Hey guys after watching Nicole Hopkins' webinar on RC Methods and Jimmy Quicksilver's webinar on RC Question Types and Tips I thought it would be helpful to start sharing our notes/annotations for each passage because each of us reads a different way and we all see different things. I want to be clear that I’m no expert by any means and this is just the way I personally annotate that is a combination of Nicole Hopkins’s “Toolbox” method and JY’s Memory Method. Also note that I’m doing RC a slightly similar way to Pacifico’s Fool Proof method in that I’m doing the passage 2x one after the other and then once again the following day. While time consuming this definitely is allowing me to read more efficiently for structure and see the similarities in each passage which I know will help me in the long run.

I hope this helps you guys and I look forward to seeing what you guys see in each passage!

Notation Breakdown:

Who: Important Nouns

• Box it along with the quantifier

What: Term or phrase that’s defined or has relevant information afterwards

• Box with a tail

When: Date or time

• Circle it

Where: In what context

• Put brackets around it

Pivots: Switching between viewpoints

• Marked with >

• Also may help if you distinguish which opinions each are

Questions: Questions someone raised that could be answered in the passage

• Mark with a Q or a ? In the margins

Paragraph 1:

Box with tail “many political economists” until the end of that sentence

• Let’s you know the exact position the political economists are taking

• Immediately when this happens you should be expecting a flip “many people think X… but those people are wrong”

Put a pivot after the first sentence

• Let’s us know that we’re about to introduce another position or at least provide evidence against the political economists position

Box with tail “Human indicators … these economists”:

• This is letting you know an alternative position so we have GNP vs. Human Indicators

Put a bracket until the rest of the paragraph with HI in the margins

• Let’s you know some examples of human indicators should you be asked about them

What is the role of paragraph 1:

Introduces the 2 positions:

• Political Economists: The best indicator of economic health is the GNP

• Author: Human Indicators not GNP is the best indicator of economic health

Where are we going from here:

• We are probably going to talk about either why the GNP is worse than human indicators or give other specific reasons why Human Indicators are a better indicator of a nation’s economic health

Paragraph 2:

Box with tail “The Economists claim that… indicators”:

• Let’s you know that we’re talking about the political economists again so you can keep your view points clear

• Provides reason why political economists think their position is right

Pivot: Switching back to the Author’s argument

• This gives us the author’s first defense against the political economist’s last point

• Also put a 1 in the margin so you can be able to quickly find the reasons why if asked “each of the following is an argument in favor of HI except”

Bracket and put EX in the margins for lines 28-32:

• Gives support for the author’s last point that improvements in GNP don’t necessarily translate to improvements in human indicators

Box “In addition because GNP is an averaged figure it often presents a distorted picture of the wealth of a nation”:

• This is the author’s second point against the PE view

• Put a 2 in the margin so you can quickly find the author’s second point

Bracket lines 35-39 and put Ex in the margins

• Provides more evidence for the author’s point

Box the last sentence of the second paragraph

• Gives the author’s final reason against the PE viewpoint (Measuring a nation’s economic health only by total wealth frequency obscures a lack of distribution of wealth across the society as a whole

• Put a 3 in the margin

What is the role of paragraph 2:

Introduces the author’s 3 main points

• Improvements in GNP do not necessarily improve human indicators

• Because GNP is an averaged figure it presents a distorted picture of the wealth of a nation

• Measuring a nation’s economic health only by total wealth frequently obscures a lack of distribution of wealth across the society as a whole

Where are we going from here:

• We can either see a rebuttal and then the author’s final response or we can see the implications moving forward based on the author’s position listed in paragraph 2

Paragraph 3:

Box such imbalances: Referential phrasing to the author’s 3rd point

Box/Underline the last sentence (53-58):

• Gives us the author’s position for moving forward based on the evidence that he provided

• Could be helpful if we received a question like “Based on the passage which of the following could be properly inferred” and had an answer choice saying that the author believes that some countries will switch to human indicators as their primary measure of health moving forward.

What is the role of paragraph 3:

• Provides the author’s final thoughts and gives his outlook for the future

What is the overall structure of the passage:

• P1: Provides the 2 main positions

• P2: Provides the author’s rebuttals to why his position is right

• P3: Implications moving forward

Question Analysis:

1) “Which one of the following titles most accurately expresses the main point of the passage”

Very similar to MP question

What we’re looking for:

• We want something that provides the 2 viewpoints (GNP and Human Indicators) and that Human indicators should be preferred between the two

A) Wrong: There is nothing in the passage that talks about the shifting meaning in per capita GNP, the passage was focused more on human indicators. Also because it says “historical perspective” you need to think back if there were any historical data or examples that GNP gave in the passage.

Why one would accidentally choose this: If you misinterpreted this to mean that instead of wanting to choose human indicators over GNP that in actuality we were trying to shift the meaning of GNP to human indicators. In this case there were some examples but even then the answer choice is a stretch. In this case don’t let your brain deceive you, when the answer choice doesn’t mention human indicators and the author’s position was for human indicators then this answer choice should probably be wrong.

B) Wrong: This is factually inaccurate, the passage is actually attacking the measurement of Per capita GNP not defending it. Also the majority of the passage was the authors position not him mostly reporting an economists position. This one just doesn’t sound right at all.

Why one would accidentally choose this: You could accidentally choose this if you read it as an attack against Per Capita GNP because in a way the author is attacking the practice of using GNP instead of human indicators. However, his main point is that human indicators should be used over GNP not that GNP shouldn’t be used. This was just one of the ways they used to support his position.

C) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for, it states that we should prefer human indicators over GNP which is exactly what the author’s main point was.

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this: You might accidentally not choose this because you were looking for an answer choice that included both GNP and human indicators in the answer choice, however in RC rarely do you get a slam dunk answer choice, so don’t be afraid to go with the correct answer choice, even if it doesn’t just jump out right at you.

D) Wrong: This misses the point, the passage doesn’t talk about “total wealth vs. distribution of wealth” it talks about human indicators vs. GNP. Don’t fall for this trap because it just used phrases that you remember seeing in the passage but really were not the main point.

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you’re panicking on time and you’re just looking for anything you remember, most people will remember seeing both of those phrases and by the time you’ve gotten to answer choice D you’ve already sunk some time into the question. Don’t worry, feel confident in your ability and use your time smartly, if you’ve already invested 40 seconds into it take another 10 to make sure you answer it right.

E) This is a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE because it makes you think that this is exactly what you’re looking for. However, this is totally wrong. This makes you think that the answer choice is saying you should use Human Indicators instead of GNP for calculating a nation’s economic health. In actuality this is saying that you have a new measure of calculating GNP which we’re not trying to do.

Why you would accidentally choose this: This is a bunch of tricks blown into one, the testmakers have a very attractive answer choice that plays with your mind, it’s the last answer choice so you’ve sunk a bunch of time into it and it’s strong that any of the other answer choices. You need to make sure that you don’t fall for the trap, take a few seconds and really think about what the answer choice is saying, not what you want it to say.

2) The term “welfare” is used in the first paragraph to refer to which of the following?

Fill in the blank question

On one of the webinars I believe it was Jimmy Quicksilver gave a really good way to do these questions and turn them into a fill in the blank question, just mark out the term so that you can’t see it and then you read the sentence without the word in there, then you fill in the blank and choose the synonym which best matches the word you chose.

GNP…. A figure reached by dividing the total value of goods produced yearly in a nation by its population and taken to be a measure of the _______ of the nation’s residents. But there are many factors affecting resident’s ________ that are not captured by per capita GNP.

What we’re looking for:

• We want to fill in the blank to have something about overall quality of life so that’s what we’re looking for and with these eliminating should be extremely easy as long as we did our process correctly

A) Correct: This matches out anticipated answer choice almost verbatim choose it and move on.

B) Wrong: We’re concerned about the quality of life not the services provided.

C) Wrong: Not concerned about the material wealth we’re concerned about the overall quality of life for the citiziens.

D) Wrong: This is a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE. This is stated later in the passage and you don’t need to worry about that the question is asking solely about the first paragraph and in those sentences we’re wanting an answer choice that says the overall quality of life.

E) Wrong: This is very similar to “D” because this also is stated later in the passage, but the question is asking solely about the first paragraph and in those sentences we’re wanting an answer choice that says the overall quality of life.

3) The passage provides specific information about each of the following EXCEPT:

This is as cookie cutter as it gets, find a line/paragraph that shows that each answer choice was talked about and choose the one that isn’t.

A) Wrong: Per capita GNP is talked about in lines (4-6)

B) Wrong: This is talked about all throughout the passage that PE believe that GNP is the best measure of a nation’s economic health. But for a specific reference lines (1-3) provide evidence of it.

C) Wrong: The author talks about this in paragraph 2 as a reason why human indicators should be preferred because a nation can have low per capita GNP and actually be healthier than a high per capita GNP due to the human indicators

D) Wrong: The author goes into immense detail on this throughout paragraph 2 on why human indicators provide not only a different picture but a better picture than GNP

E) Correct: Nowhere in the passage is this talked about. Don’t believe that just because this is answer choice E that you can’t pick it, you just need to make sure that this is actually right and you’re not falling for a trap by the test makers.

4) Which of the following scenarios, if true, would most clearly be a counterexample to the views expressed in the last paragraph of the passage?

Weaken Question: We are looking for a “counter-example” for the last paragraph so essentially we are wanting to weaken the author’s argument

What we’re looking for: We want a case where we can increase the health of the economy that is measured in human indicators in some other fashion

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: We’re looking for an answer choice that is going to improve health by human indicators standards, however, that improvement is caused by GDP not human indicators. This has the two entities reversed and isn’t what we want.

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you flipped the two entities around then you would end up with this answer but you have to remember that we’re trying to weaken the author’s argument so we want a case where we can increase the health of the economy that is measured in human indicators in some other fashion

B) Correct: This is what we’re looking for. This weakens the argument because our author’s point is that we should focus on increasing human indicators because if human indicators are the best measure of our country’s health. However, in this scenario if we focus on increasing GDP we actually increase human indicators and in doing so we provide an example that directly weakens the author’s argument, since he claimed that improving GDP wouldn’t improve human indicators.

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this: If you didn’t understand what we were looking for then you could run into some trouble because a lot of the other answer choices sound similar and could trip you up. You just need to remember what the author is saying and then remember that we’re trying to weaken his argument.

C) Wrong: This is similar to “A” the only difference is that it brings a huge amount of change. We’re looking for an answer choice that is going to improve health by human indicators standards, however, that improvement is caused by GDP not human indicators. This has the two entities reversed and isn’t what we want.

Why you would choose this: If you flipped the two entities around then you would end up with this answer but you have to remember that we’re trying to weaken the author’s argument so we want a case where we can increase the health of the economy that is measured in human indicators in some other fashion

D) This is similar to “A” and “C” the only difference is that this fails to bring about any change. We’re looking for an answer choice that is going to improve health by human indicators standards, however, that improvement is caused by GDP not human indicators. This has the two entities reversed and isn’t what we want.

Why you would choose this: If you flipped the two entities around then you would end up with this answer but you have to remember that we’re trying to weaken the author’s argument so we want a case where we can increase the health of the economy that is measured in human indicators in some other fashion

E) Wrong: This is a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE. This would actually strengthen the author’s argument because it plays into exactly what we’ve said, also note that if you know that this strengthens then you can use it as a check for “B” to make sure that it’s right. In this it would provide more evidence that GDP can’t cause an increase in human indicators which would strengthen the author’s argument but we’re trying to weaken it.

Why you would choose this: If you misinterpreted the question to be trying to strengthen the author’s argument then you would choose this. Also if you misread it to be weakening the PE’s argument then you would choose this. You have to read carefully and understand what the question is asking and you won’t be tripped up by this.

5) “The primary function of the last paragraph of the passage is to”

Passage structure question:

What we’re looking for:

• This is why when you annotate you should always read for structure. The role of the 3rd paragraph is to summarize the points made in the first 2 paragraphs and then discuss the implications of these points moving forward.

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: There is definitely no synthesis in the last paragraph. For this to be right the author would have to basically agree with the other position and move forward with a plan based on both of this new position. The author clearly is in no way wanting to settle he is digging in and saying that this is my position, I’m right, and here is what it means moving forward.

Why you might accidentally choose this: By seeing the word synthesis don’t immediately get flustered, use the words around it to try and determine its meaning. If you misinterpreted that to mean something else then you would have mistakedly chosen this answer choice

B) Wrong: The author definitely doesn’t expose anything in his position, and since his position is one of the two this answer choice is wrong. For this to be right the author would have to concede some of the political economists points and say okay I’m right on some things, you’re right on some things. It sounds exactly like “A” only if this were right it wouldn’t provide a solution moving forward.

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you didn’t read the word BOTH in this answer choice you could mistakedly choose this because the author does take a few last minute jabs however the main function of this is to discuss the implications of his argument moving forward.

C) Wrong: This is a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE. It’s almost like the test makers were writing the correct answer and then ran out of ink. This just doesn’t give us enough to be able to choose this because not only does it summarize his argument it discusses what is happening moving forward and that’s the key factor that is missing in this answer choice.

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you’re not careful and you rationalize that yeah the last paragraph does summarize the author’s main point. However you have to think, is that really what the role of the third paragraph is or is the summary like the sub-role of this paragraph where the main role is to discuss what is happening moving forward?

D) Wrong: The author doesn’t try to correct a weakness in the PE’s argument in this paragraph he simply summarizes his point and then discusses the implications moving forward

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you’re not reading carefully and you accidentally read the 2nd paragraph then this could potentially be right, or if you didn’t pick up that the major role of the last paragraph is to discuss what is happening moving forward

E) Correct: This is what we’re looking for it gives us the policy implications moving forward just like our anticipated answer choice.

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this: If you’re not careful and you rationalize that the last paragraph does summarize the author’s main point and that was the main role of the last paragraph. Also if you fall for the trap of just because an answer choice is “E” that it’s wrong. Don’t do this, read carefully and think is the main role of the third paragraph is or is the summary like the sub-role of this paragraph where the main role is to discuss what is happening moving forward?

6) Based on the passage, the political economists discussed in the passage would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

This is essentially a MBT question where the correct answer choice must be supported by the passage so you will have to find a specific line or paragraph where it supports or implies the answer.

What we’re looking for: This is difficult to assess because it could be so many different things but remember that we’re looking for something that the PE agree with not the author.

Answer Choices:

A) Correct: This is stated verbatim in lines (18-23) in the second paragraph. Therefore we can safely say that this would be correct because the passage definitely supports it to the point where it proves it

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this: If when you were reading you didn’t do anything to annotate this it would be very difficult to find so maybe you skipped this and found an attractive answer choice that was a trap and chose that. Invest time in the beginning so you can reap the rewards when you get to the questions.

B) Wrong: This is a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE. This is wanting you to bring in your personal opinions if you were in the position of the political economists. But nowhere in the passage does it say that human indicators are irrelevant to the welfare of the individuals, the political economist’s argument is simply that GNP does a better hob than human indicators

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you fell for the trap of going to far and put yourself in the position of the political economists. Don’t bring in outside information and if the passage doesn’t support it for this question type then it’s not correct.

C) Wrong: This is a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE because the PE don’t have this view the author does so you need to make sure you answer the question that is asked and read carefully.

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you read the question thinking that you were searching for something that the author said and not the political economists then you would choose this answer choice. Read carefully and underline that part of the question if you have to so you don’t make that mistake.

D) Wrong: The passage doesn’t support this because it doesn’t say it anywhere so we simply don’t know if this is true or not and therefore we can’t choose it.

Why you would accidentally choose this: You would accidentally choose this if you were trying to strengthen the political economists argument because then it would weaken the response given by the author, however you can’t add anything to the passage when trying to answer questions so don’t fall for that trap

E) Wrong: Again like “D” we just don’t know how the PE’s feel about this. We would like to think that a nation would benefit by assessing it’s health by using as many factors as possible but there is nothing in the passage that lets us know that the PE’s believe that

7) In the passage, the author’s primary concern is to:

In this you need to think about okay why did the author write this, what is he wanting to do. Is he trying to persuade me of something, inform me about something, etc.

What we’re looking for: We want something that says that the author is trying to convince us to prefer using human indicators over GNP as a means for measuring a nation’s overall health

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: This is a way to confuse you into going what does this even mean and waste a ton of your time trying to figure out what “delineate” means. The other thing is we know what directing domestic economic efforts, but does the passage talk about a new method or a new focus to direct economic efforts to like a new industry and source of clean energy, no. The passage was written to convince us to measure our economic health using human indicators rather than GNP.

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you didn’t know what delineate meant or you mistakedly thought that this was saying that a new method of measuring domestic economic efforts instead of “directing domestic economic efforts” you would choose this. Read carefully and use the context clues to figure out what the sentence is saying. Don’t get lost in the weeds!

B) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for, this is the way the author is trying to strengthen his argument that human indicators should be preferred over GNP.

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this: The language here isn’t strong and if you didn’t pick up the referential phrasing that “one standard for measuring a nation’s welfare” was talking about GNP and how it has some weaknesses. Use your basic grammer lesson taught in the course. As Iroh in Avatar the Last Airbender said “Remember your basics, they are your greatest weapons”

C) Wrong: This misses the point on what the passage is saying, this is simply used as a reason of why human indicators should be preferred over GNP. Don’t mistake a premise for the conclusion:

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you remember seeing that in the passage verbatim and didn’t read for structure then you could totally fall into the trap of thinking that this was the correct answer choice but this falls back onto your basic labeling fundamentals. This is simply a premise that supports the author’s conclusion, which is his primary concern not this answer choice.

D) Wrong: This is very similar to “C”. This misses the point on what the passage is saying, this is simply used as a reason of why human indicators should be preferred over GNP. Don’t mistake a premise for the conclusion:

Why you would accidentally choose this: : If you remember seeing that in the passage verbatim and didn’t read for structure then you could totally fall into the trap of thinking that this was the correct answer choice but this falls back onto your basic labeling fundamentals. This is simply a premise that supports the author’s conclusion, which is his primary concern not this answer choice.

E) Wrong: This is completely factually incorrect and the opposite of what the author is saying. He is directly going against their argument and in doing so if you chose this answer choice you would be being hypocritical because it would destroy his argument completely.

Why you would accidentally choose this: If you accidentally read this as “political economists alone should NOT be responsible for economic policy decisions” then this would have more merit. This is exactly what the test makers want you to do because you’re feeling the time pressure. Know that you’re not going to fall for their traps because you’re going to see them a mile away.

Hey guys after watching Nicole Hopkins' webinar on RC Methods and Jimmy Quicksilver's webinar on RC Question Types and Tips I thought it would be helpful to start sharing our notes/annotations for each passage because each of us reads a different way and we all see different things. I want to be clear that I’m no expert by any means and this is just the way I personally annotate that is a combination of Nicole Hopkins’s “Toolbox” method and JY’s Memory Method. Also note that I’m doing RC a slightly similar way to Pacifico’s Fool Proof method in that I’m doing the passage 2x one after the other and then once again the following day. While time consuming this definitely is allowing me to read more efficiently for structure and see the similarities in each passage which I know will help me in the long run. This is part two which includes my breakdown of all of the questions in a similar manner to which I did when I was tutored by Nicole Hopkins and how we broke everything down.

I hope it helps and I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

Questions:

1) What is the Main Point of the passage

MP Question: “Main Point of the passage”

What we’re looking for:

• We’re looking for something to basically re-phrase the entire first paragraph, something that says “authoritarian rulers are forced to undertake democratic reform, if they want to stay in power, due to various changes and mobilizations in society.

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: Being this far in the curriculum when you see the word “only” you should remember from your logical indicators that it immediately makes whatever follows the necessary condition. So we can rephrase this answer choice to be read as “If authoritarian rulers undertake democratic reform then the national’s economic and social power bases will slow economic growth and disrupt social order until such reforms are instituted.” For this answer choice to be right there would have to be evidence in the passage of undertaking democratic reform to be a sufficient condition and the only thing that we could infer if authoritarian rulers undertook democratic reform would be that they would be able to hold onto some of their power. This answer choice plays the trap of reversing the sufficient and necessary conditions, if it were reversed then one could argue that if economic and social based slow economic growth and disrupt social order then we will undertake democratic reform.

Why You would accidentally choose this:

• This answer choice holds a lot of the same words that are used in the passage and if you didn’t see the logical indicator or interpreted it the wrong way then this answer choice could seem attractive. However don’t fall for this, know your logical indicators and read the answer choice carefully and you won’t fall into trouble.

B) Wrong: When reading this answer choice it sounds really good to start, because the author does state that these Authoritarian regimes do ensure their own destruction. However, it isn’t for the reason that is listed here, they don’t talk about opposition groups to build support among the wealthy to lead the support away. The reason is in lines (51-57), the more success and stability the authoritarian regime has, the more time it gives for citizens to reflect on the circumstances in which they live which brings about these changes.

Why You would accidentally choose this:

• You could fall for the trap if you assumed that the opposition group referred back to the “privileged people” talked about in the 3rd paragraph. From there you could make a connection that this was talking about the second change that contributed to making it impossible for authoritarian rulers to hold onto their power. However, that still doesn’t actually answer the question that we’re after and even though this seems logical we have to actually answer the question that is asked

C) Wrong: This is similar to “B” in that it sounds really good to start off however it misses the mark when it says “success at generating economic growth and stability will be short lived”. This completely factually inaccurate the only thing that is short lived is the authoritarian regime but none of the reasons given were because the economic growth and stability were going to be short lived. In lines (51-57) you can see that actually the more success the regime has the short lived it will be because it gives citizens more time to reflect on their current situation

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• You would think this is right if you didn’t pick up the distinction that when the answer choice refers to “short lived” it isn’t talking about the regime it’s talking about the economic growth and stability. If you didn’t pick up on that then you could piece together that economic polices did alienate the economic power base, based off of the information in paragraphs 3 and 4. However, you have to read carefully so you don’t fall for the traps that the test makers set for you

D) Wrong: This answer choice is wrong because it says untenable (otherwise known as unattainable) and that is factually inaccurate. The point of the passage is that authoritarian regimes are not SUSTAINABLE however they are attainable. There are lots of traps here in this answer choice. First you need to see that the answer choice talks about authoritarian principles whereas the passage talks about the regimes specifically so that should immediately raise your suspicion. Then we already pointed out that authoritarian regimes are actually attainable and the main point is that they are not sustainable. Then finally if you somehow made it that far there is nothing in the passage that says that the reason why they’re not sustainable is because they require a degree of social and economic stability that only a democratic institution can create. As we’ve seen in lines (51-57) an authoritarian regime can have success and that ultimately leads to its demise.

Why would accidentally choose this:

• If you immediately read sustainable instead of untenable and then circled and moved on. Time is definitely not on your side but make sure you read all of the answer choices and read the rest of the information because many answer choices will have pieces that are true but only one will be true in all aspects.

E) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for. Let’s break down this answer choice. “Authoritarian rulers who instituted democratic reforms” lets us know that we’re talking about the same subject matter. Then “are compelled to do so because authoritarian rule tends to bring about various changes in society” refers to the 3 changes that were talked about throughout the passage. Finally, “that eventually necessitate corresponding political changes” refers to undergoing democratic reform.

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this:

• This answer choice isn’t a “sexy” answer choice. It leaves something to be desired because you have to connect the dots on the “various changes in society” referring to the changes talked about in the passage, along with “necessitating corresponding political changes” referring to undergoing democratic reform. This is how a lot of the correct answer choices are going to be written in RC, so don’t not choose an answer choice just because it doesn’t immediately come out and say exactly what you want, you’re going to have to work for it on some of the questions.

2) The author’s attitude toward authoritarian regimes is most accurately described as which of the following:

“Author attitude question”

What we’re looking for:

• The answer choices could go a multitude of ways; we could either say something along the lines as sympathetic because their success brings their own demise (51-57) or something along the lines of confident that authoritarian regimes will undergo democratic reform (56-60).

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: This is really never talked about in the passage but it doesn’t seem correct when compared to our anticipated answer choices. The author seems to have 2 polar opposite attitudes regarding authoritarian regimes and “uncertain” doesn’t qualify as one of them.

Why would you accidentally choose this:

• If you weren’t looking for the author’s attitude then you could justify this answer choice by bringing in outside information because the author does seem to be neutral towards whether this is progress or not but you have to actually answer the question that is given, and this answer choice doesn’t do that.

B) Wrong: This hints at what we where going after because it does have the elements that authoritarian rulers do bring about their own demise. However, the author doesn’t address the motives of the rulers, he doesn’t explicitly say something like “Based on the past authoritarian regimes success, rulers should reconsider their views”

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you just saw “tendency to bring about their own demise” then this answer choice would be extremely attractive. You have to read all of the answer choice and not just parts because parts could be right but if the entirety of the answer choice isn’t right then the answer choice isn’t right.

C) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for and it matches out anticipated answer choice. We know that the author is confident that democratic forms of government will replace authoritarian regimes because he says so in the last sentence of the passage. “The more astute authoritarian rulers recognize that their only hope of maintaining some power in the future is with democratic political changes”

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this answer choice:

• If you fell for the trap of answer choice “B” then you wouldn’t have read this answer choice and you could get the question wrong. Also if you didn’t pick up what the last sentence of the passage was saying then you also would miss this answer choice. Read all of the answer choices and read carefully when reading the passage.

D) Wrong: Nowhere in the passage does the author say that authoritarian rule constitutes an “unjust form of government”, and if it’s not in the passage then it can’t be a correct answer choice.

Why you would accidentally choose this answer choice:

• This is one of the oldest tricks in the book for test makers, they want to play with your emotions and make put you in the position to draw off of your outside knowledge and insert your opinion on this information. Based off of the passage it very well could be that you believe that authoritarian rules are an unjust form of government but nothing in the passage states that THE AUTHOR believes that.

E) Wrong: This is extremely factually inaccurate, the author seems to believe that there is no way that authoritarian rulers can retain power without instituting democratic reform. That is the basis of his argument and the main point of the passage.

Why you would accidentally choose this answer choice:

• If you didn’t read this answer choice carefully and read that authoritarian rulers WONT discover ways to retain their power without instituting democratic reforms then you could logically work your way to choose this answer choice. The problem is even if the answer choice were written in that manner I still don’t believe that the author has any “concern” towards the authoritarian rulers I believe he is simply stating an argument but leaves out his personal feelings towards the predicament the authoritarian rulers are in

3) Which of the following titles most completely summarizes the content of the passage?

Title Question: Very similar to MP or a structure question

• Look at how the passage is written and choose the best title that matches the flow of the passage

A) Wrong: The first part of this answer choice is right however the author doesn’t make a dissent against authoritarian regimes. He never uses a paragraph to say that their principles are bad or that they’re crazy because the more success they have the more they dig their own grave, nothing.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• This would combine a couple traps that you would have when taking the test. Either you didn’t read all of the answer choice because you were trying to save time so you didn’t read, “dissent against” or you did read, “dissent against” and brought in personal information and chose the answer choice. Don’t do either, and don’t fall for the trap.

B) Wrong: Nothing in the passage talks about human rights being abused or anything like that, this one should be an immediate deletion. Also when it says case study I interpret that as an example that is fleshed out throughout multiple paragraphs, the author used multiple different examples but he didn’t have one single overarching example that everything fit under.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• Again if you brought in outside information that you personally felt towards the authoritarian regimes then you could realistically get to this answer choice but it still doesn’t make it right. Also if you saw authoritarian regimes and just circled it and moved on then you also could choose this, don’t fall for the traps!

C) Wrong: This is a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE because it has all of the right elements. However you have to think about what this is actually saying, this title would be right if the passage was referring to exactly how the democratic reforms were going to be laid out. There would be specific examples of what reforms would be done, maybe examples of democratic reforms in the past. Our passage however is simply saying that democratic reforms are going to happen and why, not exactly what the reforms are going to be.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you fell for the trap of thinking that this was exactly what we were looking for because it had all of the right elements then you’d choose this answer choice. Read all of the answer choice and then ask yourself were their specific strategies/solutions that the passage laid out regarding democratic reform?

D) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for. “Why authoritarian regimes compromise” refers to the 3 changes/causes that makes it occur. While “examination of social forces” refers to each paragraph going into detail about each of the changes that are actually causing the reform to occur.

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this:

• If you fell for the trap answer choice “C” then you wouldn’t have gotten this, also if you didn’t feel like this was “strong enough” so you were looking for another answer that was “better” then you might have overlooked this. The answer choices you choose don’t have to jump out right away they just have to be the right answer choice.

E) Wrong: This isn’t the main part of the paragraph because it doesn’t talk about economic instability as the main reason why, as we’ve established throughout the prior questions the more stable the economy and the better the regime is doing, the more likely the regime will fall.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you were running out of time and said that I know the author believes that most of these countries are going to undergo democratic reform, so that makes this subject matter correct. And there were some talks of economics in the passage so this is right. Just because the elements are there doesn’t mean that they’re talked about in the right way. Don’t fall for traps like this because it’s just a mashed potato answer choice.

4) Which of the following most accurately describes the organization of the passage?

Structure Question: “Describes the organization”

What we’re looking for:

• We want an answer choice that states the author states an issue (authoritarian rulers can’t maintain their power unless democratic reform occurs), and then lists the causes of that issue while providing examples, (values and norms shift, economic interests shift, expanding resources, autonomy and self confidence), and then the author reaffirms his position at the end.

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: Everything in the beginning of this answer choice is right but when it gets to “relative importance” that’s when it’s done. Also afterwards the answer states, “possibility of alternate causes is considered and rejected” which also doesn’t occur.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you didn’t read carefully and just breezed through this. These types of questions, the answer choices are usually extremely similar to one another and so one minor detail is how they differentiate from each other. Read carefully and read the entire answer choice.

B) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for. A political phenomenon (authoritarian rulers can’t maintain their power unless democratic reform occurs) is linked to a general set of causes (values and norms shift, economic interests shift, expanding resources, autonomy and self confidence), an explanation of each is given, then the causal relationship is elaborated and confirmed (author reaffirms his position at the end).

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this:

• If you didn’t label the passage for structure then when you get to the answer choices they all will sound similar. So you could miss this because you marked it as a maybe and then fell for another answer choice when you were looking at all of the answer choices. Take the time beforehand to do good annotations and the questions will be a lot easier

C) Wrong: Everything in the beginning of this answer choice is right but when it gets to “one possible cause is preferred over the others” it’s wrong. The first sentence of the last paragraph (line 50) says that all 3 changes are created and nowhere else in the passage does it say one is preferred over the other

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you didn’t read carefully and just breezed through this. These types of questions, the answer choices are usually extremely similar to one another and so one minor detail is how they differentiate from each other. Read carefully and read the entire answer choice.

D) Wrong: Everything in the beginning of this answer choice is right but when it gets to “3 similar phenomena” it’s wrong. Nowhere in the passage does it present similar phenomena nor does it discuss the similarities between the 2. Because of this the answer choice is wrong.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you didn’t read carefully and just breezed through this. These types of questions, the answer choices are usually extremely similar to one another and so one minor detail is how they differentiate from each other. Read carefully and read the entire answer choice

E) Wrong: Everything in the beginning of this answer choice is right but when it gets to “3 similar phenomena” it’s wrong. Nowhere in the passage does it present similar phenomena nor does it discuss the differences between the 2. This answer choice is saying almost the same thing that “D” is saying but instead of talking about the similarities it says differences. Nowhere in here was there any other comparison so both of these answer choices are wrong.

Question 5:

It can be most reasonably inferred from the passage that

MBT Question: Inferred

What we’re looking for: Something that can be proven from the passage, there are many different directions this could go so it’s difficult to pre-phrase but the passage MUST be able to prove out the answer choice we choose

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: We don’t know this the only thing the author claims is that authoritarian rulers are pressured to institute democratic reforms. This is outside the scope and therefore we can’t make any statements about it.

Why you might accidentally choose this:

• If you didn’t understand that the answer choice is referring to a specific situation that the passage doesn’t include. If you read it as “many authoritarian rulers will eventually institute democratic reforms” then yes that would be right, but with the qualifier “even if not pressured to do so” that renders this outside of the scope.

B) Wrong: We don’t know when citizen dissatisfaction is highest, so we can’t conclude anything about this either.

Why you might accidentally choose this:

• If you bring in outside information to answer this question then it could be reasonable to assume that citizen dissatisfaction is highest when it would be first imposed. However, this isn’t our world that we’re talking about, we’re concerned about this fake world so we can’t bring in outside information.

C) Wrong: This is similar to “B” in that we can’t conclude anything about when the support is highest for authoritarian regimes. The only thing we know is that the more success the regime has the more likely the regime is to fail, i.e. popular support is lowest when conditions are high.

Why you might accidentally choose this:

• If you mistake logical opposites with real world opposites. If you try to take the contrapositive of what we know from above you would get “popular support is not lowest when conditions are not high”. Note that this is not saying that popular support is highest when conditions are low. Not low could mean high, medium, average or any other part of the spectrum while not high could mean average, semi-low, or zero it’s just everything that isn’t high. Don’t fall for this TRAP ANSWER CHOICE

D) Correct: This is what we’re looking for because that’s the basis of our author’s argument. The last 2 sentences of the passage hint at this (51-60). It talks about people having more time to reflect on the circumstances in which they live and it causes the regime to end up failing because people realize that they want democratic reforms. So if the society doesn’t want the authoritarian regime then they have the power to change and therefore cause the ruler’s to have to change to maintain their power.

Why you might accidentally NOT chose this:

• This is another answer in which it doesn’t jump out at you because it’s very subtle and if you didn’t read and annotate correctly you wouldn’t have picked up on what it was saying. Read carefully and comprehend not understand what you’re reading and you’ll be fine.

E) Wrong: There is nothing in the passage that talk about human rights abuses being the only objectionable aspect of authoritarian regimes. You can’t add anything to the passage you simply have to use what the passage gave you to push out an answer. This isn’t supported by the passage and therefore it is wrong.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer choice:

• Anytime you get to answer choice E you need to be very careful. Testmakers understand the psychology of test takers and how when they’ve gotten to E they’ve already invested time into the question so don’t think that just because there are some elements of things that you remember that you need to choose that answer choice. Invest your time early on and you won’t waste it later on when you get to answer choice time sinks.

Question 6:

Given the information in the passage, authoritarian rulers who institute democratic reforms decide to do so on the basis of which one of the following principles?

What we’re looking for:

• We want an answer choice that says that rulers are going to do whatever they can to maintain as much power for the longest amount of time.

A) Wrong: The article talks about them wanting to maintain their power and nowhere does it mention that they should make an exception “if the health of the nation requires it”.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer choice:

• This is a “feel good answer”, it’s what we wish the world were like and if you bring that information/mentality to the test you’re going to get burned. Don’t bring in any outside information because you’ll be exploited.

B) Wrong: Nowhere in the passage does it mention rulers really caring about the amount of personal freedom their citizens have. If it’s not in the passage then it’s not a principle that is supported.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer choice:

• This is a “feel good answer”, similar to “A” it’s what we wish the world were like and if you bring that information/mentality to the test you’re going to get burned. Don’t bring in any outside information because you’ll be exploited.

C) Wrong: Nowhere in the passage does it mention the rulers wanting to neither transition to democracy nor does it mention that want to transition quickly or efficiently. They are only doing it to keep as much power for themselves as possible.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer:

• This is a “feel good answer”, similar to “A” and “B” it’s what we wish the world were like and if you bring that information/mentality to the test you’re going to get burned. Don’t bring in any outside information because you’ll be exploited.

D) The ruler’s in this passage aren’t concerned about the long-term health of the nation’s economy only maintaining their power for as long as possible. And even if they were concerned about ensuring the long-term health of the nation’s economy the passage doesn’t leave out the possibility of this regime having economic success. The irony is that in lines (50-60) it elaborates that the more success the authoritarian regime has, the more likely it will fall.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer:

• This is a “feel good answer”, similar to “A”, “B”, and “C”I t’s what we wish the world were like and if you bring that information/mentality to the test you’re going to get burned. Don’t bring in any outside information because you’ll be exploited.

E) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for; we wanted an answer choice that allows for the rulers to maintain their power for as long as possible. That is why they’re conceding to undergo democratic reform because at least they maintain as much power as long as possible.

Why you might accidentally NOT choose this answer choice:

• Like we’ve said anytime you get to answer choice “E” you should be fully aware of any traps but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right answer. If you fell for one of the “feel good answers above” and didn’t read any other answer choices to try and save time then you would have missed this. Make sure you read all of the answer choices and you’ll be fine.

Most Authoritarian Rulers passage:

Hey guys after watching Nicole Hopkins' webinar on RC Methods and Jimmy Quicksilver's webinar on RC Question Types and Tips I thought it would be helpful to start sharing our notes/annotations for each passage because each of us reads a different way and we all see different things. I want to be clear that I’m no expert by any means and this is just the way I personally annotate that is a combination of Nicole Hopkins’s “Toolbox” method and JY’s Memory Method. Also note that I’m doing RC a slightly similar way to Pacifico’s Fool Proof method in that I’m doing the passage 2x one after the other and then once again the following day. While time consuming this definitely is allowing me to read more efficiently for structure and see the similarities in each passage which I know will help me in the long run. This is part one which will just include my annotations for the passage (Most Authoritarian Rulers) and I'll post one that has analysis of the questions immediately afterwards.

I hope this helps you guys and I look forward to seeing what you guys see in each passage!

Notation Breakdown:

Who: Important Nouns

• Box it along with the quantifier

What: Term or phrase that’s defined or has relevant information afterwards

• Box with a tail

When: Date or time

• Circle it

Where: In what context

• Put brackets around it

Pivots: Switching between viewpoints

• Marked with >

• Also may help if you distinguish which opinions each are

Questions: Questions someone raised that could be answered in the passage

• Mark with a Q or a ? In the margins

Time Breakdown of reading/annotating before going to the questions

• 4:05

Paragraph 1:

I boxed with tail “Most authoritarian rulers” who undertook democratic reforms (The quantifier “most” was important because an answer choice could have said “all authoritarian rulers and would have been out of the scope of the stimulus”)

Underlined “they” for referential phrasing

I put a pivot after the “but” to show that annotate that the real reason why the author believes that many authoritarian rulers undertake democratic reform is because they see that they can’t hold onto their power unless they do so

Boxed changes and mobilizations because I anticipated that was where the passage was going from here

What is the function of this paragraph:

This paragraph is introducing the author’s main point: “Due to the various changes and mobilizations in civil society it makes it impossible for authoritarian rulers to hold onto their power indefinitely so they undertake democratic reform.”

Where do we think the passage is heading from here?

Well the first paragraph mentions “changes and mobilizations but we don’t exactly know what exactly they’re referring to so that might be an indicator of where we’re heading from here

Paragraph 2:

Immediately Box “Three types of changes” because this lets you know that more than likely the author is going to talk about what the 3 changes are.

• Also note that these “Changes” are the changes and mobilizations in civil society that we annotated earlier

Box with a tail “values and norms in the society alter over time” until the end of that sentence. I wanted to box this with a tail because I wanted to get the first type of change along with showing how it changed civil society.

• Also I put a 1 in the margin so that I could quickly see where the values were when I needed to refer back to the passage

In the next sentence I put a bracket along with “Ex” in the margins so that if it asked about that specific example I could find it

• Also I circled 1970’s and 1980’s so if they had other dates as an answer choice I could quickly eliminate it

I underlined the last sentence in the paragraph because it shows another way that the changing of values and norms in society impact an authoritarian rulers’ power

What is the purpose of this paragraph:

This paragraph gives us the first type of changes in civil society that make it impossible for rulers to hold onto their power

• A change in norms and values

How does the change in norms and values contribute?

• Reduces people’s tolerance and stimulates concentration of power thus stimulating their demands for freedom (11-13)

• As people place more value on political freedom and civil liberties they become more inclined to speak out, protest, and organize for democracy, frequently beginning with the denunciation of human rights abuses (17-22)

Do you have an example of either of these points:

• Latin America in the 1970’s, 1980’s (13-17)

Where are we going from here:

We talked about the first value that contributes to society’s no longer condoning the continuation of authoritarian rule so my anticipation would be that the next paragraph would talk about the second change

Paragraph 3:

Box alignment of economic interests in society can shift: This is the second change the author gives

Box scholar: Let’s us know who is saying this

Box with tail and brackets from privileged people to long-term interests:

• We want to box privileged people so we know who we’re talking about and you want to make sure that you read with and without the internal context of who the privileged people were

• All of this is important information because it gives us a way how the economic interests shifting could impact the regime

Box “such a large-scale shift”: This is just so you can remember what type of shift we’re talking about the shifting of changing norms and values

Bracketed and put “Ex” in the margin for the Philippines example, for the exact same reason we did the Latin America example, if we’re asked about it we can easily find it

What is the purpose of this paragraph:

This paragraph gives us the second change that can contribute to a society no longer condoning the continuation of authoritarian rule

• Economic interests in a society can shift

How do the shifting of economic interests in a society contribute to the author’s main point

• A turning point is created when privileged people in society come to the conclusion that the authoritarian regime is dispensable and that its continuation might damage their long-term interests.

• (26-31)

Is there an example of this:

• Transition to democracy in the Philippines

Paragraph 4:

Box “expanding resources, autonomy, and self-confidence of various segments of society and of newly formed organizations both formal and informal”

• This is showing the 3rd and final change that contributes to the author’s main point

Bracket the next 2 sentences and put Ex in the margins

• This gives you visually a clearer point to see two examples of this change

Box this profound development: Referential phrasing to the example above

What is the purpose of this paragraph:

This paragraph gives us the 3rd change that contributes to the shifting from authoritarian society to a democracy

• Expanding resources, autonomy, and self-confidence of various segments of society and of newly formed organizations both formal and informal

Are there any examples of this:

• Students marching in the streets demanding change

• Workers paralyze key industries

• Lawyers refuse to cooperate any longer

• Alternative sources of information pierce and shatter the veil of secrecy

Paragraph 5:

Box “authoritarian rule tends in the long run to generate all 3 types of change

• This helps us understand that we have to deal with all of these problems not just 1 or 2

Box with tail “Ironically” until the end of that sentence: Could be asked about the author’s attitude towards this situation and this gives a glimpse into their tone

Bracket the last sentence of the passage

• Gives lasting thoughts to what the author believes (If you don’t convert to a democratic society then you won’t be able to retain any of your power)

What is the purpose of this paragraph:

This paragraph brings together all of the ideas and hints at the authors tone throughout the passage along with his thoughts moving forward regarding this issue

Overall Analysis:

This passage is pretty straight forward it introduces the issue (Authoritarian rulers are unable hold on to their power indefinitely unless the switch to a democratic society), then uses the following 3 paragraphs to go into detail about each change that contributes to this issue, then the author brings everything together and leaves you with his lasting thought.

I understand that everybody moves at their own pace and that everyone's goals are different but does anyone know how long the course is supposed to take you to get through? I've started 2 weeks ago and I'm almost 55% through the material as it is but I'm very concerned with not retaining the material by rushing through to try to get to take tests. I've studied a little bit with other methods before I found 7sage but I'm just curious how long it took other people to go through the material before they start really taking prep tests. I took 2 tests before I found 7sage, the highest was 162, and I plan on taking at least 30 before December because I understand that taking tests and BR are really where you see your big gains. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated and good luck to everyone studying!

When I took it: October 3rd, 2015

Proctors:

We actually had 2 proctors and they were both very helpful overall. I'm not trying to be age-ist (if that's even a word) or sexist but I greatly appreciated having relatively older ladies as our proctors. They were very inviting and conversational before the test began and I think that calmed down some of the people in the room who were obviously very nervous. Very approachable and knew what they were doing.

Facilities:

Overall the facilities were nice, unlike some horror stories the facility was very well labeled with signs on where to go. The bathrooms were close and were clean, they had a nice lounge that was down the hall from the test center that was good both before the test to accommodate people who wanted to warm up with a section, and during break. Also I know its expected but the water fountains were right there and had really cold water which was a plus considering that I've had water fountains that had room temperature water before.

What kind of room:

We were in a classroom probably 20 ft. by 20 ft. It was big enough to accommodate everybody but also not massive to where you were in an auditorium. It was all level,(no stairs within the room), the room was at a good temperature, and had adequate light. There was a clock in the front of the room which was semi-helpful for the people who didn't bring a watch.

How many in the room:

Including myself we had just under 20 people sit for the exam.

Desks:

The desks were okay, they had enough space to accommodate all of your objects however if you didn't have your pencils vertically aligned on your desk they would roll right down which got annoying. It had a solid sheet top not one of the flip ups that you had on either your right or left side. The legs of the desk were metal and were stable so the desks didn't shake. Overall they were what I expected, each person had an individual desk and the chairs were actually very comfortable from what I remember.

Left-handed accommodation:

I didn't take the test left-handed but the individual who did was accommodated. He sat in the front so when the proctors walked around they made sure to go to his right so that way they wouldn't bump his arm. Overall the desks were square so they could accommodate left-handed or right handed test takers.

Noise levels:

This is no fault of the facility but I took the test in October in the middle of a flood in SC so the siren actually went off on campus because it was storming so bad. Overall the acoustics of the room were solid in that it could block out normal rain or someone walking down the hall but during a thunderstorm/massive flooding the noise definitely was heard.

Parking:

Parking was very convenient, it was a short walk maybe a minute max from there to inside the lounge where you checked in. They had signs set up when you entered campus indicating where to go and where to park which was nice after never being on campus there before.

Time elapsed from arrival to test:

This falls in line with the noise levels and the irregularities sections. When I took the test, because of the severe conditions we didn't start the exam for like an hour and a half after we were supposed to. We waited until like 9:45 or 10:00 before we started. Overall though the proctors and staff did a great job of checking us in very quickly, they simply wanted to wait for anybody who showed up late due to the bad weather.

Irregularities or mishaps:

Quite honestly the test center was very accommodating but mother nature wasn't accommodating at all that day. With the severe flooding and the state of emergency called that day along with other storms I can definitely say I didn't score anywhere near what I was before. We even had someone open the door to tell us that they were closing campus in either the 4th or 5th section due to the weather and then realized that we were taking a standardized test. It wasn't pretty.

Would you take the test here again?

The staff and proctors did a great job battling the elements that day and overall they were very accommodating given all of the factors against them. Overall it was a great facility and I would take the test here again and I would recommend it to anyone. I just wish the weather would have cooperated but everything happens for a reason, so this just gives me a chance now to score even higher!

Hey guys I was at the Active Reading Webinar last night and I typed up a bunch of notes for people who couldn't attend. I had to leave early for work so I didn't get everything but here are the notes I was able to get. Also thank you to Corey, David and the entire 7sage staff for arranging these webinars because they were extremely helpful and I look forward to being on another one tonight.

Active Reading Webinar Notes:

1. What is the Goal of Active Reading: The process of absorbing, contemplating, and engaging with a stimulus or passage to be able to better understand and predict answer choices

• If you learn to do this well it cuts down on the time it takes to find the answers correctly

• Want to make the test emotional because it offers a connection between you and the test and makes taking one an intuitive process rather than just a test. If you make it emotional while reading then you can remember easier. Emotional memories will go into long-term memories rather than just short term.

2. How do you do Actively Read:

• READ SLOWLY & TAKE BREAKS: Although this may seem counterintuitive by reading slowly and taking breaks at the end of certain sentences you avoid the “What the Hell did I just read” syndrome. Take the time up front to make sure you understand each sentence and how it fits in with the stimulus

i. This is done while you’re reading and again before you go to the answer choices

• Work on Pre-phrasing/anticipating the answer choices:

i. A common misconception is that you can’t anticipate the answer choices in certain types of questions or in RC but this is wrong

1. Even if your pre-phrase is wrong by doing this step you’re engaging with the material more, making an emotional connection and will be able to remember it more clearly

ii. You can only pre-phrase an answer if you understood what you read which was why you need to slow down and understand what you read

• Think of this active reading like setting up your game board in logic games:

i. We’ve learned to “spend the time upfront and reap the rewards later” with LG, why not apply that to LR and RC

1. Spend time pre-phrasing anticipating answer choices (i.e. making inferences) with LR

ii. With RC the passage is your game board and your job is to be able to eliminate unnecessary material and be able to locate what you need

1. Take pleasure in the fact that everything you need to answer a question in RC is in front of you on the page

• Approach reading everything on the test like a friend who you know lies to you:

i. If someone in real life said a bad argument you’d call them out on it rather than just ignore it, by rushing through and trying to get to an answer choice you give their crappy argument credibility

3. What should I specifically look for to actively Read:

• Strength of words: Important because you need to see how the strength of the passage/stimulus relates to the strength of the answer

i. Conditional indicators/operators: “if, unless, must, etc.

ii. “Most, some, all”: These make eliminating answer choices easier because you know it’s out of the scope, this needs to match what was said in the stimulus

iii. Ex: For a MBT Question: If the stimulus says some drugs help with headaches and an answer choice says all drugs help with headaches we know that it is too strong an answer choice

• Group Descriptors: How they’re describing the comparison between 2 groups

i. Ask yourself “what do we know”

ii. Do we assume that everything is the same or are there differences between the 2 groups

• Correlational phrases and causation phrases: Can help you see the overall flow of the passage and further engage yourself

i. These are helpful because they can help you zero in on a conclusion

4. Know that when you first start this it will take a long time but will slowly become faster almost like a computer program:

• On the webinar we saw one question take over 8 minutes to explain but when he did it in real-time and explained it, it took just over 2 minutes

June 2007 Test Examples:

Note that you can use whatever “system of notation” you like, the main point is to understand why he marked those words and the process at which he used to read and get the correct answer choices

Section 2 Question 15:

15. A new government policy has been developed to avoid many serious cases of influenza. This goal will be accomplished by the annual vaccination of high-risk individuals: everyone 65 and older as well as anyone with a chronic disease that might cause them to experience complications from the influenza virus. Each year’s vaccination will protect only against the strain of the influenza virus deemed most likely to be prevalent that year, so every year it will be necessary for all high-risk individuals to receive a vaccine for a different strain of the virus.

Which one of the following is an assumption that

would allow the conclusion above to be properly drawn?

Marks we made:

1. Circle “Many serious cases”: Defines the parameters of what we’re talking about (strength of words)

a. Could help eliminate an answer if it said “All cases…”

2. Underline influenza: That’s what the subject of the cases are

a. Answer choice could refer to a different disease

3. Dash at the end of the first sentence: “Stop sign that breaks up the stimulus”

a. Allows me to pause and comprehend what I just read before moving on

4. Circle high risk: Describes the individual

a. Bracket the definition they give of high risk (may be useful and breaks up text visually)

5. Circle “only against”: Strong word (strength of word)

6. Underline “most likely”: Strong word (strength of word)

7. Dash after year: This is our premise and enforces the fact that I understand this is the premise

a. “Each year’s vaccination will protect only against the strain of the influenza virus deemed most likely to be prevalent that year”

b. What do we takeaway from this:

i. Vaccine protects only against 1 strain

ii. The strain that is most prevalent that year

8. Underline “so”: Conclusion indicator

a. You need to be actively engaging and ripping apart their conclusion

b. Conclusion: “every year it will be necessary for all high-risk individuals to receive a vaccine for a different strain of the virus.”

c. Stop and compare premise to conclusion

i. High-risk: Used in both the same way

ii. Strain of virus: Used differently

1. P: Most common strain

2. Different strain each year

9. Pre-phrase: “The strain that is most prevalent every year is different, not a continual one strain”

10. Navigate Answer choices and choose D

Section 2 Question 17:

17. Hospital executive: At a recent conference on nonprofit management, several computer experts maintained that the most significant threat faced by large institutions such as universities and hospitals is unauthorized access to confidential data. In light of this testimony, we should make the protection of our clients’ confidentiality our highest priority.

Steps:

1. Read who is saying this: “Hospital executive”, sometimes it seems unnecessary but other times it can help you build an emotional connection to an answer

2. Circle Non-profit management: Relevant subject of the conference

3. Underline “most significant”: Strong phrase (strength of word)

4. Underline “access to confidential date”: States what the problem is

5. Circle “should”: conclusion indicator

6. Underline “highest priority”: Strong phrase (strength of word)

7. Label premise: “Several computer experts maintained that the most significant threat faced by large institutions and hospitals is unauthorized access to confidential data”

8. Label conclusion: “We should make the protection of our clients’ confidentiality our highest priority”

9. Stop and think about this: “At a hospital what should my highest priority be”

a. Shouldn’t it be my health and not confidentiality?

b. Yet computer experts are saying the most significant threat is my confidentiality therefore we’re going to make it our highest priority

c. Is this enough to warrant this?

d. Better yet should we be taking advice from computer experts?

e. If this were real life you would call them out on this in a heartbeat.

10. Takeaway: If you have a prescripted conclusion you need to try and understand why they’re saying what they’re saying

a. “Should”: Makes this a prescripted conclusion

i. Why are you telling me that this is best for me?

ii. After looking at this at a laser focused level we can see the absurdity when computer experts give advice on the most important priority in a hospital to doctors

11. With that in mind we can easily find that answer choice B is correct

Shoutouts to @"Nicole Hopkins" for some incredible content here for RC. I know that I've never used an annotation system like this before and look forward to trying it out as I work through the curriculum and dive into RC passages. Highly recommend this webinar as well the one with @"Quick Silver and @DumbHollywoodActor for people who are struggling on RC or want to break through some plateaus. Both do an incredible job explaining RC in a way that really helps you learn the material and we're blessed to have them as resources! Again sorry about the length but I hope this can help some of you out there struggling with RC.

Nicole Hopkins RC Webinar

Contents:

1. Reading Comprehension Overview

2. Strategy: Helping your very-near future-self

3. How (and why to turn the passage into a toolbox

4. Notation Strategy

5. Doing your ONE JOB in Reading Comprehension

6. Implementation

Reading Comprehension Overview: Crash course of the basics of Reading Comprehension along with some timing strategies

What RC Consists of:

• 35 minute section

• 4 separate passages (Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Humanities

• 5-8 Questions per passage

• Total of around 28 questions per section

Should I skip to Passage 3 or Passage 4 since these are more likely to have more questions?

• No you should start with passage 1 and attack accordingly, you want to pick the low hanging fruit, gain confidence/momentum so you can handle the “harder passages”

• You don’t get points for answering harder questions

o Answering only 21 questions and getting them all right scores higher then answering every question and getting 18 right

Should I spend longer on the “harder passages?

• RC is always the same process (process of elimination based on inferences you make while reading/analyzing the passage)

• Do not spend more time on the “harder passages” spend around the same time on all of them

o We don’t want to spend more time on a harder passage because we’d rather re-allocate that time to an easier passage and get more questions right

• In this way it is NOT like LG because the amount of time that you spend on each passage should be close to the same

Timing Breakdown:

• 3-4 minutes to read the passage (3:30 is our sweet spot)

o Remember you’re not trying to read for detail or to analyze, we want to focus on structure and a good annotation system where we know where things are if/when we need to come back to the passage

• 4:45-5:45 to answer 5-8 questions

o Leaves us a maximum of 1:15 per question if we only get 5 questions and around :35 - :45 seconds per question if we have 8 questions in a passage

How do we deal with the issue of time?

• We DO NOT just “read faster”

• We read smarter and we eliminate answers more efficiently with confidence

• We want to approach this like LG where we’re going to set up our “game board” so we can confidently move through the questions quickly

Helping your very near future self: This goes through the method we’re going to use to help efficiently eliminate answer choices

Combination of JY’s Memory Method and Mike Kim’s approach in the LSAT Trainer:

JY’s Memory Method:

• Read the passage

• Make main points for each paragraph and for the entire passage

• Take a few seconds to walk through the main points of the passage in your head

• Confidently eliminate the answer choices and refer to the passage when necessary

Mike Kim’s LSAT Trainer:

• When we read focus on the reasoning structure

• Our goals when we finish reading the passage should be to know the main points and the author’s purpose for writing the passage

• Ask yourself these questions

o What are the main points

o What are the big moving parts

o What are the viewpoints

• Who holds them

• How do they interact

• Why do care about these viewpoints

Broken down even further you should think of the JY’s method as the what we’re actually doing and Mike Kim’s approach as how we’re doing it. So as we read the passage we’re reading for structure very similar to how we’d look at argument forms. We want to know if we stripped away the subject matter what would it look like (introduce topic, offer view against topic, offer view in defense of topic, acknowledge that view for topic is clearly superior). Also while we’re reading we’re stopping at the end of each paragraph to get the main point of the paragraph, this helps the overall structure because we understand how the pieces fit in with each other. Then as we continue reading we look for the different viewpoints throughout the passage. Finally when we get to the end of the passage we should have a main point of the passage, along with ascertaining what the author’s purpose for writing this passage is. If we can do that we’re ready to attack the questions.

Note that having a good process to fix our RC problems are only half the battle, we now need the appropriate tools to be able to do that job and that’s why we have our RC toolbox annotation system

How and Why to turn your passage into a Toolbox:

• We understand that we will not remember all of the details that we’ll read and will most likely have to refer back to the passage

o We also know that we’re under immense time pressure and we want to maximize every second we have

• When we look back at the passage we want to have the passage work for us so we can be quick and efficient and so we have an annotation system

Notation System Overview:

• This is not a magic bullet meaning that doing this will simply put you in a better position to be able to attack the questions but you will still have to put the time and work into making this work

• It is perfectly okay to not use these exact symbols you want to make your notation system reflective of you and work for you

o Certain things people use as notation don’t work for others

o The important thing is what you annotate (main point, structure, etc.) not how the things are annotated

• Think about this: If this notation system saves you 2 seconds per question this could be the time it takes to allow you to answer 1- 2 more questions overall

Notation Strategy:

Keys: When doing this we’re looking for 5-6 distinct categories of details that we can easily distinguish immediately so that you can refer back to the passage without wasting precious seconds

• Who

• What

• When

• Where

• Pivots

• Questions Asked or Issues Raised

The Who: Proper nouns (Bill Smith)

• Mark with a BOX around the name, actor, agent, etc.

• Proper nouns (Bill Smith)

• Some scientists (Always Box the Quantifier!!!)

• Mainstream historians

• Grass Spiders (animals)

• Hydrogen/Oxygen (because they’re doing something to something else

Do not forget to box the quantifier because it allows you to eliminate so many answer choices is the passage says “some are” and answer choices says “most are”

The When: Certain Date or time that something occurred (1776)

• Mark with a Circle around the date, period or temporal term

• Until recently

o Unless you’re told that this is a recent thing or that something is currently going on, you can’t infer recently

• Since the 1950’s

• In the Middle Ages

• In recent decades

Sometimes helps where if it says before/after X and you can tie it in with exactly what X is being able to visually connect the two ideas could help save you some time. Whether it be a line or arrows being able to connect them so you don’t have to spend time finding the other could save you a few seconds

The What: Any term or phrase defined or used in a specified way, or any defined hypothesis/theory that is defined

• When something is defined, usually an embedded clause that we read without and then with afterwards

• We box the term and then underline the definition or pointing to an underlined definition if in another line

o “Box with a tail”

The Where: “In what context”

• Put brackets around it [ ]

• Geographic locations [Mali]

• Experimental context [a recent study]

• Works/Books/Symphonies [Homeward Bound]

• Other locations [in the arteries]

Context will vary subject matter to subject matter

The Pivots: Used when the author is switching between different viewpoints

• Marked with an arrow without a stem in the margin (>)

• “But”, “however”, “in spite of this”

Very helpful in figuring out argumentative structure and is very often tested on in questions

• Way to signify different views and helps you understand the flow of the passage, extremely helpful in seeing the MP of the passage

Issues & Questions:

• Any time an issue is raised or something is presented use a star

• Any time a question is posed use a “Q” margin

• You don’t have these in every passage but when you do have them it helps see the flow of the passage

Doing your ONE JOB: Your job in RC is NOT to “understand” the passage. It’s to comprehend the passage only enough to eliminate 4 wrong answer choice for each question

• This isn’t Reading Understanding this is Reading Comprehension

• You are going to be relying on process of elimination and you’ll get answer choices that you don’t like but you’ll have to circle

o This is why this is so important to be confident when eliminating answer choices

Read it, notate it, and attack the questions!

Implementation:

• Practice this notation strategy on a few RC sections you’ve taken before trying it out on a fresh PT/section

• Focus on eliminating answer choices with those hammers you pick up from the passage. If the AC says “most scientists” and you’ve only got two “some scientists” that AC is smashed

• The goal is for this to be muscle memory and make this automatic!

Random Q&A:

1. Should I rely on process of eliminate every question?

a. You are always using process of elimination on the LSAT, this is no different from LG or LR. When in doubt use process of elimination.

2. When you have the whole page marked for the Who/What/etc. with limited time how can you answer questions?

a. Use parts of answer choices that you know you annotated and can thereby confirm or eliminate answer choices

b. Even though you have lots of annotation symbols and potential for things to be marked each one is distinct so you can quickly find information you need

3. How do I BR a passage?

a. I always practice BR on a fresh sheet of it

b. Write why you have answer choices got wrong

c. Before you check your answer choice do a BR

d. Confirm the answer with line references because it will be supported by something in the passage

4. I’m missing more now on recent tests what I can I do to help?

a. You need to hone in on words that make the answer choices unsupported

i. Don’t want an answer choice to be so strong

ii. Rely on process of elimination and you see the tricks that the LSAT makers give

5. Do you make multiple reads through?

a. Read through once and notate and then you do your walkthrough in your brain of what everything is saying and how it fits and then attack the questions.

6. How do you attack the weird analogy questions?

a. Think about the analogy questions very similar to conform to the principle/parallel reasoning etc.

b. Looking for an answer choice that conforms to the same principle because you want to look at that part of the passage and say okay, what is the role/rule/function in this. What is the critical part that’s in play right now.

7. What would you advise for someone who has lots of fluctuation?

a. Are there outside factors that varied?

b. Look at the subject matter and not allow the subject matter to dictate how well you’re engaged.

8. Should you use the same thing for comparative passages

a. Yes, and the only other markings will be boxing something that both of them talk about and connecting it with a line throughout the passage

9. How do you drill RC?

a. Depends on where you are in your prep, how many are you missing, why are you missing questions?

i. If you’re RC performance is suffering from poor habits, spinning your wheels, over inferring, bringing in outside information, only focusing on part of the passage, then drilling a bunch actually will make it worse.

ii. An option to see how your habits are lining up, 7sage BR calls are incredible and talk to people on the call

b. Always do it timed to see how long it takes for you to read

10. How do you focus on the passage structure if you don’t understand what the passage is asking about?

a. Focus on the words that you do know, focus on the pivot points and proper nouns and inferences that you can make, this will help you be able to move forward

b. Just by notating effectively you’re giving yourself a chance to eliminate answers

c. Remember that you don’t need to understand the subject matter to get the question right, we’re training to be lawyers not subject matter experts

Special shoutouts to @DumbHollywoodActor, @"Quick Silver", and @"Nicole Hopkins" for this amazing webinar because without them I never would have had these notes, which I know will help me as I start going through RC again. I know the webinar was long but I highly recommend that anyone struggling in RC check out the webinars because there's tons great amount of wisdom shared in each one. I apologize for this being so long but there was a lot of great information that I didn't want to leave out.

RC Question Types with @Quick Silver

General RC Tips:

1. Use the LSAT Trainer to supplement for RC:

• Tons of good information and complements the material very nicely

• Also goes into Question types and tries to get you to focus on passage structure when reading, which is very useful

2. What to annotate in RC?

• Nicole Hopkins did an amazing webinar focused on RC annotations but in both they stressed this:

i. Have an annotation system that works for YOU. What other people do, might not work as well for you, so try different things and tweak and make your own method that works

2 things to annotate:

1) Main Point of the Passage:

2) Author's Opinion/ Point of View

1) Main Point of the Passage:

How to do this:

1. Follows JY’s memory method somewhat, take the main point of each paragraph and write a phrase or a symbol that represents the main point of the paragraph

2. Look at all of the main points after you’ve read the passage and see what the main point of the entire passage is

Modifications to this system:

1. Timing Issue: If you run out of time because you’re writing slow then consider taking a few seconds and running through the main point of each paragraph in your mind and then the main point of the passage. While this isn’t the best it’s useful to at least start engaging with the passage

2. Main Point Sentence: If there is a sentence that encapsulates the main point of the passage somehow to annotate that (box it, circle it, underline it, star it etc.)

a. This RARELY ever occurs because the reading is very difficult and having one sentence that gives away the main point is considered far to easy.

Why this is important: Both of these are forcing you to engage with the passage much more than one had originally thought. The material is very difficult and you don’t want to get lost or fall asleep and this is forcing you to engage and internalize the material

2) Author’s Opinion/Point of View:

How to do this: when you’re reading if you see the author’s opinion or someone else’s view on a certain topic annotate that somehow (Underline it and mark AO or POV)

Why this is important: Whenever someone gives their opinion generally this is either tested directly or indirectly

1. This can also be combined with Nicole Hopkins Pivot annotation so that you know exactly where the point of view’s switched in the passage and can go back if necessary to answer a question

3. I seem to struggle with natural science passages, how can I deal with this?

• Last Resort: If you know a passage is going to be challenging for you personally there is no harm in saving it for the end. You keep your momentum going however, psychologically it’s good to move away from saying “something is challenging” we want to go into this LSAT war aware of our strengths and weaknesses but we don’t want to go in defeated

• When we read any passage we don’t have to understand everything in the subject matter. WE’RE TRAINING TO BE LAWYERS NOT SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS. When you realize that you read and approach the passages in a different way.

i. Read for the big picture and not the details

ii. Read for function: What is the author doing in this paragraph, “why did he write this”

iii. You only need to identify the big picture and be able to seek out the specific pieces of information when necessary

• See the structure of the passage rather than the subject manner and you begin to see that many natural science passages are formulated in a similar manner. (Watch the Story of Science in the 7sage Curriculum)

i. Introduce a hypothesis/theory

ii. Introduce new evidence against hypothesis/theory

iii. Original theory is either accepted or rejected

iv. If rejected outlook for future is given (whether new theory is accepted, whether problem will ever be solved, etc.)

4. RC is definitely possible to improve dramatically on:

• One of the biggest myths is that LG improves a bunch, LR improves a little less than that, and RC improves little to none. You’re in control with how much you can improve every single one of those areas.

• Tips to improve RC:

i. See how much similarity there are between various questions. We categorize every other section but for RC we go in with a “I’ve been doing this all my life, hope for the best kinda thing”

ii. Have an annotation system that works for you, whatever it may be

iii. Feel free to make some changes and try to experiment with different strategies to find which works the best for you and break through plateaus

1. Go to BR calls

2. New annotation system

3. Ask yourself if you’re reading for understanding or just to attack the questions?

4. Are you reading for detail or for structure?

5. Are you actively reading and engaging with the test or are you just surviving RC?

RC Question Types:

1. Main Point: What is the passage trying to tell me, what is the passage looking to convince me of, what is the central argument

Tips/Traps:

i. Make sure that you don’t supply a sub-conclusion as the main conclusion

ii. There are specific questions that won’t talk about the entire passage, they will talk about a specific paragraph and these are NOT main point questions. These are Purpose of Paragraph questions

1. Read carefully so you actually do what the question is asking

iii. Similar to doing a Main Point LR question

How is this question phrased:

i. “What is the primary purpose of the passage”

ii. “What is the main point of the passage”

Strategy:

i. Want to actively read the question and determine are we having to supply the main point of the entire passage or just a paragraph within the passage

ii. This should fall right in line with both the 7sage memory method and the annotation system because we should have a good pre-phase for the main point of each paragraph and the overall passage

iii. Pick the answer choice that best matches your pre-phrase

2. General Organization: How is the passage structured, from a bird’s eye view what is going on in each paragraph

Tips/Traps:

i. The answer choices won’t always be specific they will be intentionally vague

1. Ex: “Idea is introduced, critique is given, idea is rejected on the basis of critique, and possibility for a new idea to emerge is deemed unlikely”

ii. Anticipate Answer Choices whenever possible:

1. Forces you to engage with the passage from a macro level

2. Makes you less likely to fall for trap answer choices

3. Gives you a standard to apply to each answer

How is the question phrased:

i. “The passage proceeds by”

Strategy:

i. After reading the passage combing the 7sage method and the LSAT trainer that focuses on structure you’ll have an understanding of what the flow of the passage is

ii. Use the Main Points of the paragraphs to compliment your understanding of the passage structure so that you can pre-phrase the answer, then select the one that best matches your pre-phrase

3. Purpose of Paragraph: This is looking for the main point of a specific paragraph rather than the entire passage

Tips/Traps:

i. This is what happened if MP questions and General Organization questions had a baby. You use the elements of general organization to understand a bird’s eye view of a passage and then zoom in on a micro level to find the main point of that specific paragraph

ii. You want to be sure that you realize that this is NOT the same as MP question types because there will be a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE that gives the MP of the entire passage

How are these questions phrased:

i. “The purpose of the 2nd paragraph is to…”

Strategy:

i. This continues to build off of the memory method and LSAT trainer foundations, if you have the MP and understand the structure of the passage at a macro level then when you zoom in and look at each paragraph you know how it fits into the passage.

ii. From there pre-phrase how you believe it fits into the overall passage and choose the answer choice that best fits.

4. Purpose of word or phrase (Vocabulary in Context): These you are trying to figure out what a specific word or phrase meant or why it was used

Tips/Traps:

i. Don’t just look at the word or phrase read at least a sentence before and a sentence after to see how it works in context

ii. The biggest trap for this question type is the bias towards our own definition of certain words

1. Our brains automatically favor our definition and what we believe the word means as opposed to what a dictionary says.

2. Test makers prey on this because they know that people approach these as “I know what these words mean and I know that the test is hard so the answer won’t be the easiest definition”

How these questions are phrased:

i. “In line X the author most likely used the word Y to mean”

Strategy:

i. Cross out the word/phrase or cover it up until you can’t see it within the sentence.

ii. Reread the sentence without saying that word and turn it into a “fill in the blank” where you supply what word/phrase you believe should be there

iii. Use whatever word/phrase you put there as a pre-phrase and look for a synonym as the answer choice

5. Contextual Definition: This is similar to purpose of word/phrase but instead you’re applying the same approach to context rather than a specific detail

Tips/Traps:

i. The question won’t be for a single word but maybe it would be for something like asking for a definition

ii. This is more cut and dry because you won’t have to replace a word

iii. Not as common of a question type

How these questions are phrased:

i. “The author defines X in the second paragraph as …”

Strategy:

i. Find where the word/phrase/context is within the passage

ii. Read the sentence before and after the context

iii. Pick the answer choice that supplies the context in the answer choice

6. General Author Opinion: This is the author’s general feelings/position/opinion

a. Tips/Traps:

i. In your annotations be sure to note when there are multiple opinions so you don’t supply someone else’s opinion instead of the author’s

ii. The answer choices will not be as specific or airtight as some other answer choices

How these questions are phrased:

i. “The author would agree with which one of the following”

ii. “The author would be most likely to agree with which of the following”

Strategy:

i. In your annotation system take note of the author’s position or opinion along with when the opinions change between different people

ii. Also look for the way the author says certain things throughout the passage because you might have to use certain words to ascertain his opinion on a topic that isn’t directly given to you

1. “While the second approach wasn’t helpful, the 3rd approach was slightly more effective” we could conclude that the author believed the 3rd approach was better than the 2nd

iii. After going through and noting the author’s position use that to answer the question

7. Specific Author Opinion: This is the author’s feelings/position/opinion on a specific thing

Tips/Traps:

i. Having an annotation system is vital in this because you want to know not only where the author talks but also where the author talks about a specific thing so you can refer back to it to refresh yourself

ii. Make sure that the position that you’re taking note of is indeed the author’s position and not someone else’s opinion. The latter is NOT the same question type (specific opinion)

How these questions are phrased:

i. “The author’s attitude between X and Y can be accurately described as…”

Strategy:

i. Look back over your annotations regarding the author’s opinion on this specific subject and take note of his position

ii. Find the answer choice that matches his position

8. Specific Opinion: This is someone, other than author’s, opinion on a specific subject

Tips/Traps:

i. Make sure that in this you do not accidentally supply the author’s opinion because that’s not what the question is asking for.

1. There will potentially be answer choices that are the author’s opinion and this is not what it’s asking for

ii. The key to answer this question type is again a good annotation system that lets you know when another opinion has started and how they interact with the author’s opinion

iii. Just because it’s not the author’s opinion this does not mean that the opinion cannot be the same as the author’s

How these questions are phrased:

i. “Scientist A would most likely agree with which of the following”

Strategy:

i. By having a good annotation system along with reading for structure you should have a decent idea where the individual in question’s opinion is in the passage.

ii. From there read a few sentences before and after so you can understand his position within context

iii. Choose the answer choice that best outlines his position

9. Strengthen/Weaken: These add information that either strengthen or weaken the author’s argument

Tips/Traps:

i. These are based off of the author’s opinion but actually end up applying the author’s opinion because you have to see how the information interacts with the passage

ii. This is why having a good annotation system where you know exactly what the author’s position is key because if you don’t know his opinion you don’t know what will weaken/strengthen it

iii. Make sure that the answer choice actually does what you’re looking for the test makers might provide TRAP ANSWER CHOICES that do the opposite (strengthen when you want to weaken and vice versa)

How these questions are phrased:

i. “Which of the following would weaken the author’s argument”

ii. “Which of the following provides most support for the author’s argument”

iii. “Which of the following undermines the author’s argument”

Strategy:

i. This all boils down to having a good annotation system so that you know what the author’s opinion is to begin

ii. Once you have the author’s opinion you want to add information that either weakens or strengthens his argument

1. This is the exact same strategy as the LR strengthening and weakening questions

iii. Remember that you’re only wanting to support/attack the support between the premises not the premises/conclusion themselves these could be TRAP ANSWER CHOICES

iv. Pick the answer choice that fills the gap and does what you’re wanting to do

10. Illustrate: This relates you understanding to the answer choices by providing another example that is similar to this one

Tips/Traps:

i. You want to figure out the opinion of the author and then apply it to another example

ii. This is very similar to a Parallel Reasoning Question and Parallel Flaw question type

iii. Work from wrong answer choices to right answer choices

1. Eliminate all of the wrong answer choices you see and then attack the remaining ones

Right Answers:

1. These will illustrate the author’s opinion but they may not necessarily be a slam dunk and match the subject matter, the illustration of the concept is really what matters

Wrong Answers:

1. Misunderstand the author’s opinion or a concept

2. Present an opinion that is too strong or too specific, i.e. will go beyond the text

a. Text will support “some people say X” and the answer choice will say “all people say X”

How these questions are phrased:

i. “Which of the following is an example of X”

ii. “Which of the following illustrates the dangers represented by X”

Strategy:

i. For questions like this you really need to fall back on your understanding of structure and what the passage is saying once you know what the passage is saying or how a concept fits within the current passage then you can illustrate that in an answer choice.

1. Also like I pointed out above many times there will be answers that go beyond the scope of what the passage will support so in going through answers it helps to go through and eliminate those so it’s easier to find the right answer choice

ii. Choose the answer choice that best matches the illustration of the concept within the passage.

11. Identify the Detail: A question about a specific detail in the passage, that usually is referenced by a line number, paragraph, or a specific topic that was talked about

Tips/Traps:

i. Because it’s so specific it is hard to find a way into the answers

1. Not like main point

2. Not like Structure

3. Not like Context/Definition

ii. Helpful to eliminate other answers and reverse engineer the right answer because they’re not like anything else we’ve done

iii. They will not phrase the answer choice in the same way that it is phrased in the passage

1. Have to paraphrase between the two

2. Beware of exact wording of a similar detail because it might not be the detail you’re looking for and they’re a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE

How these questions are phrased:

i. “What was one of the reasons that supported X in paragraph 2”

Strategy:

i. This also goes back to your annotation system and understanding of the passage structure because if you have a big picture idea and have noted where certain things are talked about you can refer back to the passage

ii. Because you understand the framework of the passage then when they give you a line number, paragraph, or major topic you know where it is in the passage and you have a grasp of how it all fits into the entirety of the passage

iii. Once you do that you’re ready to attack the answer choices and find the one that best matches your understanding of the detail in question and how it fits into the overall framework of the passage

12. Infer the Detail: These questions ask you to make an inference based off of some details given in the passage

Tips/Traps:

i. Key Words: Inferred, Suggested, Implied, Indicate, Most likely, probably, Most strongly supported

ii. These are not cut and dry

1. Have to play detective

2. Want you to make a logical leap from details to make an inference

How these questions are phrased:

i. “What can be inferred from the passage”

ii. “What can be suggested from the passage”

Strategy:

i. Look at the information and make an inference based on the information

ii. Not going to be directly paraphrased in the passage

iii. Logical leap that you can make using those details

iv. Doesn’t have to be airtight

v. Ask yourself what can I “reasonably draw” from these details

1. Extremely difficult to be 100% true with an answer choice

13. Infer From: These are the exact same as Infer the Detail but may be a concept instead of a detail that you make an inference from

Tips/Traps:

i. Key Words: Inferred, Suggested, Implied, Indicate, Most likely, probably, Most strongly supported

ii. Have to play detective:

1. Use a detail/concept as clues to make an inference

iii. You do not have to be 100% sure with the answer choice

How these questions are phrased:

i. “What can be inferred from the passage”

ii. “The passage strongly suggests”

Strategy:

i. Look at information and make an inference based on the information (details/concept)

1. Understand that this isn’t going to be a paraphrase of a detail/concept

ii. Ask yourself “what can I reasonably draw from these details/concepts”

iii. Pick the answer choice that best matches your inference

14. Find an analogy: In this question we’re looking for an answer choices that mirrors the relationship given in the passage

Tips/Traps:

i. Do not take these questions for granted/think they’re easier

ii. Understand what an analogy is: Similar situation between two objects that don’t have to be the same

1. Do NOT be biased to situations where the subject matter is the same, the only thing that matters is the relationship between the two objects

2. Want to see a similar relationship between the two objects

iii. Want to be careful about answer choices that are too extreme as well

1. A lot of the answer choices are not going to be slam dunks, we just want to have something that’s too right

2. LSAT Trainer: Price is right example

a. If you guess over the amount then your answer is wrong, on LSAT questions if you go too far then the answer is wrong

b. Even if an answer choice isn’t as strong but doesn’t go over it is right

How these questions are phrased:

i. “Which of the following is most analogous to X in the passage”

ii. “Which example/scenario is most similar to”

Strategy:

i. Articulate in your mind what the relationship between the 2 objects are

1. Ex: Dolphins eat tuna, so the answer choice we’re looking for is something that eats another object

ii. After you’ve found the relationship between the two objects/theories/entities then you find the answer choice that mirrors the relationship

iii. Remember:

1. We want to avoid having an analogy that’s too far

2. We also don’t want to fall for the trap of similar subject matter we care about the relationship more than the subject matter