hi -

thanks all! i really appreciate your suggestions and support.

@974 - this is actually the lowest I've scored in a while, it just really freaked me out. (my previous avg had been 173). happy to hear that the lg drilling is an option.

re: reading:

not sure if your worry is speed or lack of comprehension, so:

re: speed -- practice reading at this level. one thing to know is that i read a ton of dense stuff. during the school year, 4 - 10 hours a week of very detail oriented arguments (i.e. philosophy) + add'l hours of some academic economics papers and math. reading stuff that continually forces you to pay attention to details in order to even understand what's being said helps a lot. one interesting source for that kind of reading is the harvard phil faculty - most of their papers are free online.

re: not understanding the questions - not sure what's taught, but i use a 3 stage process: 1) read every answer choice, cross out the obviously wrong ones; 2) if still several remaining, check details - is the answer choice reworded slightly, such that it's just a little bit off? this is where paying attn really pays off; 3) if still confused (i often am - i convince myself that there are good args for 2+ choices), go back to gut check -- is there a choice that really is intuitively appealing?

hope that helps. let me know if i can be more specific.