How to stay motivated prepping for RC?

ccj0321

Clearly reading comprehension is my weakest section. But after close to 6 months of intensive prep, I've gotten to a point where I feel unmotivated in terms of practicing RC passages, or even blind reviewing them.

I think this is due to two reasons. First, I don't like reading about topics that I don't enjoy, or have very little familiarity (geology, biology, history of 19th century painting etc.). I tried the tactic of "convincing myself that it's the most wonderful thing I'm going to read"; but it doesn't really work on me.

Second, I lost my faith in believing that I can improve on RC. I don't think I've made substantial progress throughout these months. When I sit down and do a logic game or an LR section, at least I know that I'll make some sort of progress. The same can't be said with RC - I always get between -6 to -8 per section without knowing what my weaknesses are. I don't have a coherent strategy going into a section, and my mistakes are mostly due to not being able to fully comprehend the passages (or enough time to digest them). For example, when I read a passage that talks about geological processes and volcanic activities, I can't picture the descriptive sentences or string together a mental image, which contributes to less understanding of the passage as a whole.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance

harrismegan

I feel 100% the same way.

mjjohns6

I feel the same way. But when I find a passage interesting I get every single question correct. I've tried to convince myself for many of the science related passages but it just doesn't work in my favor lol

miriruchert

this is exactly how i feel about logic games. i hate doing them which is why i can't motivate myself to do enough of them...when I read I naturally get curious about the subject matter and structure and it is so fun answering the questions, because they matter. Just as I never understood why anyone cares what 'x' is in math, I do not understand why it matters who goes first in a row of people holding speeches...is it genie or mark? Riveting. not! oh well, onward and upward...i am hoping for a burst of motivation to be able to drill logic games...good luck to everyone!

Jengibre

Although it's not directly related to reading comprehension, I recommend watching or re-watching JY's explanation of the "photons and Rhodopsin" Most Strongly Supported question. When I first did that pretest, that question gave me a hard time because of the unfamiliar subject matter. I thought didn't know what hardly any of the stuff in the sentence was, but the way JY explains makes a lot of sense. I knew more than I thought about the subject (vague idea of what a photon is...) and breaking the sentence down grammatically is very helpful. For reading comp, maybe rather than trying to convince yourself that what you're reading is incredibly interesting when it isn't, focus on the idea that you CAN understand it. Break down the sentences mechanically--what is the "this" referring to? Where is the comparison? How do the paragraphs relate to each other? WHY is the author writing this? I find that constantly asking myself these questions throughout the passage helps me stay on track even if the topic is unfamiliar or confusing.

turnercm

I hate to break it to you, but law school (and being an attorney) involves a ton of reading - much of it way dryer than anything on the LSAT. Its important to develop these reading skills now, while they're discussing a range of topics and things you might have some interest in.

Listening to the RadioLab podcast helped me with science passages. Its super enjoyable and explains scientific subjects as stories in a way that is captivating and engaging. At the very least, this will increase your knowledge of scientific subject matter in a way you may actually pay attention to.

Do you mark the passages when you read? Also, have you seen JY's lessons on modifiers? They can really help with wading through all the descriptive phrases for the real subject matter.

The good thing about RC is that the answers (for the most part) are right there in front of you. You just have to make it easier to find them. RC tends to suck, but there are ways to get better!

Dillon PG

A few things I have found that help me:

1. Fake your interest. I started doing that and it really helped me stay at -3 to -6 more consistently. Before I was butchering RC at -8 or more. It's still my weakest section, but every little bit helps.

2. I've been trying to really invest more time up front on the passages for some time now.

3. I've started doing a new thing that I think is helping. It sounds sort of like common sense, but apparently it wasn't what I was doing. So here it is...
If you read a whole paragraph and go "I have no idea what that just said or meant" go back and figure it out. It doesn't matter if you spend 2 or 3 minutes on the paragraph (although it isn't ideal). I was getting 5/7 questions wrong sometimes because I ignored one paragraph that I just didn't give time to comprehend. I rather go into those 7 questions and attack them with a complete understanding with only 30 seconds remaining on the section than go into those 7 questions with 4 minutes left and lacking something important. No joke, I've done both before and I can make use of the 30 seconds and give my self a better shot at those questions (not ideal).

tldr: reread paragraphs that stump you.

Final thing I want to say:
Go watch some motivational videos and get back to it. It's actually 100% false that you can't improve on reading comprehension. The gains come slower than LG and LR but it is possible and likely if you work at it.