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Hey! Looking for tips on how to decide what passages to do and in what order. Note that I don't get through all 4 passages timed unless I want to miss most questions (I'm ok with this, it's my best option to score-wise, and RC is a big struggle for me). I just need to get through 3/4 passages, but I can't tell which approach is best as far as picking which ones I choose to do.
If one of the passages I choose turns out to be the hardest of them all, it takes me much more time and not as much reward. I find myself scoring lower than I have to because the one I skipped was easier than one or more that I did. So, I'm asking for advice on quick ways to tell whether it's worth doing.
I know there's not much of a predictable order of doing them, but if you have any tips on how you decide to do it, please let me know (even if you do get through all 4, you surely want to save the hardest for last to get rewarded for points you know you can get)
For example, should I choose:
ones with the most questions
shortest passage
glance at question types to see if it has many that I struggle with/good at (I could see this approach eating up too much time)
length of passage
topic
Thanks in advance!
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8 comments
I struggled with time and with reading a paragraph over and over. I would recommend reading something before bed, preferably an article of whatever subject you struggle with the most. This helped get better with reading comprehension in general and timing just came along as I read more and more. I’d suggest this and as you are reading the passage pay attention to the details, authors’s opinions, points of view etc and don’t overthink when answering. Many times, if an answer choice seems too obvious to be right, that turns out to be the right answer.
Today's episode of the 7sage LSAT Podcast touched on this! She says she skimmed the passages from easiest to hardest. Then she chose the easiest passages with the least amount of questions first. Her strategy was to do as many questions from the easy passages as possible to maximize her time. I think I'm gonna try this out
Ive found doing the longest passages first is ideal for time crunches. if you run out of time for the shortest (question-wise) passage, its fewer points missed vs. running out of time on the longer passages.
agree with @nine! I also struggle with time on RC. Outside of test prep, I've deleted social media for now and try to focus on reading longer form for fun. Especially to help my brain seek dopamine in longer form written content vs. short form media. We got this!
I do science first, longest passage second, then the other two by # of questions. Science takes me longer to conceptualize and understand.
I’ve heard that the comparative passage is usually the most difficult (according to the powerscore crystal ball webinar); however, I usually do better on that one. You might benefit from doing the other 3 and then use whatever time you have left to try to hit the first 2-3 questions on the comparative passage since some can be answered without reading both A & B.
my sincerest advice is to just do them in the order as they come, it takes away the stress of choosing the right passage, saves the time you would spend in choosing a passage, and you can avoid the risk of choosing the wrong passage. Also, generally they get progressively harder. instead try to get done with first two passages in 16 to 17 minutes and then spend the rest on last two. (Assuming you don't have accommodations, if so, adjust accordingly)