Reading Comp, High scorers help!? Forum

[nyc56]

Been studying pretty intensely. Average (-1/2 LG, -3 Per sec LR, -7 RC) RC has been by far my weak link, which is weird because I got a 36 on the reading comp section of the ACT, but this is obviously a very different and more difficult challenge. Taken around 16 practice tests, and drilled a lot. Anyone who consistently gets -2/0 on RC what do you do? I feel like my mentality on RC is poor, and kind of pick arbitrarily at times. I also feel without direction at times doing RC. I sometimes have timing issues and have real difficulty on law (the irony) and philosophy passages. I'm not looking for a perfect score, but would like to really improve. Anyone who gets good scores on RC, what mentality do you have answering questions? I read once that people good at RC feel as confident in their answers as LR? Any advice is welcome

[galadriel3019]

Well for me, how I read the passages was important. Do you take notes in the margins, or do anything to annotate as you read? Every person's system is different, but if you are plateauing, it might be worth trying out a few new ways to draw your attention back to the content. I'm not saying writing copious notes and wasting time, but finding what types of little markers or emblems that could help you is really important.

[sethnoorzad]

I got -5 on Dec. I think one way to practice is to do fresh passages with no time limit and take the time to find a citation to justify your answer for every question. Take the time to think about the logic of the question. What is the exact position described in the passage and who is it that holds what position? Getting a better fundamental grasp is key and then it's a question of just sprinting through so as to answer all the questions. It's so freaking fast you really have to sprint. But I only got -5 so take it with a grain of salt.

[airwrecka]

My mentality on RC is to realize that there is ALWAYS a reason that 4 answers are wrong and only one is correct (just like all LSAT questions) so the trick is to figuring out what makes the 4 incorrect answers incorrect even if you can't always see why the right answer is right. I pay special attention to specific wording in questions and answers (just like LR) because sometimes just one word makes all the difference. And finally, recognizing that sometimes the answer will be related to seemingly unimportant info in the passage is key. The questions are NOT always about the main point or obvious argument. Sometimes (especially inference questions ) they're about some random detail. Never be afraid to go back into the passage to search for answers (I've heard some people never do and I personally think that's strange). And like others have said, maybe taking notes or highlighting things as you read might help. I just underline and circle things in the passage that stand out to me when I'm reading (especially words like "however" "therefore" "should" "this proves that" etc or "first" "second" etc if the author lists reasons for an argument).

Hopefully some of this helps!

[nyc56]

Had some success applying the "must be true" test to each answer choice in most questions.

[ws120]

I got a -1 on the Sept 2016 LSAT, and pretty regularly got -1/-2 in practice. One way to move up is to look for answer choices that give too strong assumptions. For example, look at the following two answer choices:

Which of the following does the author most likely believe to be true?
(A) Judges should require a prison sentence for every instance of reckless behavior.
(B) There are some instances where a judge should require a prison sentence for behaving recklessly.

Notice that (B) is a far weaker assumption (or belief) than (A). If (A) is true, (B) must be true, but not vice-versa. A lot of answers on the reading give too strong an assumption, and the correct answer is generally the weaker of the two.

[AJordan]

Had some success applying the "must be true" test to each answer choice in most questions.

I agree with this.

[quigleyest]

Had -1 in December

Short advice: After you take a test, review your wrong (and maybe also, marked unsure) answers. There are pretty solid reasons why the 4 incorrect AC's are incorrect. Sometimes, it is down to about one or two words which don't point to the write idea.

Like "was unwilling to do x" vs. "was not limited to do x"


For main point questions, there are usually 1 or 2, or more AC's that have a scope issue. They only summarize one idea or paragraph from the passage. Good main point answers capture the most of the passage's content in one breath

HTH

[jstanhope14]

I've only taken one PT but scored 26/27 on the RC section. My strategy for passages where the subject matter was simple / I had some familiarity with was to quickly skim the passage for main points and logical structure (30 seconds or so) and then to attack the questions, using my memory of the passage's structure to know which 5 or so lines to direct my attention to and to read closely for the answer. If the material in the passage was something I didn't really know anything about I read the whole passage at a normal speed and then moved onto the question. Almost all the answers are right there in the text, you just have to know where to look. The exception would be main point or "what can you infer" questions, but that's at most two questions per passage.

[jstanhope14]

My mentality on RC is to realize that there is ALWAYS a reason that 4 answers are wrong and only one is correct (just like all LSAT questions) so the trick is to figuring out what makes the 4 incorrect answers incorrect even if you can't always see why the right answer is right. I pay special attention to specific wording in questions and answers (just like LR) because sometimes just one word makes all the difference. And finally, recognizing that sometimes the answer will be related to seemingly unimportant info in the passage is key. The questions are NOT always about the main point or obvious argument. Sometimes (especially inference questions ) they're about some random detail. Never be afraid to go back into the passage to search for answers (I've heard some people never do and I personally think that's strange). And like others have said, maybe taking notes or highlighting things as you read might help. I just underline and circle things in the passage that stand out to me when I'm reading (especially words like "however" "therefore" "should" "this proves that" etc or "first" "second" etc if the author lists reasons for an argument).

Hopefully some of this helps!

Not only should you not be afraid to go back to the text, but you should be doing this on almost every question. Better advice would be don't be afraid to not read every word in the passage before going to the questions.

[Neil_Gorsuch]

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