What to read to improve Reading Comp?

ZaTabler

I'd like to really hammer down and improve my RC score. What are the best things to read to improve RC score? My problem is reading speed/comprehension and just a general lack of reading. I have the LSAT Trainer on the way so hoping that'll help as well. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

doyouevenLSAT

Scientific American, The Economists, and the New York Times have been cited to help others.

nathanieljschwartz

Take the older reading comp passages and make sure you are actively reading. You must teach yourself to take stock and ask "why" . Why is the author writing this, what is the connection between these sentences, paragraphs.
For myself the minute i started reading for structure and using the memory method, i jumped from -7/-12 down to -2/-3

Cant Get Right

Economist is pretty good. If you like academic stuff, journals and essays are great. Don't force it though. For science, SA seems to be the go-to. Being well read is a definite advantage, but I think broad exposure is a bit of an unsung hero. I've found documentaries and pop-science shows really useful. So don't just read, try to inspire--and then attempt to satisfy--your curiosity. If Cosmos does that more effectively than a subscription to SA, I think that makes it a more valuable resource. Carl Sagan has saved my ass on countless occasions--both in LR and RC. Familiarity with subject matter can be incredibly powerful.

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

10000019

As someone who use to actively read The Economist from front to cover, I don't know why it is suggested for RC.

I don't think you should be looking to alternative passages until you've completed all the RC passages.

The 180 Bro_OVO

Great advice here. The Economist is also my favorite.

AllezAllez21

As an Ultimate+ member, I would just read RC passages from 1-35. Going through them in detail and reading for the right things (structure, purpose, tone, etc), is the best way to prep.

Alex

@10000019 said:
As someone who use to actively read The Economist from front to cover, I don't know why it is suggested for RC.

I don't think you should be looking to alternative passages until you've completed all the RC passages.

Yeah, definitely agree with this. I read the Economist and have for quite some time. Although many of the articles are written in a similar fashion to articles on the LSAT and some even abridged and included in the LSAT, I think it is best to practice using older RC passages. There's tons of RC passages that I don't really think there's any reason to practice on something that isn't an official RC passage. Now reading The Economist/SA for fun and just to improve your overall reading skills might be a good idea. It certainly won't hurt you, that's for sure. I just think think the best way to improve on RC specifically is to use real RC passages.

I got better by using older PTs 1-35 and doing many of them untimed. I just practiced the memory method and reading for structure. I think this section really comes down to working on and then trusting your short term memory. There just isn't enough time to go back and find textual support for every question. 7Sage and The LSAT Trainer are my main suggestions.

masterthelsat

@nathanieljschwartz
That's very impressive. Im also currently get 7-12 questions wrong on RC and would really like to bring it down to 2-3 wrong. Can you share your method of exactly how you were able to achieve such a great improvement and also how long it took you?

tringo335

The Economist! A lot of those articles feel like RC passages. JY also suggested The NewYorker in a video; I feel like that publication is a bit of an easier read.

nathanieljschwartz

Sure @masterthelsat l, so when i started out with RC i got sucked into thinking that since everyone says it shows such little improvement even with so much work, that i should just try to shore up My weaknesses in other sections to accomodate my poor RC score. Once i realized i wanted a 170+ score i stopped neglecting it and did some serious introspection into why i sucked at it. I realized that i felt a sort of pressure when reading to finish within 3 minutes so as to get alot of time for Qs. I thought 7/8 questions = at least 5 minutes. I rewatched JYs memory method and started alotting up to 5 minutes to get a clear understanding of the passage b4 hitting the qs. I would stop between every paragraph and make a low resolution summery of it. And when i was done i would take up to a minute to string the summaries into a narrative. Not only did my understanding improve but.my confidence sky rocketed. (And you need confidence in RC).
Also work on getting sensitive to factually inacurracies in ACs you can normally eliminate 3 if not all 4 wrong ACs by doing this
Happy studying and good luck

p.s. ik it sucks but keep yourself accountable and do at least 2 passages a day, EVERYDAY

thisissparta

@tringo335 said:
The Economist! A lot of those articles feel like RC passages. JY also suggested The NewYorker in a video; I feel like that publication is a bit of an easier read.

I feel that the New Yorker can get pretty dense. It's entirely contingent on the content being read. The news related content is certainly more readable. But there are other, more science/philosophy/discipline-specific articles that aren't quite as easy to parse/read through.

masterthelsat

@nathanieljschwartz
Thanks! I'll definitely start incorporating this into my RC studying. I do neglect RC a lot. Hope i can make similar gains!