Self-study
I am struggling with my stamina for reading comprehension. I either have to pause after every section or two to take a short brain break, or I do the section but don't comprehend anything and get a bad score.
Any tips for improving this?
3
7 comments
Seriously, delete all social media. I did that and my reading skills have increased 10 fold. I think it has to do with allowing yourself to be bored. I have read 30 chapters of this book in two days now and I'm only a week in from being off social media. I'm sure there's more science to it all but it's incredible.
Reading more outside of class and the LSAT, even if it's just 10-20 minutes before bed it will increase your reading stamina as you do it more.
Better sleep. I don't just mean getting 7-9 hours, I also mean going to bed at the same time every night, waking up at the same time every morning, not eating within 3 hours of going to sleep, no screens within 1.5 hours of sleep (sleep is a big part of my major). A lot of people think they're getting good sleep because the quantity is high, even though the quality is low. This drastically helps with dedicated focuse.
Lastly, you could meditate. It's literally the practice of intentional focus, not the practice of thinking of nothing. Focus on one thing, stay focused on it (whether it be breathing, or staring at an object) then every time you begin to mentally wander try to catch yourself and revert your attention back to your stimuli. It trains your brain to stay on one topic for longer durations.
What helped me was allowing myself to be bored more. I could barely finish one passage without losing focus before. I cut back on YouTube, instagram, and sometimes I would just sit and do nothing for 10 minutes. Went on walks with no music/podcasts etc.
Do you literally mean "every section or two," as in full sections, or do you mean passages?
If you do mean sections, I'm not sure it's worth worrying about. You won't have more than two RC sections back-to-back on the real test.
Do you normally have short span attention or just on the LSAT reading ? If you naturally have short span attention or any learning difficulties, you might want to get a diagnostic. LSAC gives accomodation for some learning difficulties.
What has helped me the most is to consciously slow my breathing, and move my cursor over the text as I read. I read online that this helps you to avoid getting stuck in mentally articulating each word and actually read faster. Not sure how true that is, but it's worked for me!
I also try to highlight just the key words of a concept, rather than entire sentences, and kind of mentally summarize each paragraph as I complete it.