RC Dilemma

Sarah889

Hey All,

So I know I am probably about the 9,000th LSATer to say this but....RC is by far my worst section. I have come to a point in my studies where I am super frustrated because I consistently miss a ton of questions for two reasons in particular:

1) I go too slow and I don't get to finish the section;

or

2) I go too fast and miss a ton of important details.

Both of these unfortunate results yield anywhere from -8 to -11...I've tried apps to allow me to read quicker (which work to an extent...but then I have the whole missing details issue), I've tried notating, I've tried not notating, I've skipped questions, etc. I feel like I've tried everything with little improvement.

I also will admit that I enjoy nothing about RC. I will review LR and LG questions all day, but RC really brings my mood down.

I also will admit that I think a huge factor in this is anxiety. I know how poorly I do on RC, so I begin the section already nervous and as the section goes on, as I come across the inevitable "hiccups," I panic.

So tips for RC and tips for dealing with anxiety during the section are much appreciated!

brennan

Read a lot of fairly high-reading-level stuff in your free time.

Cant Get Right

Repeats were an essential part of my RC process. When I do a repeat, there is no anxiety for me. It's just a repeat. I've seen this before. I can relax. It's easy to approach a repeat with calm, and this let's us train in keeping our cool. I also retain a vague recollection of the content which allows me to focus my attention slightly deeper. Because I kind of remember the gist of things, I get to look at structure and attitude and all these other more subtextual elements which they are really more concerned with testing us on. By being better able to look past the content, I am able to train on these elements much more effectively than I am on a fresh passage.

I also liked to do some sections where instead of working under time pressure, I just time it to see how long it takes me. This sets a baseline from which I need to develop my pace down from, which always felt more productive than trying to cram my pace into the 35 minutes.

Recording your takes is also an incredible resource. When I first heard of people doing this, I thought it sounded kinda weird, tbh. But then I tried it. I pulled up the footage and began the incredibly tedious process of watching myself take a timed section, lol. Turns out, reviewing the footage was not tedious at all. It gives us an objective perspective on our performance and it's just remarkable how different that is from our subjective evaluations. When I started watching footage of myself, it was like watching a movie where the characters keep making bad decisions and you just want to yell at the screen and tell them how dumb they are and what they should obviously be doing differently. After awhile, this objectivity begins to take over and you can see it under time.

SherryS1

I feel about LG the way you feel about RC It's killing my score and improvements cannot happen fast enough! It seems you've already tried out a lot of the mainstream advice so I'll veer away from that.

Given how bad I am at LG, I cannot afford to leave any points on the table with RC. I found a lot of success with BRing the whole section. It's a huge time consuming pain but it cleaned my testing right up. If you choose to give it a try, I'd say do it for at least 2 tests. My process was to:

1. Read the passage.
2. Identify the question stem. I used LR types loosely and made up my own where there wasn't an immediate fit.
3. Write out why you think each AC is right or wrong. Literally write it out on a separate sheet of paper or type it up. Do not just mark up answer choices or mentally think through it.
4. Repeat for all the questions in the passage.
5. Check your answers for that passage while your thinking is still fresh.
6. If you miss any questions. Edit the write up for that question from step 3.
7. Repeat for all passages.

If you're going to cut corners I'd say take out a passage instead of a question - even if it's easy. Each question explores a passage from a different angle. The point of the exercise is to get into the test makers heads and repeatedly see passages from a 360 view.

I don't mark up the passage but I read actively and use my pencil to track where I am as I read. It helps me. DumbHollywoodActor once recommended putting a marking after each sentence for RC passages to kind of mentally track each concept. I applied this to LR where focus was a bigger issue for me and it helped me. I think it could help with processing for RC and is an easy thing to integrate into your testing.

Lastly, I stepped up my meditation when I started prepping for the LSAT and it's helped me stay focused and calm during PTs (and life). I really recommend it! I do 35 minutes every morning and most evenings. I use an app called Insight Timer. It has a starting and ending bell and lets you track your time. It also has guided meditations but I can't speak to that aspect of the app. I know a popular app is Headspace but I haven't used it. I think it's very much worth a try!

Good luck!! I'm sure you'll figure out the best way for you to tackle RC and when you do it's going to feel awesome

full.moon.howler94

@"Cant Get Right" said:
Repeats were an essential part of my RC process. When I do a repeat, there is no anxiety for me. It's just a repeat. I've seen this before. I can relax.

This is what I'm doing right now in prep for February and its really helping my confidence out a lot. Im still no expert on RC, but I found one of the major changes that has brought me to about -5 on the section is really thinking about why the author has written what I'm reading. In my head i'll be saying "okay, this is background info to set up the subject", or "oh okay this feels like its going to be countered later on", etc.

As for anxiety, I feel you there, my nerves affect my testing ability a lot. One thing i've started doing that helps me is a quick body scan. I plant my feet flat on the ground, close my eyes, and get in a relaxed but well-postured position. Then, I just do a scan of how my body is feeling from the top of my head down to my feet, taking note of any tense muscles, etc. This can take anywhere from 10-30 seconds or a few minutes. It just kind of helps me focus on something for a little bit thats not how I'm feeling about testing.

brennan

@SherryS1 how many timed LG sections have you done? I got my typical timed "cold" section misses from 7-15 down to 0-3 after a hundred or so games under timed conditions. I haven't done the "fool proofing" method yet but I will start soon. Planning on taking the test in Feb.

I feel the LGs are more of an issue of training than natural talent -- natural talent just determines how much training you actually need. If you are consistently getting great scores on RC/LR then I feel you are in a great position to do well on the test as LG can be learned.

SherryS1

@brennan I have done a ton of LG - I'm sure well over a hundred games but it's a struggle. I'm still mostly leaving a full game untouched. I left the section almost blank the first time around.

I've gone through most LG sections from the early PTs and any that were in my full PTs. That said, I wouldn't say that I could pick any old section up and do it in time. Some yes, some no. As you can likely tell, I dragged my feet for most of my prep and didn't give LG its due.

I'm also signed up for February so the next three weeks are LG all the time I'm okay-ish with my score but I know I could do better. RC is good. LR is close. But LG is rough. Hopefully things come together in the next few weeks, otherwise we're looking at June.