WHY IS RC RUINING MY LIFE? Forum

[T14orTradeSchool]

I seem to have made huge strides in LG and LR, but RC just seems a bit tougher to conquer. I have gone anywhere from -4 to -11 on the section, with timing still an issue.

For anyone who scores consistently at or below a -4 on RC (and i'd consider that a good benchmark for me), HOW?

1. Are you normally a fast reader? (I'm a slow one so I've had to adjust my speed tremendously).
2. How long does the actual passage take you?
3. How many sections did you do before you started consistently scoring at or below that range?
4. Exactly how did you review?

Pretty desperate here, so any help is appreciated.

[McAvoy]

I hear plumbers make a good living

[smiles123]

I feel your pain... I had very similar issues. No real suggestions because my RC still stinks.

[loomy78]

do as many RC sections as possible. they ask the same questions over and over again. try to head the economist cover to cover every week.

[McAvoy]

do as many RC sections as possible. they ask the same questions over and over again.

True but this is not a good method for real improvement.

It's like trying to improve your j by putting up a thousand shots. Will it help? Maybe, but the deficiencies are probably b/c of technique.

[appind]

do as many RC sections as possible. they ask the same questions over and over again.

True but this is not a good method for real improvement.

It's like trying to improve your j by putting up a thousand shots. Will it help? Maybe, but the deficiencies are probably b/c of technique.

what technique do you suggest?

[McAvoy]

trade school

[T14orTradeSchool]

trade school

Kinda scratching my head trying to figure out what you've attempted to say or accomplish in your series of posts. Did you do well on the RC section? If you did, some insight into what you've done would be appreciated. If not, then that's fine too I guess.

do as many RC sections as possible. they ask the same questions over and over again. try to head the economist cover to cover every week.

I've done a decent amount of RC sections already. It just feels like the gains are very very slow. Is RC generally considered to be this way?

[Skool]

trade school

Kinda scratching my head trying to figure out what you've attempted to say or accomplish in your series of posts. Did you do well on the RC section? If you did, some insight into what you've done would be appreciated. If not, then that's fine too I guess.

do as many RC sections as possible. they ask the same questions over and over again. try to head the economist cover to cover every week.

I've done a decent amount of RC sections already. It just feels like the gains are very very slow. Is RC generally considered to be this way?

In my experience, the most important thing is looking for differences. Reading comprehension is frequently talking about person/ideology/policy/group/country x says/does/believes this, but person y /ideology/policy/group/country y says/does/believes says this.

The second thing to look for is what position does the author or some key figure in the passage take on an issue.

That's really all there is to it. Focus on understanding the distinctions in the positions and who agrees and disagrees with those positions. When you're reading, make mental note of these positions. Once I've identified these positions by around the middle of the passage, I try to read and interpret the rest that follows in light of the previous interpretations (like figuring out where the rest of a puzzle's pieces go by looking at the pieces I've already assembled).

The most useful heuristic I have for sorting out differences is saying to my self "X can totally agree with answer choice B while still believing what he believes" or something like that.

For timing don't worry about reading fast and don't worry about understanding stuff that doesn't elucidate the previously discussed distinctions and positions. That is one way the passage can sink you. As long as you understand the broad strokes, let the questions themselves guide you back to the parts of the passage it wants you to analyze. Repetition is a key part of getting the confidence to recognize stuff that you should linger on and stuff that isn't essential to master in a first pass.

Another key part of getting better technique through repetition is learning when an answer is really really likely to be correct and you don't need to waste time eliminating the wrong choices. I might get 1-3 questions like that per section. When I get them, I quickly mark them and move on. This is one key way I save time for the more difficult questions. I'm sure you do the same for LG and LR.

I also pay close attention to the clock throughout. I have goals for myself about where I'm supposed be in terms of reading the passage, answering the first three questions etc. If I know it took me a little long to read that passage, I know I need to speed up choosing the answers. I usually spend three to four minutes reading, the rest on the questions. 8.5 on each passage, approximately. If it takes me 9-10 minutes for the first I don't worry, but I'm definitely looking to cut time off the second one to finish around 16-17 minutes for the two. The clock is god, and if I'm at a goal marker and I still got an answer choice or two in that section, too fucking bad. I make quick decisions and move on. I keep a tight leash on myself and I think keeping each section of RC under control gives me more focus and calm as opposed to freaking out on the last passage.

Also, I pretty much always prioritize reading a passage over getting to the answer choices. I spend the time on the front end and the speed comes in quickly identifying correct answer choices and eliminating wrong answer choices.

Consistently -1 to -4, mostly -3s. I've only gone -0 a few times on older tests. On bad days/hard RC sections I've gone -6, but that's not too frequent.

[McAvoy]

In my experience, the most important thing is looking for differences. Reading comprehension is frequently talking about person/ideology/policy/group/country x says/does/believes this, but person y /ideology/policy/group/country y says/does/believes says this.

The second thing to look for is what position does the author or some key figure in the passage take on an issue.

That's really all there is to it. Focus on understanding the distinctions in the positions and who agrees and disagrees with those positions. When you're reading, make mental note of these positions. Once I've identified these positions by around the middle of the passage, I try to read and interpret the rest that follows in light of the previous interpretations (like figuring out where the rest of a puzzle's pieces go by looking at the pieces I've already assembled).

The most useful heuristic I have for sorting out differences is saying to my self "X can totally agree with answer choice B while still believing what he believes" or something like that.

For timing don't worry about reading fast and don't worry about understanding stuff that doesn't elucidate the previously discussed distinctions and positions. That is one way the passage can sink you. As long as you understand the broad strokes, let the questions themselves guide you back to the parts of the passage it wants you to analyze. Repetition is a key part of getting the confidence to recognize stuff that you should linger on and stuff that isn't essential to master in a first pass.

Another key part of getting better technique through repetition is learning when an answer is really really likely to be correct and you don't need to waste time eliminating the wrong choices. I might get 1-3 questions like that per section. When I get them, I quickly mark them and move on. This is one key way I save time for the more difficult questions. I'm sure you do the same for LG and LR.

I also pay close attention to the clock throughout. I have goals for myself about where I'm supposed be in terms of reading the passage, answering the first three questions etc. If I know it took me a little long to read that passage, I know I need to speed up choosing the answers. I usually spend three to four minutes reading, the rest on the questions. 8.5 on each passage, approximately. If it takes me 9-10 minutes for the first I don't worry, but I'm definitely looking to cut time off the second one to finish around 16-17 minutes for the two. The clock is god, and if I'm at a goal marker and I still got an answer choice or two in that section, too fucking bad. I make quick decisions and move on. I keep a tight leash on myself and I think keeping each section of RC under control gives me more focus and calm as opposed to freaking out on the last passage.

Also, I pretty much always prioritize reading a passage over getting to the answer choices. I spend the time on the front end and the speed comes in quickly identifying correct answer choices and eliminating wrong answer choices.

Consistently -1 to -4, mostly -3s. I've only gone -0 a few times on older tests. On bad days/hard RC sections I've gone -6, but that's not too frequent.

exhibit a in support of trade school

[T14orTradeSchool]

Really like all the things you've said Skool. Setting time benchmarks is something I'm really considering implementing. It changed my LR life. Thanks for the insight!

[woodselle]

I started out around -8 to -10 in RC, and was at that point for a really long time. Then, within the last 2 weeks leading up to the September LSAT, I had some major epiphany and now typically go -2 to -4.

1. I am normally a fast reader, but because I skim over a lot. I actually slowed my reading down on the LSAT to make sure I was really absorbing what was being said. It sounds like you have the opposite problem. What helped me was keeping in mind that I needed to understand the structure and method of argument, rather than the specifics of the subject. This also helped me keep track mentally of what part of the passage I would need to return to for certain specific passages. I started out by writing down a word or two next to each section to give me a signpost for what was in that section. Just something like "analogy" or "background" was enough to jog my memory.

2. I probably spent 8-9 minutes per passage. Some went a little quicker, and some took me 10 minutes. However, 8-9 minutes was a good benchmark. It probably took me 2-2:30 to read each passage. I was able to go pretty quickly through the questions since I spent a little more time reading the passage, so I recalled a lot without needing to reread the passage.

3. I'm not sure exactly how many sections I did before I got there, but probably about 10-15 before I started scoring -2 and -4, and then I did 5-10 more after that point.

4. I worked through the LSAT Trainer 4 week plan, and that was sufficient for my RC prep. Lots of practice tests helped as well. Overall what seemed to really click for me was focusing on the structure and being able to quickly summarize a section or paragraph in my head with a word or two (as I got more comfortable, I was able to just keep these in mind and didn't need to actually write them down). I wasn't big on a lot of annotation, but I did always circle whenever a certain name/viewpoint was announced, again to use as a signpost.

Hope this helps! Best of luck!