Need advice on HOW to read a passage such as PT 2, passage 3 Forum

[flash21]

I feel as though sometimes when I'm reading a science passage "read for structure" kind of goes out the window. I feel as though I'll most definitely be questioned about some details in the passage so I've got this tendency to try to understand / memorize all of these details.

I got really lost reading this passage. I felt pretty overwhelmed. Somehow I only got 2 wrong, but I felt like I got almost all of them wrong, to be honest I think I got a bit lucky. C

Anyone else know this feeling - and more importantly, have any advice for getting over this? I know I should probably read this as I do any other passage, but for some reason in the back of my head I kept telling myself it wouldn't work for a passage like this.

[bombaysippin]

I mean I think the general strategy works for all passages, but you gotta fine tune things that work specifically for you. If you can get rc down enough that you'd have some extra time for last passage, maybe save the science ones for you specifically till the end.

[flash21]

I mean I think the general strategy works for all passages, but you gotta fine tune things that work specifically for you. If you can get rc down enough that you'd have some extra time for last passage, maybe save the science ones for you specifically till the end.

Never really considering skipping the sci passage. This time it was 3rd in this particular RC section which left me with about 7 minutes to do the last passage which in review probably cost me some points that I typically would have got (missed 3 in the final passage due to lack of time).

Maybe I'll skip it next time and come back to it.

[bombaysippin]

Just gotta try things to see if they work, best time to do it is obviously while you're prepping before the actual test haha

[Jeffort]

Hey Flash,

Don't stress about that passage and it feeling overwhelming due to having lots of details.
It's widely considered to be one of the hardest science RC passages ever administered and is in almost every top 10 list of hardest RC passages that any company/person/group/thread on this and other forums has put together that I've seen.

It's a bit overwhelming because the passage gives you more details about things than usual for RC passages and does so in confusing ways when talking about the two different generations of water bugs per year. It drives most people crazy trying to keep straight which generation is which since they refer to them using different wording in different places in the passage. It requires a bit of synthesis type analysis putting the details in paragraph 2 together properly to understand WTF the passage is referring to as the 'summer generation' and the 'over wintering brood' in the third paragraph.

Luckily only one question directly tests that distinction while most of the Qs simply test to see whether you figured out the main cause and effect relationship the passage focuses on: the temperatures the eggs are exposed to before hatching determines whether the bugs are born with big wings (macropterous) or little wings (micropterous). Of course the test writers made that hard to figure out by throwing around several $10 words like dimorphic, macropterous, and micropterous just to make the topic sound more complicated that it really is.

Reading for structure and not getting lost in the maze of details is key to performing well on the questions for that passage, so it sounds like your approach worked fairly well. The main ideas of the passage are fairly simple, the test writers just tried to disguise them with a bunch of details and intimidating technical terminology much more so than usual in most passages.

[flash21]

Hey Flash,

Don't stress about that passage and it feeling overwhelming due to having lots of details.
It's widely considered to be one of the hardest science RC passages ever administered and is in almost every top 10 list of hardest RC passages that any company/person/group/thread on this and other forums has put together that I've seen.

It's a bit overwhelming because the passage gives you more details about things than usual for RC passages and does so in confusing ways when talking about the two different generations of water bugs per year. It drives most people crazy trying to keep straight which generation is which since they refer to them using different wording in different places in the passage. It requires a bit of synthesis type analysis putting the details in paragraph 2 together properly to understand WTF the passage is referring to as the 'summer generation' and the 'over wintering brood' in the third paragraph.

Luckily only one question directly tests that distinction while most of the Qs simply test to see whether you figured out the main cause and effect relationship the passage focuses on: the temperatures the eggs are exposed to before hatching determines whether the bugs are born with big wings (macropterous) or little wings (micropterous). Of course the test writers made that hard to figure out by throwing around several $10 words like dimorphic, macropterous, and micropterous just to make the topic sound more complicated that it really is.

Reading for structure and not getting lost in the maze of details is key to performing well on the questions for that passage, so it sounds like your approach worked fairly well. The main ideas of the passage are fairly simple, the test writers just tried to disguise them with a bunch of details and intimidating technical terminology much more so than usual in most passages.

Hey Jeffort!

Thanks for the advice. Thanks , I got my approach from an LSAT expert ha!

Its good to hear this is one of the more challenging passages, I found it pretty difficult. I'll keep in mind next time I'm feeling this way to still keep in mind bigger picture analysis and relationships and try not to get to bogged down in details. Appreciate the help.

[KDLMaj]

I've got an RC Issue-Spotting exercise I can give you. But you have to PM me for it.