7Sage

Seeking Help: RC Accuracy

Princess · 2026-02-07T18:23:30Z

Does anyone have any specific advice on improving RC accuracy? I keep getting the same score despite feeling like I review my answers well. A trouble of mine is that I'm not even really sure how to overcome my mistakes since there's no 'rule' to apply, like with LR which is seemingly more formulaic.

Hi! IMO RC is exactly hard because there aren't set "rules" to apply, but there are some strategies!

Personally, I feel like having a low-res and physically writing them down on paper helps! It keeps your brain free to think rather than memorize or remember the passage's structure.

One approach I like to do, from the 7sage CC, is the L.I.P approach

L: Low-res summary. For every paragraph, I write down a phrase of about 3-5 words just to encapsulate what that paragraph is saying. Is it introducing a topic, problem or debate? Is it spotlighting a specific person or event? Is it offering a phenomenon? All these questions would start to paint the picture of what kind of passage you got and, therefore, what kind of questions you might see.

I: Identify perspectives. It is VERY important that you highlight anything that shows the author's perspective. 9/10 times, the author's perspective will be the conclusion, and every passage has an MP question. Not only will identifying the author's perspective help you with the MP question, but it can also guide your understanding of other inference questions as well.

You also need to distinguish the author's perspectives from others' (the OPs). Whether it's a different highlight colour or just a note, identifying everyone's arguments in the passage is absolutely vital.

P: Predict. Predict what the entire passage is about, predict what the next paragraph might be about, predict what kind of questions could be waiting for you post-passage and remember the specifics before you move on. This step is more of a tool to help you stay engaged with the passage and the questions. You don't have to have like hundreds of predictions, but at least have one so that your brain stays engaged and alert.

Finally, after you've done the L.I.P for each paragraph, go over your low-res once more, and really hone in your understanding of the author's argument before diving into the questions. I usually spend about 8 minutes per passage, with at least 4 minutes on the stimulus. On harder questions, I might spend 5 minutes on the passage and 3 minutes on the questions, but I feel like it is more important to get a firm grasp of the stem before moving into the questions, rather than racing through the passage. On easier questions, I still force myself to spend at least 3 minutes on the passage to make sure I have a full understanding and don't have to go back to re-read anything.

Hopefully this helps! I'm always open to DMs here if you want to do a passage together to just see how I approach passages! I currently do have a study buddy, and I've been helping them with RC and timing strategies, so lmk if that's something that might be of interest!

2 comments

MarcusTsang
Sunday, Feb 08

Hi! IMO RC is exactly hard because there aren't set "rules" to apply, but there are some strategies!
Personally, I feel like having a low-res and physically writing them down on paper helps! It keeps your brain free to think rather than memorize or remember the passage's structure.
One approach I like to do, from the 7sage CC, is the L.I.P approach
L: Low-res summary. For every paragraph, I write down a phrase of about 3-5 words just to encapsulate what that paragraph is saying. Is it introducing a topic, problem or debate? Is it spotlighting a specific person or event? Is it offering a phenomenon? All these questions would start to paint the picture of what kind of passage you got and, therefore, what kind of questions you might see.
I: Identify perspectives. It is VERY important that you highlight anything that shows the author's perspective. 9/10 times, the author's perspective will be the conclusion, and every passage has an MP question. Not only will identifying the author's perspective help you with the MP question, but it can also guide your understanding of other inference questions as well.
You also need to distinguish the author's perspectives from others' (the OPs). Whether it's a different highlight colour or just a note, identifying everyone's arguments in the passage is absolutely vital.
P: Predict. Predict what the entire passage is about, predict what the next paragraph might be about, predict what kind of questions could be waiting for you post-passage and remember the specifics before you move on. This step is more of a tool to help you stay engaged with the passage and the questions. You don't have to have like hundreds of predictions, but at least have one so that your brain stays engaged and alert.
Finally, after you've done the L.I.P for each paragraph, go over your low-res once more, and really hone in your understanding of the author's argument before diving into the questions. I usually spend about 8 minutes per passage, with at least 4 minutes on the stimulus. On harder questions, I might spend 5 minutes on the passage and 3 minutes on the questions, but I feel like it is more important to get a firm grasp of the stem before moving into the questions, rather than racing through the passage. On easier questions, I still force myself to spend at least 3 minutes on the passage to make sure I have a full understanding and don't have to go back to re-read anything.
Hopefully this helps! I'm always open to DMs here if you want to do a passage together to just see how I approach passages! I currently do have a study buddy, and I've been helping them with RC and timing strategies, so lmk if that's something that might be of interest!

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