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jmarmaduke96714
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LSAT · How to get out of LR plateau around -4 (taking August LSAT in 10 days rip)
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jmarmaduke96714
Wednesday, Aug 03 2022

Reposted below!

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LSAT · LSAT Questions be like:
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jmarmaduke96714
Saturday, Feb 27 2021

@peterhong245 and fractal geometry! The things that the LSAT has taught me.....

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Friday, Feb 05 2021

@alexkoo095783 Hi there!

So I like to keep my low-res summaries brief. I typically try to make them 1 word, two at the most generally, that I can "unpack" by asking "why" or "what" to get to my high-res summary. The "low-res" summary should also be very focused on the content/subject matter of the paragraph and fairly passage-specific. For example, a good low-res for a paragraph might be "abalone experiment." That gives me an idea of what the paragraph is about. Here is how I might use that to get to the high-res.

Low-res = "abalone experiment" okay, why? The abalone experiment was conducted to see if a certain mineral could be extracted from their shells. Okay, why? The mineral is important to use in manufacturing a new type of medicine. Now I have something closer to a high-res, going from my low-res "abalone experiment," all the way to "the abalone experiment was conducted to see if a certain mineral could be extracted from their shells because we need that mineral to create a special type of medicine."

I hope this helps, let me know if I can clarify!

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Friday, Feb 05 2021

@tylerjackson015347 Hi there! Sorry about the long reply, I haven't been able to be as active on the forum as I would like lately. When I spoke of the author editorializing, I meant when they insert their own opinions in an aside or something. For example, a sentence like this: "The scientist's conclusion - if it could be called such - was immediately challenged in the media and forced the research to go on the defensive and come out with a press release." In that example, the bit in between the dashes would be the author editorializing!

As far as how I found out the rough proportion of low res questions etc, I didn't undertake any scientific study. I've done pretty much all the RC sections and in general that seems to be the approximate ratio that I kept running into. The main takeaway for me seemed to be how incredibly few questions were both very high res and very difficult. It was a comforting realization though!

Some examples of general low res questions would be just about any main point, purpose, organization, or tone question

An example of a high res question that is on the easier end would be PT82 Question 12

An example of a harder high res question would be PT82 Question 7

I hope this helps, let me know if I can clarify!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Wednesday, Dec 16 2020

@mp1639658 @877116 Sorry I neglected to put the time! The next call (focusing on LR) will be this Friday at 6PM EST!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Sunday, Dec 13 2020

Starting in 20 minutes, looking forward to seeing everyone!

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Thursday, Dec 10 2020

Hi @oziee87419 I did not write down anything under timed conditions. I found that it really dramatically increased the amount of time that I had to spend on the passage (I am also a slow writer). I also found that writing things down did not do that much to increase my retention, certainly not after I had been practicing with my templates during BR. In short, I found that it was easier and more efficient to keep everything in my head!

@azfauni655 Thank you so much! Happy to help!

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Admissions · Thank you 7Sage!!-- got in Berkeley Law ED (with 75K scholarship)
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jmarmaduke96714
Thursday, Dec 10 2020

Congratulations! That is a truly fantastic accomplishment!!

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Wednesday, Dec 09 2020

Hi @azfauni655 no problem! The "low-res" should be very focused on the content/subject matter of the paragraph. It should be fairly passage-specific. For example, a good low-res for a paragraph might be "abalone experiment." That gives me an idea of what the paragraph is about. I think that a good low-res should be one or two words that, if I keep asking the question "why" or "what," will give me the high-res for the paragraph. Something like this... low-res = "abalone experiment" okay, why? The abalone experiment was conducted to see if a certain mineral could be extracted from their shells. Okay, why? The mineral is important to use in manufacturing a new type of medicine. Now I have something closer to a high-res, going from my low-res "abalone experiment," all the way to "the abalone experiment was conducted to see if a certain mineral could be extracted from their shells because we need that mineral to create a special type of medicine."

On the other hand, "structure" refers to very high level language that would be applicable to almost all passages. So for structure I would be slapping labels on certain paragraphs, such as "premise," "main point," "context," etc.

I hope this helps, let me know if I can clarify!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Tuesday, Dec 08 2020

Starting soon! Looking forward to seeing everyone!

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Tuesday, Dec 08 2020

Hi @mw253277216 I did do a lot of untimed work, that is true. Although, I wouldnt use a PT for only untimed work. So I might take the PT or the section timed and then go through everything on blind review. I was trying to practice good reading habits regardless of whether I was on the clock though. In other words, I think that you could do the section timed first (use that to practice your habits as well) and then move on to untimed work. That being said, I would not be taking 3 PTs a week if I were you. Even studying full time, I am skeptical that proper BR work can be done for that much material in only a week. It really is so important to squeeze all the "juice" that you can out of every question, that is where the bulk of the learning is going to come from. I hope this helps! Let me know if I can clarify!

@alexkoo095783 Excellent, I am glad you are doing those drills and it sounds like you are on the right track! I agree, RC was always the section I was most pressed on for time as well, I think that is true for most people. RC is just very challenging and also usually has more questions than the other two sections.

I think that you are doing good work by trying to make yourself less reliant on writing notes, particularly during any timed work. Reading each passage in 5 minutes would be a lot (20 minutes total for the four passages) but not necessarily too much. That would still give you 15 minutes for all the questions, which would break down to a little over 30 seconds per question. If you have a really good understanding of the passage, then moving through questions in 30 seconds or less is not unreasonable.

I would agree that rushing certainly can cause me to misinterpret some information as well. That is why it is so important to take our time with the passage. Do you find yourself making less errors of misinterpretation now that you are spending more time on reading the passage?

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Tuesday, Dec 08 2020

Hi @oziee87419 there is a little play in the joints, especially with low-res summaries. Different people could have slightly different low-res summaries that are all correct. So as long as you are in the vein of what the paragraph is talking about, then I think that you are in good shape. If you want something to brush your work up against, JY usually mentions low-res/high-res summaries in his explanation videos for the passages. He is obviously the master. There are also several people who scored 170+ that put breakdowns of the passages in the comment section of the videos. Those have low-res and high-res summaries and would be pretty good resources as well.

I hope this helps!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Tuesday, Dec 08 2020

@latirving750 We did not end up going over passage 2 during this session, no. Most people wanted to get to passages 3 and 4 tomorrow, so those will be the focus of that session. I will do something so that anyone who has questions about passage 2 can get them answered though. Perhaps I will host an additional session for that, im open to ideas!

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Tuesday, Dec 08 2020

@alexkoo095783 No problem, happy to help!

I think that if you can fill the template out in BR without going back and rereading the passage, then that should absolutely be the goal. If you can do that, then your retention really is top notch. The goal of the template is to get your very familiar with how to do these particular tasks so that you can do then subconsciously while you read. The goal is for you to be able to mentally fill out the template under timed conditions, but without having to stop and think about it. All of the information should just be collected in your head as you read.

I was certainly scoring very similar to you for quite some time. If you are consistently -0 in BR, then the issues do seem to be in your timing. Make sure that you are taking enough time to read the passage properly, that is where the answers are. Moving on to the questions won't help you unless your understanding of the passage is where it needs to be. How do you typically manage your time during an RC section? With a few more details I can probably offer some more targeted advice!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Tuesday, Dec 08 2020

Thank you for coming everyone! I had a good time, I hope it was helpful. The next session will be tomorrow and will focus on RC passages 3 and 4!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Monday, Dec 07 2020

Starting in about 25 minutes, looking forward to seeing everyone!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Monday, Dec 07 2020

@aliceshang153 There will absolutely be sessions later in the week/the weekend, so there will certainly be time to let the approach sink in! Also, once this one is over I will get BR calls for another PT going, so no worries!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Friday, Dec 04 2020

@bradyjohnson64957 Excellent, I hope you can make it! If you get stuck in class and are a few minutes late dont worry about it, you will still be able to catch most of it!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Friday, Dec 04 2020

The link is at the bottom of the post! Thank you!

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Thursday, Dec 03 2020

Hi @azfauni655 You are right, unconsciously thinking about all of these concepts certainly does not come naturally, nor will it be quick at first. At first it does feel a lot like just fumbling around for these abstract ideas. But I promise it does get better with untimed practice. This is why I think the untimed practice is so important. That is where you get comfortable. That is where you build muscle memory. You will have a very hard time building these automatic reflexes with the clock running and your anxiety up. Rather, when you are timed, you need to be able to let your training take over.

With respect to A/B passages, I always read A first and give the questions a pass, then I read B and finish the questions afterward. If another way works for you, then by all means stick to that. In my experience, I do not keep the information separated as well as I need to if I read both passages before attacking the questions, and my accuracy ends up being subpar.

And im happy to answer any questions, I hope this helps!

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General · My Guide to Reading Comprehension Part 1 (Long-ish Post)
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jmarmaduke96714
Wednesday, Dec 02 2020

@aanania2822 Thank you! im glad you have found it helpful!

As to your first question, I did try things to improve reading speed. They did not work and I do not recommend that anyone else try techniques to read faster. Focus your energy on reading more efficiently and the timing will fall into place after that. Almost always, simply trying to read "faster" will lead to a drop in comprehension. For a section like RC, that can be a death sentence. I ended up just embracing the fact that I am a slow reader and focusing all my energy into reading properly. That way, even if I took 5 minutes to read a passage, I could still answer the questions accurately and finish the section in time.

As to your second question, I do want to show people how my highlighting method works in real time. It is hard though because my understanding is that LSAC does not permit me to show the practice tests and can give me a substantial fine if I do.

However, I am leading a blind review call for the RC section of PT76 starting next Monday. Although I will not be able to show everyone my screen, I can talk in more detail about what I am highlighting and why I am highlighting those sections when we all have the same material in front of us. I hope this works as a stop-gap for now!

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Study Groups · [Updated] Free BR Call for PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4) Friday, December 18th, 6PM EST
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jmarmaduke96714
Wednesday, Dec 02 2020

@yeasm22s753 Hi! The first session will be on the 7th, the second session will be on the 8th. I decided to split it up since I doubt that we will get through everything in one round. Also, since the last passages are usually harder, this will give people a chance to digest what we do on the first night before applying those techniques to the later passages. I hope this helps!

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General · BR Calls Soon: Pick your PT!
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jmarmaduke96714
Wednesday, Dec 02 2020

@sergiomadrid624623 The first call is scheduled for Monday, December 7th at 7PM EST!

@melisulusel212 I do not believe I have the capability to record as of this moment. However, I will try to figure that out for some of the other calls that we do!

@mw253277216 You do not strictly have to take the PT first, no. However, I think that the best way is if you take it timed and then come to the BR call before going over the answers or grading anything.

@jmarmaduke96714 The post for the BR call just went up! I hope you are able to make it, thank you for your service!

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Hi everyone!

I am excited to say that I will be leading BR Calls for PT76 with the next session on Friday, December 18th at 6PM EST

We will be focusing on the second LR section of this PT (Section 4).

In the process of going through the blind review I hope to touch on good test-taking strategy, good reading habits, differentiating attractive answer choices, and more. Hopefully there will be something useful for everyone here!

The link is posted below!

Also, here are a few housekeeping matters about the session:

A. Unfortunately, due to LSAC policy, I will not be able to share my screen with the test questions up. So to get the most out of the session, I recommend having your own copy of the PT, regardless if it is digital or paper.

B. Please do not go over the answers on your own before our session, since the more that we can work through the reasoning as a group, the more we will learn together.

C. Although I encourage participation and will be asking for volunteers both to read the passages and answer questions, please have your microphone on mute if you are not being called upon and also try to be in a reasonably quiet place if possible.

D. I plan to keep this thread going and will add dates for future sessions at the bottom as I finalize the dates. I will update the title to reflect the session date that is soonest!

Next Session: PT76 Logical Reasoning (Session 4)

Additional Sessions: TBA

I look forward to seeing all of you soon! Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

James Marmaduke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

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