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RC - only downfall / fills me with rage
fmihalic2
Free Trial Member
Hey all,
So I just took PT 53 and scored a 169. Hoooray, right? Not quite. I scored a -1 in LG, -2 between both LR sections and a -9 in RC. Yes, a -9!!!!!!!
I don't know exactly what my problem is with RC. Maybe I just hate it and I know that I hate it so my mindset isn't right or maybe I just don't understand the questions. I understand what it's asking, but I've just read so much dense material in 2 minutes so to then answer a densely worded question with 4 answer choices that are all eerily similar in 40 seconds seems like a lot...
Anyone else gone through something like this? How did you beat RC? I know that you track the viewpoints, arguments, tone, structure etc.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am at my wits end with RC...
Comments
I'd argue that for (at least) most, 2 minutes spent in actually reading the passage is too short of time. I myself usually go about 3:30 and others go even a bit higher than that.
It seems like you know what to do, you just aren't giving yourself enough time to do it. If it were up to me, I'd spending more time in the passages to see if that makes the questions easier. By doing so, the questions can more easily become very different from each other, and you can get through more quickly.
Hi there,
I run into the same problem with RC. It's always, ten times out of ten, my worst section by far on my PT's. That said, lately, my RC scores have been improving (from -14/-15 range to -7/-9 range). Still not the best, but there's plenty of time to prepare!
In terms of what I did to improve: underlined less, took 5-10 seconds after each paragraph to mentally paraphrase the gist of what was said, and read through the passages as though I would have to tell my boss at work everything about it.
Those last two points were key for me. I heard both of those on a podcast about a month ago and started doing them while reading the passages. Taking those 5-10 seconds to mentally paraphrase each paragraph may seem like a waste of valuable time, but I have personally found it extraordinarily helpful in retaining the information. The last point may seem unorthodox, but if you've ever worked a job and had some sort of direct report, you know it is imperative to really hone in on what needs to be done. So, if you're boss asks you to tell her/him everything about "the latest report" on Rita Dove and her literature, you will be sure to retain as much information as possible since you're the one "presenting" your findings to your boss who has asked you to fill them in on the subject.
Are you me?! I have this exact same issue. LR sits around -3 a section, LG is typically -1 and then RC....-8! every time! I am interested to see what answers you get here.
@danielznelson said:
I exaggerated when I said two minutes. I usually read the passage in about 2:50. I'm a very fast reader. In fact, at that pace I feel I'm moving pretty slow, a little below my normal pace.
I don't know what more I could do to improve...it's not like LR or LG where you can literally acquire the skills. It's weird.
Interesting tips. Thank you. I had heard to stop at the end of each paragraph and think about what's going on in the passage...I had meant to try it but always seem to forget. I will have to try that.
I didn't realize that RC was a common "worst" section.
Lol I guess so but I'm very rattled about it. Games are fun. I genuinely enjoy them. LR is fun, I love reading the ridiculous arguments and tearing them down (this is how I look at most questions) but these passages are mind-numbingly boring. Who cares about the fact that spiders fight in different ways depending on whether or not the grassland is desirable...
I'm not sure. I just read about Victorian Philanthropists who have been criticized in modern times. I couldn't care less. I agree with your assessment of LG and LR though. I look forward to those sections haha
Yeah, I'm pretty inconsistent on RC myself. It used to be my best section and slowly became my worse. I went from like -2 on the older tests to -6/-7 on the newer, so I have felt the rage, haha.
The only things I can think that helped me get better (beyond tons of practice) was reading more carefully and trusting myself more so I wasn't using my time looking back. And I guess knowing when to look back and when to just trust the ghost memories in my head. Try spending between 3-4 minutes reading the passage. 2 minutes means you're reading too fast and spending too little time on the passage.
What also helped me was not getting bored. Yes, it can be that simple. The difference between when I would get bored to now when I force myself to be interested is a few points.
I was missing -8 for the longest time just because I was getting bored. And perhaps "bored" isn't the best word choice because sometimes I'm just uninterested or apathetic about the passage. As soon as I realized that the LSAC is just trying to do that so I lose focus, I began to see it as some sick competition to stay interested. Now I sort of look at it as a learning experience. Like, ok, I'm reading this to learn something new that I will be tested on.... Let do this! I essentially began treating RC like a memory competition against the LSAC. As crazy as it sounds this got me down to the -5 range.
Hey Alex,
Thanks for the feedback. I like your method of looking at it like a competition. It's interesting and it may help me focus on something other than the fact that I'd rather do anything other than mean about philosophic anarchism. Good stuff.
Another thing you touched on is my biggest problem, the lack of certainty. In LG I know with completely certainty that my answer is correct. It is the same way with LR 9/10...but with RC...I'm like 'well...I'm picking this one. Good luck everyone else!'. It's bad. Very, very rarely do I pick an answer in RC with absolute confidence. Do you experience that also?
To be honest I haven't practiced RC too much. I did a few sections during this past spring semester in my free time and scored like -2, -3. So I wasn't too worried about it. Sounds similar to your situation. I mean, with my scores on the other sections, I'm really not too worried. I just don't like feeling defeated by anything
I definitely feel more uncertain with RC but I feel like the more sections I do and the more I do well on, the less uncertain I am. I think a lot of it is our ego trying to protect itself by saying "Oh this is probably not right...." so when you get it wrong you don't feel AS bad. Idk if there's anything to that theory.
Anyway, I just feel like with more time, practice, and success that feeling is slowly dissipating. I don't think I'll ever have the same certainty I do when solving a LG, just because you can never truly prove some of the RC answers.
I can empathize with the defeated feeling one can get from RC. It's tough because when you get something wrong it is much harder to figure out why or where you went wrong. As long as you keep trying to improve, you will!
I would say 2:50 is also way too fast to comprehend the passage effectively. Speed and accuracy on RC really comes from spending time on the passage upfront and moving through the questions with a lot of speed. I would say reading the passage should take around 3min and 30 seconds and each question should be no more than 40 seconds.
Like you said the material is very dense on RC. What helps in answering those questions is a better understanding of the passage as well as what the questions are asking.
I think it would be helpful for you to do RC drills where you break down passages by doing low resolution and high resolution summary for each paragraph. You want to practice mentally breaking down these passages into bite sized pieces that will help you with comprehending them better. At the end of the day most of the work in RC is done in learning how to read the passages better so as to answer these questions better and spot the subtleties in answer choices faster.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you very much for the feedback everyone! @Sami I will definitely try to slow down a bit and take the passage in bite size pieces...then with each paragraph, I will connect and see how it works with the other paragraphs of the passage. It is a process to learn exactly 'how' to read these passages. It seems like I need to spend more time up front with each paragraph in order to make sure I got the message, the importance of said paragraph and how it interacts within the structure of the passage as a whole while holding the specific details of the passage in my mind which has never been a problem.
The questions that I do get wrong tend to be "purpose (paragraph or authors purpose)", analogy questions i.r. "which of the following is most analogous to x in the passage" and that's about it. I'm quite comfortable with anything that deals with the facts presented in the passage.
I agree with what everyone has said above. I am also a fast reader so it felt really weird to spend more time upfront, but it really did help. The way I like to think about it is that the extra minute you spend up front saves you time on each question. Even if you save just 20 seconds per question, the return is great. This does not even factor in the increased accuracy which is even more important.
Like @Sami said it is not just about reading more carefully, but more about summarizing each paragraph and connecting it back up to the other ones. This will help you identify the purpose of each paragraph and how it fits into the whole passage. This will help with the questions that you mentioned. This even helps with the detail questions because you will know exactly where to look for the details. You can answer those questions in like 15 seconds with confidence and an exact line reference. Good luck!
@Sami @danielznelson @"Alex Divine"
Hey friends,
So, today is a much better day. I took your advice and slowed down a lot, made the necessary connections as I actively read and it helped A TON! I did an untimed section...maybe PT 55? I'm not positive. Anyway, -5. But, it was a solid -5. I wasn't afraid to check my answers whereas yesterday I had that face of the grossed out emoji when it came time to check RC.
I had much, much more control. I was definitely over time but not by an insane amount. I live by the "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" philosophy. With time, I will be in complete control and within the time limits. I went through this same process with games and LR...well I'm still in the process but you know what I mean.
It's my understanding that RC is very difficult in the 50s so I'm pretty content with that. I also enjoyed the passages, actually. I read about the cakewalk dance and drilling oils...my entire body was vibrating with anticipation.
Thanks again for your help
.
Heck yeah! That's great!
Yaay!!!!! I am so glad that helped.
Have you tried reading along w LSAT Hacks while you review a RC section? I thought the way Graham presented the material was helpful and gave me a good framework for how to evaluate questions and answers... so no more wondering what I should be looking for or what would be considered a stretch.
@Sami
So, I definitely lied because I did a timed section today and -11. I can't believe this and frankly I'm just aggravated with this. I dominate LR and LG and get knocked out with RC. At this moment I just don't know how to read to answer the questions that they ask...
Usually main point and more concrete questions I have no problems..unless the question is insane...like most of them. I'm at a loss with this. The speed and comprehension of the words are no problem I just CANNOT, for the life of me, figure out how to read something in such a way that I will be able to answer those types of questions.
Hey so it may be more helpful if you can tell me what PT (hopefully not a 70 series) and what question number it was. Also, write down what you thought the question was asking of you. Giving me insight into how you are processing a certain question would help me more in figuring out what's going on.
@Sami
Okay
. Today I did PT 58. I apologize, when I posted this morning I was so rattled that I wasn't even thinking. To be honest, there are A LOT of issues when it comes to RC. I tend to do very well on passage 1, maybe -1 or so. The other two passages that aren't comparative reading typically destroy me to the tune of -3 or -4 per passage. It's awful. I read the passage, I know all of the important details (viewpoints, theories, statistics, etc.) and I feel like I know the main point but then when faced with the question I will get down to two or three and it seems like either one could be said to be the main point and it wouldn't be incorrect. The same thing happens with purpose questions. For instance, paragraph three does 3 of the five things listed as the potential purpose and quite effectively. So how the **** am I supposed to know?
My attitude gets to this point during the RC section because I get very, very annoyed with passages 2-4 (typically). The questions seem so abstract and frankly irrelevant that I just get angry. This is it's own separate issue.
It just seems to me that the questions don't really test what I know about the passage. I don't know how common this is. But, I read the passage with so much attention and effort and when I get to the questions none of what I've forced myself the remember is tested.
I'm not a great abstract thinker. I see the facts, I process the facts and I apply the facts. These sections seem to require a lot of abstract thought i.e. comparing what is presented in the passage to another paragraph and having the choose which one is most analogous.
I have no problem doing this with LR because of the amount of material that we're required to retain. With RC, it goes out the window.
I don't really know what to do. I've read all the advice in the world but none of it seems to help me. I'm willing to do whatever is necessary to get to a consistent -5 or so but I can't think of anything that will make that possible..
It seems like you get what the passage is about to a huge degree but you are losing on not recognizing the subtleties in the answer choices.
When you get down to last two or three answer choices there are certain subtleties that differentiate them.
So lets try this:
I want you to Blind Review PT 58 RC again. For each paragraph for the passage, I want you to write down the low resolution and the high resolution summary.
It seems like you are getting the low resolution summary ( structure, main point, purpose) of the passage but you are not able to see the passage in high resolution, and that's why the details/subtleties in the answer choices are confusing you.
After you have done that for the passage, I want you to re-do those questions, but this time write down your explanation for why each answer choice is right vs wrong.
Then I want you to watch JY's explanation of the passage and compare it to your summaries. Did you miss out on a key part of the low/high resolution summary. Then watch the videos for those questions and compare your reasoning to JY's reasoning for each answer choice. Did you eliminate each answer choice for the right reason. If not, I want you to write down why that's not the case and what would you change in the future. Would you have read a certain part of passage or answer choice differently in future?
For sample take a look at what I have done for PT 43 RC passage number 4.
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-43-section-1-passage-4-passage/#comment-61997
This blind review is going to take a while. But its well worth the effort. The more you practice, the more you will get better. Once you finish let me know if you have any further questions : ).
@Sami
That's exactly right. The subtleties in the answer choices are what hurt me because, unlike LR, there are many more subtleties to track and remember. I did RC for PT 29 today and got -6 but I wasn't timed. Again, the subtleties hurt me. I will to the blind review this afternoon
. Thank you so much for your help!
No problem! Happy to help : ) Keep me updated on your progress and what you learned from blind review.
Actually, I have had a similar problem. One recent practice test I scored a -1, -1, -2 on LG, LR, LR. Then on RC I missed 7. However, 5 of those were simply questions I could not get to. I can share how I overcame that timing issue, but if you are completing the RC section and missing that many questions, I do not think my advice would be perfect. I had a different problem. Be sure to use 7Sage to log your scores and over time see if you are missing certain types of RC questions much more frequently!
I know I'm a little late to the game, but something that has helped me a lot with RC (I get about -5-6 per RC section and I just started taking PT) was to start reading The Economist. Reading the articles in that has been fairly similar to the reading and complexity of the LSAT's RC, and has helped me a ton. I hope this is of some use. Also I know this is an RC thread, but sounds like you're killing the LR section, and if you have any tips for that, I would love to hear them!