Self-study
I've noticed my biggest weakness, especially for RC, are science passages/questions. I don't know if it's intimidation or just being completely incompetent at understanding basic science, but I really struggle here. I get confused mid-stimulus and lose the point of the question, then tend to start worrying about how I'm doing on time.
I guess a lot of it has to do with just being able to comprehend the passages, but that in itself is quite difficult for me. So are there any tips anyone has for science questions? Or am I kinda cooked?
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Yes!! I struggle with really dense legal/finance passages. I think the thing that works best for me is to read as much material as I can from a variety of subjects: science, law, arts, history, anthropology, etc. I get really overwhelmed by how many unfamiliar words or concepts are in a passage that I would lose track of the content entirely. But I found that if I have already familiarized myself with words associated with agricultural practices or chemistry or gender studies, even if I don't actually know what they mean or what they constitute conceptually, the flow of reading is much easier. I am less anxious about trying to use context clues, and more looking big picture.
For example, I really like the arts/music/literature passages because of my background. The passages will cover books or artists that I have never heard about, techniques I have never seen or come across in my studies. But I still breeze through those passages because the overarching language is comfortable for me, like tone shift, or brush work, or abstraction, or syncopation. I don't think I actually need to know what the literal definitions are, but I read faster and absorb information better.
I assume the same applies for RC passages. I was never really interested in science but had to take a couple courses in astronomy for my degree. Luckily for me the LSAT loves to draw questions on astronomy based content! I had a phase of watching medical dramas, which have genuinely helped with medical based questions. I admittedly don't really remember any of the concepts, but the words are familiar enough that I don't panic and I just take it step by step.
The thing to remember about all RC passages is that the author will always have some sort of opinion, including no opinion/objectiveness. A big portion of understanding the passage is simply identifying the author's tone. And if the passage is ever really dense and I absolutely cannot understand it, I try to match up the questions/answer choices to the logical structure of lines in the passage. It doesn't always work and it burns up time, but it's better than guessing completely!