@ said:

Any tips for RC? Thats my worst section and it has not budged at all.

I’m not OP, but one thing that’s helped me in RC is realizing this:

The right answer must always be provable: it must logically follow (or close to it) from the text. During RC blind review try to highlight the exact sentence(s) or paragraph(s) that make your answer choice correct. If you cannot do this, then it’s most likely wrong, even if it sounds like something the author would agree with, and even if nothing in the passage contradicts that answer choice.

In that sense, every RC question is like what JY says about Most Strongly Supported questions: the right answer has tons of support and the wrong answer has zero support, even if it’s written to sound otherwise, even if the author would probably agree with it, and even if nothing in the passage directly contradicts it.

What this means is that even with questions that ask about what the author most likely thinks, you don’t really care about what the author thinks. You only care about what you can prove, using only the text, about what he thinks. And that seems true in general for RC: you only care about the answer choices you can prove directly and only from the text, anything else is a distraction.

I’ve gone from -4 in RC to consistently -1 or -2 after getting this, and occasionally -0 under timed conditions. Sometimes I might still get -4 but end up with -2 or lower on BR.

@ said:

Lastly, start your time in LR by diagramming logical arguments. It gets you into the groove of recognizing and understanding them from the get go. I hope this helps!

Any tips on diagramming arguments? Whenever I do I use abbreviations and diagram them either as premises then conclusion or I’ll link them up if required. Asking to see if there’s anything I’m missing.

Context: I got a 166 two years ago (screwed up two games that I shouldn’t have) but even then I was PTing anywhere from 2 to 3 points higher in the weeks before I took the real thing. Resumed studying a year ago, on and off (life got in the way) and plan to take the exam in February. Since I began taking practice tests once every few weeks, I’ve been much more consistently PTing in the 170s, and got a 177 on my most recent PT (40). Also I used to get anywhere from -6 to -4 on RC and now get around -2 to -0, so I hope this advice is helpful.

First, consider postponing or even canceling your test date. You don’t know if you’ll be ready in February, you only get a finite number of attempts at the LSAT, and you don’t want to risk wasting an attempt on a score you’re not happy with. If you cancel, don’t sign up for another date until you’re consistently hitting your desired score range (I’d say until the average of your last five practice tests is within that acceptable range). Not only are you not yet within that range, but you don’t know how long it’ll take for you to get there, so having a fixed test date that’s only a couple months away doesn’t help you. You need time to get better.

Second, for RC I would drill 1 RC passage every day, untimed. Do not rush, and do not look at the clock. You MUST take as much time as you need to read/understand the passage, answer the questions, and to review answers and explanations afterward. You should understand the passage well enough that for certain questions you should be able to make a vague prediction about the right answer before even reading the answer choices. For example, when you see the main idea question, come up with your own quick summary of the main idea before diving in. Same with questions about, say, the author’s attitude to something discussed on the passage.

Your problem is most likely not speed, but understanding. The only cure for that is to make a habit of reading for understanding and to force yourself to predict the answers to certain questions. This means forcing yourself to read carefully and to think about what you’re reading. In other words, aim for comprehension (of the passage) and accuracy (when answering questions), and ignore speed. As you keep doing this daily you’ll naturally understand things faster, which means you’ll naturally do all the questions faster while getting more of your attempted questions right.

This is the only approach that worked for me, both with passages and sections. I tried highlighting, I tried improving my reading speed, I tried strictly timing myself for each passage, and none of that worked. Only when I accepted that maybe I just didn’t understand the passages as well as I should have, and started ignoring speed and reading for understanding, did I start regularly getting -1 or -0. As I hinted, I do the same thing with whole sections: ignore the clock, read for understanding, guess on the remaining questions in the last five minutes, then continue reading for understanding and answering questions until my time’s up. This daily untimed drilling + one or two RC sections a week is what improved my score on this section well beyond what I thought was possible.

I got better at LR with the same method: I did a set of 5 LR questions every day, untimed. With each question I’d take as much time as I needed to understand the passage/argument. If it was an argument I would ask myself if the argument was valid, and if not, I’d try to identify the flaw before I even read the question. That way when I actually read the question it’s much easier to predict what the answer might be. I took my time reading the answer choices as well. During review I wouldn’t move on from a question I had trouble with until I fully understood it, or until I reached out for help. My approach to LR sections is the exact same as with RC, and just like with that section I reliably get -2 to -0 on LR now.

Finally, when reviewing RC or LR questions you had trouble with and got wrong, ask yourself:

Why is the right answer right?

Why did I not pick it?

Why is the answer I picked wrong?

Why did I pick it?

Did you run out of time? Did you fail to read carefully? Did you misunderstand any of the answer choices? Did you not understand some key aspect of the passage/argument/question? The point is to make you more aware of your own error in reasoning on that question.

I’m not sure how long this approach will take you, but that’s why I think you should postpone or cancel your scheduled exam: so you can give this approach time to work and you can build confidence via several good practice test scores before you take the real thing.

In sum:

Postpone or cancel your test date. Don’t sign up for a new one until you’re consistently PTing in a range you’re happy with.

Drill 1 RC passage a day, untimed. Take as much time as you need to read and understand the passage, to answer the questions, and to review each question. Do not gloss over a question until you fully understand it OR until you’ve reached out somewhere for help in understanding it. Do 1 or 2 timed RC sections a week in the same manner: take all the time you need to read and understand the passage and to answer the questions, guess on remaining questions at the 5 minute mark, then continue working through questions in the same manner until time is up.

Drill a set of 5 LR questions a day, untimed. Take as much time as you need to read and understand the passage/argument. If it’s an argument, ask yourself if it’s valid and, if not, identify the flaw or shortcoming in it. I recommend doing this before you even read the question so that you can make a loose prediction about the right answer whenever possible. Do 1 or 2 times LR sections a week in the same way you’d do RC: take your time, guess on the rest at the 5 minute mark, then continue working until time’s up.

When reviewing questions you had trouble with or got wrong, ask yourself:

Why is the right answer right? Why didn’t I pick it?

Why is the answer I picked wrong, and why did I pick this answer?

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions, and since I could use the practice feel free to DM me with any LR questions you ever have trouble with.

I take it in February so my opinion doesn’t matter but yes, you guys should provide this option. I drilled logical reasoning in exactly this manner and I honestly think this + timed sections is the best way to study LR.