Hello I'm very interested in joining your study group. I'm also able to study full time and trying to reach 165 by Jan. My email is wenxusunch@matureli129.com looking forward to hearing from you!

Hey not sure if I'm too late or not but I'd love to join the study group. I'm currently scoring around 157 to 159 and looking to break 165 in Jan. My email is wenxusunch@emmorens932.com looking forward to hearing from you

I'm PTing around 160 looking to get a 163 on Nov LSAT, would love some help if you have time. My email is wenxusunch@matureli129.com.

Not sure about the backlog on LSAC's side but I did the writing sample the day after my lsat and it took them 7 business day to approve it. Don't know if the timeline is still the same but hope that offer you some perspective. I also did not shown both side of my scratch paper during the room scan and they approved my sample no problem so I won't worry too much about that.

@danielsimonetti926 said:

Disclaimer: I am no RC god by any means, I am still improving as well because it is my weakness too.

I started to find solid improvement by:

1- REALLY FOCUSING on POVs (author/scholars/critics - ANY POVS),

2 - focusing on how the passages are structured (EX: p1 - phenomenon and critics POV/ p2 - critique of critic's POV (author pov?)/ p3 alternative hypothesis proposed (by author?).

3 - Combine 1 and 2. Your approach to every RC passage will be the exact same! DO NOT just read to get a general idea of what the passage said.

Another tip - spend MORE time reading the passage! Some people say to spend like 2:30 on passages, FUCK THAT! Maybe these people are Gods at reading (good for them), but I am certainly not. I spend on average 3:30 reading a passage to get a full understanding so it allows me to do the questions faster. However, this could lead you to reading through the questions too fast - don't fall for this trap. I have never run out of time by spending more time reading the passages, I promise I am not joking here.

I hope something helped! If this is all repeated information to you, then you really are NOT applying these methods properly. With this approach, you'll pick up on the patterns of RC a lot easier (Ex: if scholars/critics are mentioned in passage, there will most likely be questions related to them).

If a God of RC has better advice, by all means we are awaiting your wise words!!!

Tldr: focus on POVs and know where they are/focus on hypoths and know where they are/know the structure of the passage before tackling the questions.

Thanks for the tips, I will definitely try that on my next PT. One quick question tho, if you spend 3:30 on the reading, when you are doing the Qs are you still going back to the passage or do you find yourself memorizing all the necessary info?

I can finish the reading within 2:30 most of the time but my problem is I then read the Q stem and go back to the related passage and read them again to remind myself all the info, I then try to find the right answers. which is why even sometime I can finish reading within 2 mins but still end up with BIG time problems.

@cnguyen2195719 said:

If you can make it, I’m having a free tutoring session on RC this Saturday. I really think you can gain some valuable insights there!

Yes I can and will be there for the Saturday night Tutoring Session. Looking forward to it!

@danielingram7513528 said:

Are you having issues with timing? Are you unable to get through each passage and all the questions? Or are you just getting the answers wrong? If you are finishing all the questions, but getting the answers wrong, I would suggest slowing down a bit and making sure you understand what you are reading.

Answering all of the questions right that you answer, even if you don't get to the final reading passage, will still give you a much better score than -16 on RC.

There are maybe some better strategies out there that will help you complete the entire section, while also improving your accuracy, but if all else fails, I think this is a good option.

Yeah timing is a big problem for me. For this particular PT, I tried to read carefully with the first paragraph and it took me like 11 mins to get through the passage and answering all the questions. So I kinda panicked and rush through the rest and that's the result I got lol. I normally do not do this bad (normally -10 to -14 but still very bad compared to the rest sections)

I don't think I am a particularly slow reader, I can always finish LR with at least 5 min to spare) So I guess long paragraph is just not my thing.