might increase my short term memory so that I can stop having to write out the summaries?

You shouldn't stop doing that, and there's no way writing out 12-14 sentences is taking you so much time that you're not able to get to an entire passage. There's something else going on that's costing you the 8:45 needed to get there.

I'd try to cut down from sentences to sentence fragments (shouldn't take more than 4-6 words to sum up a paragraph/section of a paragraph), but by focusing on the time you're taking to do that, you're missing what's actually costing you the time you'll need to get to the fourth passage.

Seriously, grab a section and time yourself copying those sentences onto a fresh sheet of paper. No way it takes you more than 2 minutes.

bp shinners wrote:You shouldn't stop doing that, and there's no way writing out 12-14 sentences is taking you so much time that you're not able to get to an entire passage. There's something else going on that's costing you the 8:45 needed to get there.

I'd try to cut down from sentences to sentence fragments (shouldn't take more than 4-6 words to sum up a paragraph/section of a paragraph), but by focusing on the time you're taking to do that, you're missing what's actually costing you the time you'll need to get to the fourth passage.

Seriously, grab a section and time yourself copying those sentences onto a fresh sheet of paper. No way it takes you more than 2 minutes.

I really did think that writing the summaries was causing my time issues but as you said there are other things going on mainly my over thinking questions and second guessing myself.

Going forward, I will continue to write the summaries but will try to make them shorter as you recommended. The other issues I will try to work out over time with practice.

Thank you for your advice

sashafierce wrote:

bp shinners wrote:You shouldn't stop doing that, and there's no way writing out 12-14 sentences is taking you so much time that you're not able to get to an entire passage. There's something else going on that's costing you the 8:45 needed to get there.

I'd try to cut down from sentences to sentence fragments (shouldn't take more than 4-6 words to sum up a paragraph/section of a paragraph), but by focusing on the time you're taking to do that, you're missing what's actually costing you the time you'll need to get to the fourth passage.

Seriously, grab a section and time yourself copying those sentences onto a fresh sheet of paper. No way it takes you more than 2 minutes.

I really did think that writing the summaries was causing my time issues but as you said there are other things going on mainly my over thinking questions and second guessing myself.

Going forward, I will continue to write the summaries but will try to make them shorter as you recommended. The other issues I will try to work out over time with practice.

Thank you for your advice

One thing you could be doing that I see some of my students doing periodically is not being confident enough in yourself to choose your answer and move on. By all means if you're between a couple answers, take the time (within reason) to get your answer. But a major problem I've seen is a student will quickly identify what is very likely to be the correct answer and then spend upwards of 1-2 extra minutes on that question trying to rule out beyond any doubt every other answer.

I call this "chasing ghosts" in RC. I'm not sure if I came up with that moniker or someone else did (probably the latter), but it's essentially when you are searching through RC for some piece of information that just isn't there. If there is no support for an answer choice, you're never going to find that 'not support' anywhere. Sometimes (often?) you'll find that an incorrect answer choice is a jumbling/scrambling/opposite of what was said. But often you'll encounter answer choices that simply have no basis. Be very, very cautious when you encounter information that you don't remember anything about. Whenever it happens to me and it actually is in the passage it's almost always early on in the passage while I'm still 'getting into gear' but most of the time, it's because that information was never there to begin with. Read carefully and trust your brain.

Being able to better recognize when these 'ghost answers' come up can save you a lot of time across a section.

cahwc12 wrote:One thing you could be doing that I see some of my students doing periodically is not being confident enough in yourself to choose your answer and move on. By all means if you're between a couple answers, take the time (within reason) to get your answer. But a major problem I've seen is a student will quickly identify what is very likely to be the correct answer and then spend upwards of 1-2 extra minutes on that question trying to rule out beyond any doubt every other answer.

I couldn't agree more. Confidence in your answers is the best way to save time on the LSAT.

I'll often sit with a tutoring student while they work on a game, stopwatch in hand. I write down how long they take for each paragraph and question; I have them write down how much time they think they spent on each. They usually vastly overestimate the time on the passage and drastically underestimate the time on each question.

bp shinners wrote:

cahwc12 wrote:One thing you could be doing that I see some of my students doing periodically is not being confident enough in yourself to choose your answer and move on. By all means if you're between a couple answers, take the time (within reason) to get your answer. But a major problem I've seen is a student will quickly identify what is very likely to be the correct answer and then spend upwards of 1-2 extra minutes on that question trying to rule out beyond any doubt every other answer.

I couldn't agree more. Confidence in your answers is the best way to save time on the LSAT.

I'll often sit with a tutoring student while they work on a game, stopwatch in hand. I write down how long they take for each paragraph and question; I have them write down how much time they think they spent on each. They usually vastly overestimate the time on the passage and drastically underestimate the time on each question.

good point shinners. Ill sometimes catch myself on a question for honestly 1.5 even 2 minutes sometimes and i don't even notice. needless to say, my RC timing is terrible

Jeffort wrote:This is nothing new or different than the basic RC advice all good prep sources give that anybody that has prepped for the LSAT at least a little bit has already been told, but it is really important stuff since many people fail to do these simple basics.

It simply describes the way you are supposed to read the passage:

Read paragraph, pause, think about and determine main point(s) of that paragraph/summarize.
Read next paragraph, do the same as above.
etc. for each paragraph.

Then at the end list the main points of each of the paragraphs and think about how they relate to form the overall main point.

Go to questions.

It's the standard way you should be reading if you want to retain it well. It's the mental steps that you at first have to force yourself to do until they become habit. For some reason many people need to be told over and over that they should actually pause at the end of each paragraph and briefly think about what they just read to digest it before rushing into the next paragraph to try to quickly cram even more confusing material into their head. Many people don't force themselves to pause and think about stuff to process it while they read because they seem to think it takes too much time or some nonsense like that due to time pressure.

Read the passage to understand and remember the main points, and do that by pausing after and summarizing each paragraph as you go. Simple as that, if you don't read it that way, you'll have unnecessary trouble with the questions, so just do it.

bp shinners wrote:

cahwc12 wrote:One thing you could be doing that I see some of my students doing periodically is not being confident enough in yourself to choose your answer and move on. By all means if you're between a couple answers, take the time (within reason) to get your answer. But a major problem I've seen is a student will quickly identify what is very likely to be the correct answer and then spend upwards of 1-2 extra minutes on that question trying to rule out beyond any doubt every other answer.

I couldn't agree more. Confidence in your answers is the best way to save time on the LSAT.

I'll often sit with a tutoring student while they work on a game, stopwatch in hand. I write down how long they take for each paragraph and question; I have them write down how much time they think they spent on each. They usually vastly overestimate the time on the passage and drastically underestimate the time on each question.

Thank you for the feedback thus far, I have one more question for you guys. I am practicing drilling RC using the Cambridge packet and applying the 7 sage/Jeffort/best method (Phase 1 Improve Retention) let me walk you through it:

I read the passage in 3.5 minutes (pausing and summarizing in my head the main point of each passage) then I turn the passage over and write down the main point of each passage from memory and use that information to figure out the main point of the passage I take 1.5 minutes as suggested by 7 sage. The last part is answering the questions which should not take more than 3.5 minutes.

So my paraphrase of the main idea was spot on therefore I am able to answer Q1 correctly in under 20 sec so on to Q2, I spot what I think is the answer because I remember reading something along those lines in the passage but I am only 80% sure so I circle D and move on to reading E (which is a trap answer choice) now I am stuck between D and E and ultimately chose E because I cannot easily identify why D is correct and can easily spot the information that I think makes E correct. This process takes 2 minutes out of the allotted 3.5 minutes and I am only able to get to Question 4 (out of 8 questions) in the allotted time.

This is what always happens to me even in Logical Reasoning, I am always down to the trap answer and the correct answer and for some odd reason take forever trying to chose between the answer choices and still end up choosing the trap answer because I trust some random possibly correct support for the trap answer over my gut feeling.

So my question is two fold:
1a) If I spot what I think is the correct answer in RC do you recommend choosing that answer choice without reading all of the other answer choices? I did that for the first question because the answer choice matched my paraphrase 100%. I also do that for questions such as "the main purpose of paragraph 2 is" type questions because I already have a summarize so if an answer choice matches that summary 100% I chose it without reading all of the other answer choices. Do you recommend I do it for more general questions such as " According to the passage/The author would most likely agree with " type questions as well or should I just quit this habit on the whole?

1b) Do you have any specific advice for RC when deciding between two answers?

Thank you in advance!

sashafierce wrote: So my question is two fold:
1a) If I spot what I think is the correct answer in RC do you recommend choosing that answer choice without reading all of the other answer choices? I did that for the first question because the answer choice matched my paraphrase 100%. I also do that for questions such as "the main purpose of paragraph 2 is" type questions because I already have a summarize so if an answer choice matches that summary 100% I chose it without reading all of the other answer choices. Do you recommend I do it for more general questions such as " According to the passage/The author would most likely agree with " type questions as well or should I just quit this habit on the whole?

You're just as likely to spot the trap answer first as you are the real answer. If you're 100% sure of the answer, pick it. If you're less than 90% sure, read them all. 90%-100% is a judgment call.

Even when you're between 2, though, you shouldn't be spending more than 20 seconds thinking about it. Anything more than that, statistically, isn't increasing your score - getting to another question and having a 50/50 shot at this one is better than getting up to 90% sure on this question and skipping another. I think - I'm not good with statistics. It seems to work out for my students, though.

1b) Do you have any specific advice for RC when deciding between two answers?

Pick the weaker and more neutral of the two answer choices. Using just that, I can get at least half the questions right on RC without reading the passages.

bp shinners wrote:

sashafierce wrote: So my question is two fold:
1a) If I spot what I think is the correct answer in RC do you recommend choosing that answer choice without reading all of the other answer choices? I did that for the first question because the answer choice matched my paraphrase 100%. I also do that for questions such as "the main purpose of paragraph 2 is" type questions because I already have a summarize so if an answer choice matches that summary 100% I chose it without reading all of the other answer choices. Do you recommend I do it for more general questions such as " According to the passage/The author would most likely agree with " type questions as well or should I just quit this habit on the whole?

You're just as likely to spot the trap answer first as you are the real answer. If you're 100% sure of the answer, pick it. If you're less than 90% sure, read them all. 90%-100% is a judgment call.

Even when you're between 2, though, you shouldn't be spending more than 20 seconds thinking about it. Anything more than that, statistically, isn't increasing your score - getting to another question and having a 50/50 shot at this one is better than getting up to 90% sure on this question and skipping another. I think - I'm not good with statistics. It seems to work out for my students, though.

1b) Do you have any specific advice for RC when deciding between two answers?

Pick the weaker and more neutral of the two answer choices. Using just that, I can get at least half the questions right on RC without reading the passages.

Thank you for the advice especially the pick the weaker or more neutral answer choice I have been doing this when stuck between the trap answer and the correct answer and I am seeing great improvement.

Your presence on this forum is invaluable

So since using all the tips from this thread (and the 7sage method) I finally got my first -2 on a timed RC section (PT24) yay me. I plan to continue doing timed RC sections everyday until the Dec exam. I went -9 on the October exam -3 P1, -1 P2, -1 P3 and -4 P4. I did not finish the last 4 questions in P4 and my guessing was wrong and the first passage was really really hard.. but that's no excuse

The good news is that I had no real method for RC going into the October exam and I did not do a sufficient amount of RC drilling so this time around I know that I can do better. Please bear with me I have two more questions:

1) A Kaplan RC explanation suggested that for some students it is useful to stop reading during the first 1-3 passage and start answering questions while the info is fresh. "Why wait until line 52 to go back and answer a question prompted by line 1-2"" is what they wrote in the review. Do any of you agree with this?

2) This is what I do when I am reviewing a passage, I write review notes in excel like this:

Preptest 24
Passage 1 Risk Communication
Passage Structure- Current practice--> Why current practice is wrong--> what the new practice should be and why
Score: 5/6
Summary:
P1- Risk communication flawed/brainwash people
P2-Lay people know risk, research is flawed
P3-Best approach, find out what people know then use that to inform them
Main idea: Old practice is flawed, new practice is better should be implemented
Wrong Answer: Question 5
Question: What can be inferred about the authors of the passage about XYZ topic?
I skipped this question because I thought that I would be able to return to it but at the end I only had 47 seconds to look it over and ended up crossing a wrong answer choice. Was able to get the right answer when reviewing

I review these notes everyday before I do another RC passage because I want to learn from my mistakes as well as keep track of the passages that I complete. Also the summary is exactly what I write for each passage when I am drilling. Do you think that this is an effective approach? I knw that it is time consuming and that I only have 4 weeks until December so I am just wondering if I should find any means of reviewing? Any suggestions?

Hi,

Although I am totally fucked by RC(-8~-12 recently), but I want to say I am using the same review method. But I only write down the structure, main point and topic of each paragragh. Seems I need to add Wrong Answer step like you!

Keep fighting! You will rock the Dec LSAT!

sashafierce wrote:So since using all the tips from this thread (and the 7sage method) I finally got my first -2 on a timed RC section (PT24) yay me. I plan to continue doing timed RC sections everyday until the Dec exam. I went -9 on the October exam -3 P1, -1 P2, -1 P3 and -4 P4. I did not finish the last 4 questions in P4 and my guessing was wrong and the first passage was really really hard.. but that's no excuse

The good news is that I had no real method for RC going into the October exam and I did not do a sufficient amount of RC drilling so this time around I know that I can do better. Please bear with me I have two more questions:

1) A Kaplan RC explanation suggested that for some students it is useful to stop reading during the first 1-3 passage and start answering questions while the info is fresh. "Why wait until line 52 to go back and answer a question prompted by line 1-2"" is what they wrote in the review. Do any of you agree with this?

2) This is what I do when I am reviewing a passage, I write review notes in excel like this:

Preptest 24
Passage 1 Risk Communication
Passage Structure- Current practice--> Why current practice is wrong--> what the new practice should be and why
Score: 5/6
Summary:
P1- Risk communication flawed/brainwash people
P2-Lay people know risk, research is flawed
P3-Best approach, find out what people know then use that to inform them
Main idea: Old practice is flawed, new practice is better should be implemented
Wrong Answer: Question 5
Question: What can be inferred about the authors of the passage about XYZ topic?
I skipped this question because I thought that I would be able to return to it but at the end I only had 47 seconds to look it over and ended up crossing a wrong answer choice. Was able to get the right answer when reviewing

I review these notes everyday before I do another RC passage because I want to learn from my mistakes as well as keep track of the passages that I complete. Also the summary is exactly what I write for each passage when I am drilling. Do you think that this is an effective approach? I knw that it is time consuming and that I only have 4 weeks until December so I am just wondering if I should find any means of reviewing? Any suggestions?

Bp shinners: You said "Weaker and more neutral." Can you give me an actual example?

When you're using this method do you no longer underline or circle throughout ?

Mahone Shore wrote:Hi,

Although I am totally fucked by RC(-8~-12 recently), but I want to say I am using the same review method. But I only write down the structure, main point and topic of each paragragh. Seems I need to add Wrong Answer step like you!

Keep fighting! You will rock the Dec LSAT!

The wrong answer step is invaluable it helps you keep track of your thought process so that you can learn from your mistakes. I also write notes when I go -0 to remind myself of what I did for the passage or a particular question that allowed me to get a perfect score.

Nicolena. wrote:When you're using this method do you no longer underline or circle throughout ?

I still do. I circle names, I number step/points/factors but I don't really underline much. Something else that I do is *tick* sentences, after I read a sentence I place a tick mark next to it, this helps keep me engaged while reading.

ZVBXRPL wrote:Bp shinners: You said "Weaker and more neutral." Can you give me an actual example?

I have been using this method so I think I can help.

So lets say the passage is about a new method of doing something and the author agrees with this method. A question might ask you about the author's opinion of XYZ method lets say 3 answer choice are negative (i.e. the author hates its, thinks its a waste of time etc) and 2 answer choices are positive for e.g.
c) The author agrees with ALL the details of the new theory and believes that it would be useful in MOST situations
e) The author believes that the new theory highlights SOME important factors that can be helpful in solving the problem

The weaker/more neutral answer choice would be e)

A more specific example is from a passage that I recently completed PT52 P4. So after reading the passage I was 100% sure that the author had a positive attitude towards the theory so the questions is: The author stance regarding XYZ theory is:
a) approval of MOST aspects of the theory
b) acceptance of SOME aspects
c) concerned pessimism
d) hesitant rejection
e) resolute antipathy

I eliminated c), d) and e) (even though I had no idea what antipathy means or maybe I do but was not able to readily identify the meaning) So its down to a) or b), clearly a) is too strong and the weaker or more neutral answer is b). Think of it this way I am sure that most of the aspects of the new theory were not identified in the passage but surely some were and the author did show acceptance of these few aspects outlined in the passage.

I hope my explanation is accurate @ Bp Shinners

ZVBXRPL wrote:Bp shinners: You said "Weaker and more neutral." Can you give me an actual example?

If you're comparing two ACs the weaker/more neutral answer is one that is relatively more inclusive than exclusive compared to the other AC. Inclusive ACs are relatively less restrictively worded and have a good chance of containing what I call "hedge" words. Hedge words are words like could, may, can, might, possibly etc. These words give answers a degree of flexibility, so there is a better chance that it is the answer the question stem is asking for.

More exclusive wording contains more restrictive words like: must, has to, requires, will, never, cannot etc. These are more narrow answers and thus are less likely to encompass the answer the question stem is asking.

KEEP IN MIND THAT JUST BECAUSE IT HAS MORE EXCLUSIVE/RESTRICTIVE WORDING, THAT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MAKE IT A WRONG AC

sashafierce wrote: 1) A Kaplan RC explanation suggested that for some students it is useful to stop reading during the first 1-3 passage and start answering questions while the info is fresh. "Why wait until line 52 to go back and answer a question prompted by line 1-2"" is what they wrote in the review. Do any of you agree with this?

Terrible advice. You'll waste a ton of time, and it's wholly unnecessary if you actually understand how to approach RC. Go this method if you want to concede at least 1 passage for time and another 5-6 questions because you never develop an understanding of how to approach the section, plus ones you'd get wrong just because everyone makes mistakes.

2) This is what I do when I am reviewing a passage, I write review notes in excel like this:

I review these notes everyday before I do another RC passage because I want to learn from my mistakes as well as keep track of the passages that I complete. Also the summary is exactly what I write for each passage when I am drilling. Do you think that this is an effective approach? I knw that it is time consuming and that I only have 4 weeks until December so I am just wondering if I should find any means of reviewing? Any suggestions?

Wow, I wish every single one of my students would do that. It's exactly what I tell them to do to get better, but most get lazy and skip writing it all out. You will absolutely improve more quickly doing that than you would just rushing through the passage, so keep it up!

ZVBXRPL wrote:Bp shinners: You said "Weaker and more neutral." Can you give me an actual example?

Weaker pertains to the logical force - I'd rather have "can" than "must"; "some" than "most"; "at least some" than "none"; "early example" than "first/pioneer". Logical force words on the LSAT aren't restricted to the normal ones you see in LR - they've been shifting that a bit in recent years. "Independent" is stronger than "relevant". Look out for how strong/certain something is, and pick the one that's weaker. As a poster said, "hedge" words - where the author shows she's not 100% committed to what she's saying - are prevalent in correct answers.

Neutral pertains to how strong the attitude is. These are all passages written by academics, so I'd rather have a more middle of the road viewpoint than a strong one. "Disdain"/"hostility" etc... are unlikely to be correct. "In favor of, but not wholly committed to" is almost always the correct viewpoint. Look for words in answer choices that reflect someone whose viewpoint is more in the middle than at either extreme.

sashafierce wrote:I hope my explanation is accurate @ Bp Shinners

Need a job teaching after you take the exam?

bp shinners wrote:Wow, I wish every single one of my students would do that. It's exactly what I tell them to do to get better, but most get lazy and skip writing it all out. You will absolutely improve more quickly doing that than you would just rushing through the passage, so keep it up!

Yeah its a good method for learning. How are you going to learn from your mistakes if you don't keep track of them? It is very time consuming though but I am seeing improvement in RC. Thank you for your encouraging words...