Self-study
Hey there!
I'm looking for a study / accountability partner to study with, with a focus on reading comprehension, and also support one another with the other aspects of the LSAT, the application, and the stresses of the test.
I am averaging 161 and aiming for low 170s.
I live in Los Angeles (the valley) and would like to study or hold discussions over zoom mainly. I am open to in person as well. I'd really like to drill down on RC so ideally it would be with someone who also wants to master RC. Alternatively, I can pair with someone who is good at RC but needs help with LG. I am pretty good at LG and happy to help.
Shoot me a message if interested.
Hey! RC is my weakest section. For one I was an engineering major in college and didn't have much complex reading assignments then. I have seen improvements after doing the following things. However, I am not where I want yet. I went from finishing 2.5 passages a prep test (-15) to finishing all four passages (-10 - -8).
If you have time, studying for RC should be your first priority and the first thing you do. Moreover, studying for RC improved my LR score as well; Reading LR stimuli became easier and faster.
Think about why you are weak in RC and narrow it down. I narrowed down one of my biggest problems to unfamiliar vocabulary. English is my second language. So a lot of words don't follow through with their connotations the same way they do in my native language. I started keeping a vocabulary journal with translations of any unfamiliar words I come across. I noticed that words in the conceptual categories of rejecting, reducing, impeding show up a lot.
Do RC passage(s) everyday. I started from the first PT doing 1 RC passage every day in addition to whatever else I am doing. Then I bumped it to 2 RC passages every day. Untimed. Some other trends appeared again. Passages discussing how scholars have been ignoring oral cultures. Economic passages about human factors. Passages about undermined role of women in history and literature. Passages about US laws discriminating against native Americans.
PT every week. I do a PT every Saturday so that is my timed practice and pressures me to complete RC in the allotted time.
I recommend listening to the RC episodes on the 7Sage podcast.
Connect the dots between RC passages and the real world. After reading a passage about some weird animal like Okapi look it up so it's less abstract for you. I liked the youtube videos on the RC passage pages that discuss the passage subject. You need to become interested in the topic of the RC passage and somehow resonate with it.
Watch how JY does his passages with the idea of pushing back, calling out loud all the referential phrases and creating fast and silly examples whenever he comes across abstract ideas. It helps to listen to JY's advice on how to approach RC. But there is a lot of value in watching him do RC.
RC is not unteachable. No offense to anyone, but I believe no one has cracked the code to RC teaching yet. 7Sage does the best job of teaching RC though. I tried Blueprint and I like their method in combination of the 7Sage method.
When I hear people spend 2.5 - 3 minutes on a passage, I believe it's not mainly that they are better at RC, it is the fact that they are doing it differently. I still haven't figured out what's the best way to read passages but I think that's the key to get to the next level.
Happy to chat more about RC!