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What are your best tips for improving RC?

Johnny TsunamiJohnny Tsunami Alum Member
in Reading Comprehension 186 karma

I have been trying out various strategies and all seem to come with pros and cons. Initially I was speed reading (as I usually do), which gave me some time left over, but I made a lot of silly mistakes. I switched to an approach where I really engage with the passage, essentially talking it through in my own words and ensuring a solid understanding (or as best as I can get), but again I make those same errors and even feel time crunched for the last passage which i have to rush through.

What tips have helped you improve your RC score?

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Comments

  • maryannmntg33maryannmntg33 Alum Member
    17 karma

    Maybe you could try Spreeder, if 7Sage's lessons are not helpful? That may help you retain more when you speed read. If you sign up for the free emails from
    Graeme from LSAT Hacks, on day 4 he gives you his rules for how to succeed with Spreeder. Good luck!

  • abeerasajid119abeerasajid119 Live Member
    23 karma

    Hello,
    What is your LSAT goal? If its's 160, then you just need to get 18 questions right in all sections. Try to look at the bigger picture of the passage. Suppose, if you have to explain this passage to your little brother who is in grade 3 and you can't do it, then we are going back to the passage.

    Focus on one line and don't move to another one if you can't explain it to your little brother.

    Hope this helps :)

  • Johnny TsunamiJohnny Tsunami Alum Member
    186 karma

    @maryannmntg33 said:
    Maybe you could try Spreeder, if 7Sage's lessons are not helpful? That may help you retain more when you speed read. If you sign up for the free emails from
    Graeme from LSAT Hacks, on day 4 he gives you his rules for how to succeed with Spreeder. Good luck!

    Thank you, I'll check this out. I love 7sage and its been incredibly helpful overall but RC is still a pain! Always open to other options and perspectives like this one.

  • Johnny TsunamiJohnny Tsunami Alum Member
    186 karma

    @abeerasajid119 said:
    Hello,
    What is your LSAT goal? If its's 160, then you just need to get 18 questions right in all sections. Try to look at the bigger picture of the passage. Suppose, if you have to explain this passage to your little brother who is in grade 3 and you can't do it, then we are going back to the passage.

    Focus on one line and don't move to another one if you can't explain it to your little brother.

    Hope this helps :)

    I'm already hitting 160 but RC seems to be the section where I am hemorrhaging the most points. I started reading the passage like you've mentioned and I can usually explain them easily in my own words but it seems like timing is my enemy on the section.

  • SJ808080SJ808080 Alum Member
    25 karma

    Hi!
    One thing that really helped in both LR and RC was to increase my comprehension speed. Spreeder is good for a start, but it doesn't prepare you for reading fixed paragraphs. What I did was to start reading very tough books, right now I am reading Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. I test myself how long it takes to fully understand a page of that book. This has helped me in increasing my comprehension speed. Other books like Kant's Critique of Pure Reason or HLA Hart's Concept of Law are also very tough books to comprehend.

  • 24bitpapi24bitpapi Core Member
    edited October 2023 30 karma

    One tip that’s helped is that RC is not LR. The answer is THERE in the passage. When I just can’t find the right answer, I check why the others are not right. Every word in the answers MATTERS and one wrong word completely destroys some answers from being the right one.

    Instead of trying to remember the complete passage, I focus on remembering where they talked about what in the passage. The introduction and conclusion help a ton in those ‘What was this passage about’ while the body (the other paragraphs) provide information about tone, etc (along with the conclusion).

    I usually get all of them right or -1 or MAX -2 on my RC drills (the hard ones).

    Another tip is when they mention what did the author mean by this word or words, FOCUS ON THE CONTEXT surrounding the words — nothing else. Do not apply your idea of romantic when the passage hints that their use of romantic was in the sense of ‘hopeless romantic’ or of a ‘fool in love’.

    I was in your same boat last week! I’ve been working on RC the past 10 days. Feel free to reach out so we can give each other tips and note what works!

    Best of luck!

  • lucasjameszieglerlucasjamesziegler Alum Member
    385 karma

    I have been doing a ton of passages without looking at the time and not going into the questions until I understand what is happening in the passage. After a month of this my last 4 sections timed have been -2,-4,-3,-3. This was from a -9 average. I also worked on the low res summary method which has really help me engage in the passages.
    I would say I went through 15-20 sections total to see that progress.

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