RC troubles

spitzy11

Hi all.

So I took PT 70 today and got -15 on the RC. I am normally pretty bad at RC but recently I've done better once I realized exactly how I should be reading the passage and approaching questions (thank you infinitely @"Alex Divine" ).
Nonetheless, pretty bummed on today's RC. I knew it was hard but thought I had tackled it appropriately. However, I used PT 56 RC as my experimental section and I only got -7 wrong!!!! (ugh!) I'd be happy with chilling around -7 max for RC.

Any suggestions on how to appropriately adjust to the more recent difficulty in RC for the most 70s and what to expect on September?

LSATcantwin

Following. RC is the bane of my existence. I'm curious for tips as well.

nathanieljschwartz

Hey, @spitzy11, @LSATcantwin i feel your pain. The important thing to realize is that on the newer tests many of the AC are highly attractive bc they do a great job at what the question is asking, the reason they are disqualified is bc they are factually inaccurate.
I think going into each AC with a POE mindset serves better than prephrasing and hunting for the correct AC. Just my 2 cents

Killmonger

I think you should pause at the end of each paragraph and make a narrative before going to the next paragraph. I never ever just read all the way thru. Even when i finish the passages i scan the whole passage and break down each paragraphs basic meaning and overall structure. You simply cannot go to the questions without doing this. And re-read any sentences or paragraphs that don't make sense to you. I know you think you don't have time to do this, but you definitely don't have time to be getting questions wrong or to be spending excess time on questions.

I personally read fairly fast and over time i spend less and less time pausing to think about the paragraphs because I've developed the ability to retain. Keep practicing and implement the memory method along with blind reviewing after the memory method.

nathanieljschwartz

As @"marvin.dike" said, this is crucial for all tests, earlier and more recent. But there are far more attractive AC on the newer test that can trip you up. The correct AC may be the crappiest AC EXCEPT for the fact that it isnt factually inaccurate. It is for this reason that i stress being able eliminate AC bc of incorrect facts

spitzy11

Thank you guys! I'm very much so a detail oriented person, so reading through and trying to get the grasp instead of the details is difficult for me. I find myself trying to mentally get an idea for what's going on in the passage and I almost get lost in my own uncertainty. But to fully get the details, I spend too much time reading the passages instead of using the time to eliminate the inaccurate choices

Alex

@nathanieljschwartz said:
As @"marvin.dike" said, this is crucial for all tests, earlier and more recent. But there are far more attractive AC on the newer test that can trip you up. The correct AC may be the crappiest AC EXCEPT for the fact that it isnt factually inaccurate. It is for this reason that i stress being able eliminate AC bc of incorrect facts

This is exactly right WRT the newer RC. for anyone having trouble, I cannot stress this enough. At this point, I've basically rid my mind of the idea of a good answer choice and I think that mentality has helped me. Like you said, @nathanieljschwartz , the least tempting AC many times ends up being the correct answer. For this reason I recommend going in 2 sweeps: first to eliminate anything factually incorrect, and second, to narrow down remaining ACs by returning to the passage if needed.

I've also noticed that on the newer RC they are much more likely to use verbatim language from the passage in the wrong ACs and change a word or two to gimp up an otherwise perfect answer.

nathanieljschwartz

The newer tests have definitely moved abit of the focus for RC. Of course the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do going into a passage is to read for structure, but LSAC has definitly started incorporating aspects of critical reading that were less important on earlier tests

StrangerThanFiction175

My personal philosophy is RC boils down to a couple of essential performance goals: comprehension and speed. However, I would put probably 80% of the weight on comprehension and 20% on speed, especially on the more recent tests.

In general you probably don't need to be racing to the fourth passage if you are missing 7-15 questions. This is an indication you are going too fast and need to slow down. I would focus on doing three passages, getting them all right, and maybe a couple of questions in the fourth passage if you are confident you did well on the other three passages.

Also, speed comes out of comprehension not vis versa. If you spend more time on the passage understanding what you are reading then you are in a better strategic position to attach the questions and will guess less. This will improve your speed. Good luck!