RC Improvement! Finally!

tanes256

Hey guys! I'm super stoked. I finally hit -3 on RC! I have been stuck at -4 for over a year! Now I know I should be striving for -0 but let me have this moment! LOL I was just as excited when I hit my first -0 on a passage. I've been loosely using Nicole's method for sometime but recently I decided to get stricter with it. Sorry, I don't have anything to add about how I achieved my one point success. It's nothing new. I was just super geeked and decide to post! Somebody feels me, I know! Have a good day, yall!!

NotMyName

HAHA niiiiiiice! Guided hard work pays off!

Thanks for sharing your achievement with the community. I just got my ass kicked by a bunch of really tough flaw questions and your enthusiasm provided a nice lift to my mood.

Any tips for someone like me who hasn't strictly focused on RC yet? I'm still in the CC and usually go -5 to -7.

inactive

Great job!

Cant Get Right

Lol, yeah man, I feel you. Now keep at it and build consistency!

tanes256

Thx guys! @jkatz1488 I've been using Nicole's method and really paying attention to how the paragraphs relate to one another. I wasn't really stopping to jot down the MP of each paragraph or for some reason I'd only do it for the first paragraph. I think I would kinda panic and strategy would go out the window. I've also read the RC sections from The LSAT Trainer a few times and I'm working on different question types. I've being drilling RC passages and really working on reading for structure. This tends to go out of the window as well whether I'm panicked or not. That's about it but don't abandon the memory method without giving it a fair shot. I just couldn't find success with it. I say whatever works for RC take it and run with it!

tanes256

@"Cant Get Right" I'm on it! I'll print a new section and get started on it this evening.

tanes256

I have a question for everyone. How do you do your BR for RC? I know that sounds silly but it's so odd for me. I circle the questions I'm uncertain about but it seems "odd" to BR because obviously the answer is there and anybody can find it untimed. I guess I'm just missing the LR type advantages in RC. Hopefully that makes sense. For those I still miss during BR there are some questions that I just don't know how I would've ever gotten right. I guess I'm asking what we're gaining from BR RC if it's not something like a MP or inference question?

TimLSAT180

I'll try to provide my two cents on this. For BRing RC passages, I personally like to stand up from my chair and start going through the passage as if I'm explaining to a bunch of students studying for the LSAT how to analyze the passage. So, as I read each sentence aloud, I would try to pinpoint which details are important to remember, such as attitude/tone of the author, any notable distinctions or similarities, main point of the paragraphs, main point of the passage, and really, going through this process of having to articulate my analysis, which all happens in my mind during the actual test, is more difficult than it sounds and it reinforces good habits in my opinion. Also, I often find myself discovering things that were important but completely missed when I first analyzed the passage under time pressure. I would also go through each question and try to anticipate the answers for the questions, if possible, and I would try to pinpoint the reasons why the wrong answer choices are wrong, and why the correct answer choice is correct. I would also try to articulate why the test writers wrote the wrong answer choices in such a way to trip us up and how the test writers are trying to lure us in into choosing the wrong answer. So, I think the main takeaway from RC blind review is recognizing that something went wrong or something was lacking in terms of my analysis of the passage, and so trying to figure out how I can try to minimize this flaw when I attempt the next RC passage or section. I hope this helps!

Sami

Great job and congratulations!!!! Yaay.
That's really awesome
..and I agree the next step is consistency but if you have stayed consistent at -4 for a year, I am sure its pretty permanent that you have now officially moved into the league of LSAT masters. Congrats! : )

Cant Get Right

That's actually a really interesting observation about BRing RC. I think it's okay though to take your time and dig into the passage to find it. Just make sure you see how those answers come out from the passage. I remember one really tricky one where the question is a MBT about a subject that is talked about exclusively in the final paragraph. To avoid spoilers, I'll give a parallel example with different subject material:

Berries evolved in many different directions resulting in a large array of edible varietals. Blueberries, the juiciest of berries, are characterized by thin, bitter skins and a sweet pulpy interior. Etc.

Raspberries are basically just tarter, redder blueberries. Etc.

Whoever heard of a snozzberry? Etc.

Cranberries come from filthy bog weeds. They're bitter and gross and the Big Cranberry lobby spends millions in order to keep from disclosing on labels how much sugar is added to craisins in order to cover up just how unambiguously awful they are. If I were starving to death--literally dying--and someone gave me a bucket of cranberries, I'd seriously consider not eating them.

Which one of the following MBT about cranberries?

A. Cranberries are the worst of all berries.
B. The author would prefer death to eating cranberries.
C. Cranberries are not the juiciest of berries.
D. If the sugar content of craisins were available to consumers, no one would eat them anymore.
E. Cranberries are typically served in buckets.

So, we go refer to the cranberry paragraph, and there's a lot of attractive answer choices. Being good test takers though, we're uneasy. They all feel just slightly off. In review, we really dig in. Ok, so we determine we just can't get to full MBT level just based on the cranberry paragraph. So we reread the entire passage to see if we maybe missed a previous mention of cranberries. And there it is: "Blueberries, the juiciest of berries. . ." Turns out, it was in the first paragraph from a line having nothing to do with it. But juiciness is Highlander rules: There can only be one.

So by extrapolating how they used the information from the passage to create that very difficult question, we've learned how completely different subject matters within the passage actually can affect each other in subtle but absolute ways. Sure, given unlimited time we should find this, but that's exactly the point of the exercise. We've exposed a hiding place, and now that we know it's there, they can't hide answers from us there as effectively.

So that's a really long answer.

TL;DR: Don't BR for the right answers. BR for the process of identifying where the right answers are coming from.

AllezAllez21

I like the takeaway from @"Cant Get Right" here.

What I've started doing during review of the RC passages is to literally mark on the passage where each answer choice is proven right or wrong (when possible).

I've always been naturally good at the bigger picture stuff on RC but specific details I struggle with, so seeing how and where they pluck information is helping me.

tanes256

@TimLSAT180 @"Cant Get Right" thx! I like the bit about BR for the process of identifying where the correct answer comes from. What you guys said makes complete sense. I'm going to try to implement this during my next BR. @AllezAllez21 I'm trying to get better at seeing the whole picture instead of trying to see every little detail. This as always been an issue for me. I know it but it's been a challenge to swift the thought process. Glad I asked!

TimLSAT180

What @"Cant Get Right" mentioned above is called the "synthesis" portion of RC. Most people are good or at least improve when it comes to the "recall" portion, which is basically trying to memorize the details as they read, but one skill that is indispensable for getting -1 or -2 on the RC section is being able to contextualize the information that you read and connect the dots as you read (active reading!). If you recognize that you lack this particular skill, then doing what @"Cant Get Right" suggested above is desperately needed until it no longer becomes an issue. The "recall" skill is the first barrier that we need to overcome using the 7sage memory method, but the "synthesis" skill is something we need to develop over a long period of time using whatever method that works, and it only comes with practice and thorough BR in my personal opinion. I started out with -18 for RC on my diagnostic 3 months ago, and I attempted a timed RC section (never seen before) just yesterday and got -1. Improvement on RC is definitely possible!

Cant Get Right

@TimLSAT180 said:
I started out with -18 for RC on my diagnostic 3 months ago, and I attempted a timed RC section (never seen before) just yesterday and got -1. Improvement on RC is definitely possible!

That is an absolute inspiration. Nicely done!

tanes256

@TimLSAT180 whoa! Now that is encouraging!

Bevs ScooterMinion

Well done, indeed!!!!!

I was just about to post my similar RC success because of the mentors' RC webinars, and because I'm geeking out too!!

I attended the three RC webinars in one week earlier in March, which led me to watch Nicole's RC notation webinar, and by combining all of the advice from 4 awesome mentors I went from a --at least half of the RC section (ugh) to now hitting only -1 to -4!!!

Not perfect yet, but...I don't hate RC anymore! I actually look forward to doing more drills everyday! (A month ago, I would have thought someone completely bonkers for thinking that.)

The main bit of advice I took away from each webinar was that the notations are to engage with the material. Ok, duh me, but I was having trouble actually doing that----and was finally able to identify why I was having trouble with engagement-----largely due to their webinars!!

My new notation strategy (a combination system of all 4 mentors' styles), which makes important bits highly visible but not overkill, and I'm still perfecting and practicing it daily, is working!

I'm doing the happy dance with you!!

JDreaming

Could anyone please tell me what 'Nicole's method' is and where I could find it? Wouldn't mind trying something new for a change.

CinnamonTea

It's a recorded webinar on 7sage, I think something along the lines of "RC Annotation Strategy"

CinnamonTea

Never mind, I just looked under Webinars and it isn't there. I'm posting on the general discussion because I haven't seen it either. I hope it hasn't been taken down

Cant Get Right

@ScooterMinion said:

I was just about to post my similar RC success because of the mentors' RC webinars, and because I'm geeking out too!!

I attended the three RC webinars in one week earlier in March, which led me to watch Nicole's RC notation webinar, and by combining all of the advice from 4 awesome mentors I went from a --at least half of the RC section (ugh) to now hitting only -1 to -4!!!

https://media.giphy.com/media/ft2C2l1bBuXyo/giphy.gif

Cant Get Right

@JDreaming if you google "LSAT Hammer Time" it should be the first thing that pops up

Bevs ScooterMinion

LOL @"Cant Get Right"

tanes256

@ScooterMinion I'm dancing just like you and that baby! Congrats!