Self-study
Title. Have been improving noticeably with LR but RC is such a struggle for me (getting mostly -10 + on sections). My struggles with reading comp are really bringing down my PT scores. Any tips to improve at RC and what I can do to improve? Any advice is appreciated
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Gosh same same... I'm struggling ngl. It's strange because I'm an English major so I'm primed for reading; yet, in a different way, if that makes sense. One thing that really bumped my score was 1. Not feeling so stressed when reading the passage, take time and breath 2. Really focus on opinions and tone... including in the answer choices!
Best of luck! We got this!
Hello!
On top of all the great advice from others, I want to share the strategy that helped me a lot with RC.
I assume time management is one of the problems, since that's common for a lot of LSAT students. If you know that your current strategy doesn't work, then to improve quickly, you have to change how you read. I used to spend 4+ minutes trying to absorb dense passages, leaving very little time for the questions. I found that I still couldn't recall the specific details anyway, which forced me to go back to the text. So, I decided to cap my reading time at 3 to 3.5 minutes maximum before forcing myself to move on to the questions.
When I set that strict timeframe, I naturally stopped getting caught up in the details and focused much more on the overall structure and the purpose of the author's arguments. I got comfortable doing a faster initial read and going back and forth between the text and the questions. Like this, try to explore different ways of tackling passages and see if you can find one that works well for you.
Lastly, reading dense articles like The Economist during your free time can really help you build endurance and get familiar with difficult passages.
I hope this helps, and good luck!
I am by no means an expert and still studying myself, BUT I did notice that the study plan REALLY helped my understanding of RC. My averages used to be around -8/-10 and doing the study program brought them closer to -5. Could've been just taking easier sections but I would highly recommend bc they break down the passage types really well and how to approach questions/identifying author purpose and perspective.
I agree with all of @LowriThomas 's tips, including doing untimed drills, working your way up the ladder from easier to harder passages, prephrasing, and focusing on your low-res summaries!
One thing that might explain your underperformance on RC is how you manage your time between the passages and the questions. Take a look at your analytics from recent RC sections, and hover over the overall time that you spent on each passage. You'll see the overall time broken down into the time reading the passage itself vs. the time you spent answering the questions. If you notice a pattern where your time on the passage itself is usually less than the recommended time (green), whereas your time on the questions is higher than recommended (red), that could indicate that you're racing through the passage without developing a strong low-res summary. If so, the questions will end up being much harder than they would be otherwise. Of course, this is just one possibility, and you'll want to check out your specific analytics to see whether it applies to you!
Some other common issues include:
(1) Spending too much time on passage 1-2 and then leaving insufficient time for passages 3-4
(2) Overusing the highlighter tool or written notes on scratch paper, which could interrupt your flow and get you bogged down in the details of the passage
(3) Getting particularly caught up on comparative passages. Here you might want to try the split approach if you haven't already to see if that works better than the sequential approach
Based on your analytics and test habits, you'll be able to conclude which of these is most applicable to your situation! And it might be helpful to sign up for 7Sage Coach or Tutoring so that a tutor can diagnose your specific challenges with RC and help you improve.
The first thing is take a close look at your analytics to see what specifically you're struggling with on RC. For example, is there a certain passage or question type? Do you lose more points on the later passages, which could indicate a fatigue issue? Can you finish on time? Identifying these patterns will allow you to do more targeted drills and see solid improvement.
More generally, I would work on being able to summarize the structure and main point of a passage, and making sure that you know how to approach each question type. Try not looking back at the passage after you finish reading, and seeing if you are able to retain the information. If not, you will want to work more on memory and breaking the passage into manageable chunks. Once you move to the questions, try to prephrase as much as you can (there are some questions this technique doesn't work for) and try not to look back. The more you can do this, the better your understanding.
You want to first practice in untimed conditions, and then move to timed once you feel confident with the underlying theory. This will also isolate how much of an issue timing is. Also start off with the easiest passages, and work your way up, so you can see at what point you start struggling. This is the most productive place to drill at.