How to Read More Efficiently

m.i.rivas

I'm a slow reader by nature, and years of school have pretty much taught me to skim everything I read for the main points to combat that. But studying for the LSAT, and especially LR, I've learned it's so important to read every single word to get the full meaning. When I have all the time in the world and when paragraphs aren't that complex it's usually not a problem.

The problem comes under timed pressure. I usually end up panicking and skimming to get main ideas. I end up missing questions that I easily could have gotten without that pressure.

While reviewing, I often find words I missed like "some" "many" "significantly" or "likely" that were the key to getting the question right. In Blind Review I really only miss 1-4 in LR and timed I miss more like 6 -10. The disparity is even greater in RC where I usually end up guessing on an entire passage for lack of time.

Did anyone else have similar struggles while learning to read for the LSAT? Are there any types of drills that helped? Or is it more of a long-term mindset change? Or any advice to overcome the mental aspect of the LSAT and avoid panicking would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you guys!!

Achen165

Hi there,

It definitely took me a tremendous amount of time and effort to read better. I’m still working on it, but I have seen tremendous improvement by loads of timed practice. I did problem sets, of full sections (timed) over and over again. I analyze how I spend time, making more of an effort up front whenever possible to try to visualize as I read and predict an answer when I can. There’s no supplement for practice. With time, it will definitely get better, even if it takes a while to adjust.

m.i.rivas

Thanks so much for the advice!