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Few to zero wrong on RC... How do they do it?

Mark TenorioMark Tenorio Free Trial Member
edited May 2013 in Reading Comprehension 299 karma
Does anyone know how people can get few (like 1 or 2) to zero wrong on RC. I find it ridiculously hard sometimes to attain the necessary information within 8-9 minutes and to answer the questions for each passage.

Are those people just going back and forth between the Q and passage really really fast?

Comments

  • Litian.ChenLitian.Chen Free Trial Member
    136 karma
    i think its because they know what to skip during the first time reading and can locate those details really fast when they need answers from them
  • Mark TenorioMark Tenorio Free Trial Member
    299 karma
    Hmm interesting.
  • Quinn NguyenQuinn Nguyen Free Trial Member
    94 karma
    Hey Mark, have you tried pre-skimming (skimming before you read)? Graeme taught me that trick and it's actually helped a lot. Scan for the subject matter, the first line of each paragraph, and pre-determine the author's point.

    I finally, finally made it to a point where I can finish an entire RC section in time and each passage in < 7 minutes.

    But really, what helped the most was JY's advice to not linger over hard questions. The dialogue inside my head goes: " circle your gut feeling and get the hell outta there!" This helped loads.
  • Quinn NguyenQuinn Nguyen Free Trial Member
    edited May 2013 94 karma
    That's with liberal arts/legal passages, though. I'm a goner with science.

    I have no love for platypuses. None!
  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    13940 karma
    !!! It's a mammal that lays eggs (the only one!) It delivers venom from its hind foot and despite that, it's still adorable.
  • Mark TenorioMark Tenorio Free Trial Member
    299 karma
    Hmm, I dont know if that worked or if im doing improperly. Just did PT 65 and I was kinda lost on the last passage :/
  • Mark TenorioMark Tenorio Free Trial Member
    299 karma
    O how i miss the greek tragedy passage.
  • Quinn NguyenQuinn Nguyen Free Trial Member
    edited May 2013 94 karma
    @JY

    Whoa, shoots venom from one foot?! I didn't know that.

    Okay, I'll stop taking out my RC frustration on adorable semiaquatic mammals. Sigh. Thanks for keeping me in check.
  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    13940 karma
    On behalf of platypus around the world, I merrily accept your implied apology.
  • Mark TenorioMark Tenorio Free Trial Member
    299 karma
    @Quinn

    The problem I have trouble with is when I skim read, I don't have the time to make those inferences or have time to assess the passage. At most I can determine the authors attitude and MP of the passage. i have trouble with the tiny details they use for the Q stems.
  • Quinn NguyenQuinn Nguyen Free Trial Member
    94 karma
    @Mark Me too. Currently being killed on details. The answer is obvious during blind review, only bc I read the surrounding text.

    I tried this new strategy today: separate inference from MP/Author's attitude questions. Or do inference questions first. My trouble is switching between "fact finding questions" and "general feeling questions" -- taking care of the questions you're good at might free you up to read inference questions closely?

    So down for a reading comp review session. Those with jedi-level RC skills are welcome to join!
  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    13940 karma
    Good discussion here! I'll add that a lot of the difficulty and time burnt for RC comes from trying to distinguish amongst the answer choices. For me, the harder RC questions are always ones where the right answer is subtle (it doesn't scream I'm right) and the wrong ones are attractive. So I tend to have better luck eliminating the wrong ones more than feeling attracted to the right ones.
  • Mark TenorioMark Tenorio Free Trial Member
    edited May 2013 299 karma
    Okay, so I did something new today for BR and tested what would happen if I read at a pace I was comfortable with. I took 2.5-3 minutes reading the passage trying to understand it. It took me about 4-6 minutes answering the questions. So it would take me around 7-9 minutes depending on the passage (6 if it was a really easy passage). I think I'm going to use this strategy instead of skimming it fast. I just can't seem to be actively reading if I were to read at 500 wpm...
  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    13940 karma
    That's a good division of time.
  • Mark TenorioMark Tenorio Free Trial Member
    299 karma
    @J.Y. You make RC look so easy lol.
  • Samarth ChaddhaSamarth Chaddha Free Trial Member
    35 karma
    Glad to see a discussion on RC here. Does anybody feel like they need an explanation on any old passage from RC? Maybe we can boil it down to one passage to request the 7sage team for one? Not sure if they will appeal to the request, but its worth a shot. I find JY's grinding through the passages very helpful, and I'm getting greedy for some more especially on the earlier PT's (before PTs 45 etc). Maybe a nice, dirty science passage outlining the death of platypuses due to excessive C02 mixed with its embroyonic polarity gone bonkers?

    Just a shoutout to see if others feel the same way...
  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    13940 karma
    Yeah, please vote (with the "Like" button). I think with some pressure I'll actually make them.
  • Quinn NguyenQuinn Nguyen Free Trial Member
    94 karma
    "Maybe a nice, dirty science passage outlining the death of platypuses due to excessive C02 mixed with its embroyonic polarity gone bonkers? "

    Samarth, what you are suggesting sounds like hell on earth. And yes, I would like to participate.
  • Mark TenorioMark Tenorio Free Trial Member
    299 karma
    @Quinn You didn't like the palytapus reading? i thought that one was alright. The one I hated the most was the riddled basin of attraction.
  • Amir ShakoorianAmir Shakoorian Free Trial Member
    57 karma
    This will sound mean but I'm glad i'm not the only one who runs out of time in finishing the RC section (I always run out of time with a whole passage remaining). I think I'm at a particular disadvantage because English is not my first language (as i imagine is the case with some other 7Sagers) and I am slow at reading even the most simple writings (think Harry Potter). I'm not taking the LSAT until October and I'm hoping my recent subscriptions to The Economist and Scientific American will pay off.
  • YZYZ Free Trial Member
    37 karma
    @Quinn, i feel the same
  • YZYZ Free Trial Member
    37 karma
    @Mark, I love basin of attraction, i thought that one is not too scientific...:)
  • YZYZ Free Trial Member
    37 karma
    @Samarth, i love the idea too!
  • PeterPeter Free Trial Member
    edited June 2013 90 karma
    ahh I've gotten at least one wrong on every law passage. I probably should just take the hint.
  • jpak822jpak822 Free Trial Member
    edited June 2013 23 karma
    Over the past few months, I've been practicing skimming and then attacking questions for the first 2 passages... basically I have an attack plan to read and answer questions for the first 2 passages within 15 minutes (skipping up to 2 detail-except questions, and then spending the remaining 20 minutes for the last 2 passages).

    For easier RC sections I now have up to 5 minutes to check over some questions I guessed earlier, and at least 2/3 minutes to check over 1/2 hard questions

    This is my plan of attack:

    I spend the first minute of the 35 minutes quickly reading the first few lines of each passage to determine my passage order... I usually tackle the following passages as the first 2:
    1) Non-humanity diversity (non-art/literature/film) - talks about women's issues, african american and native american racial equality issues, immigrant issues
    2) Legal - talking about some system flaw or the way in which the law helps ppl
    3) Science - typical dense passages with a lot of details (I basically skim over the details, noting the conclusions and main ideas discussed)

    The last 2 I do are:
    4) Legal - talks about some theory or reasoning behind the law (very dense passages and hard to understand even if you do spend 5 minutes reading...)
    5) Standard humanity - talks about literature, art, economics, politics, philosophy, etc... even if it talks about some african american or asian american achieving/creating sth great
    6) Science - ecology or evolution... these tend to be more humanity like in that it talks about some social issues in which something impacts the well-being or understanding of human beings

    The reason for doing numbers 1 through 3 first is that their main points and passage structures/flows are quite predictable.. This is why I can skim through 10-30% percent of the passage and still get most of the questions right (the time consuming part is to go back to the question to answer detail questions.. but even if you read in detail, you won't remember it anyway... thus its a waste of time!!!)
  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    13940 karma
    @jpak822 this is great! Everyone should try to understand more about which RC passages are especially though for them.
  • Jackson MejiaJackson Mejia Free Trial Member
    5 karma
    jpak822- I think you have seriously saved my June Lsat. I was consistently getting 2-3 wrong on the RC section so I exclusively focused on the LR and AR which I was able to get down to where I feel comfortable for the schools I would like to attend. Problem was that my RC started sliding until I hit a wall this week and got 11 questions wrong. it wasnt until I read your post that I noticed that about a week and a half ago I changed the way I approached the RC. instead of reading for the important information I was following Mark Tenorio's advise and carefully reading every single word. the problem is that you just cant remember everything- and you hurt yourself - by not giving yourself sufficient time to go back to the passage when you have to for specific reasons. After reading your post- I did a few RC sections using your technique, what I originally had been doing. I was done 5 minutes early and was back down to 3-4 wrong. I can live with that. thanks again.
  • jpak822jpak822 Free Trial Member
    edited June 2013 23 karma
    @Jackson Mejia - glad to be of help mate!
  • Jackson MejiaJackson Mejia Free Trial Member
    5 karma
    took the test on the 10th. I had at least 5 minutes to go back an recheck my answers on one of the RC had about 8 minutes on the second. i am hoping the first was experimental. in either case I had enough time to go back and double check my answers and on two occasions I was able to pick what I felt was a better answer on a second go around. I am extremely pleased with how June's Lsat went. thanks again Jpak
  • linfeng0831192linfeng0831192 Free Trial Member
    3 karma
    @jpak822 really, thank you!
  • MaxineSPMaxineSP Alum Member
    83 karma
    What helped me improve was pretending I was very interested in the content. I am constantly asking myself questions in my head whilst reading, even if I don't actually care in real life. For example, if the section is about medieval art, for those 8 minutes, I mentally pretend medieval art is my passion. I want to know everything there is to know about medieval art. This active reading helps me retain the information better.
  • kmarie7kmarie7 Alum Member
    208 karma
    What I have learned is I do better not underlining much at all. I am slowly bringing my RC score down by just reading, and not stressing about what should be underlined. I realize this does not work for everyone, but you just really have to find what works for you.
  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    27809 karma
    Wow, you guys are digging deep!
  • blah170blahblah170blah Alum Inactive ⭐
    3545 karma
    @"Cant Get Right" I was thinking the same thing. I was like, "Wow this is a really interesting discussion ... what this was from... 3 YEARS AGO?!" WHOA!
  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    27809 karma
    Yeah, great thread though, so definitely a good one to resurface.
  • inactiveinactive Alum Member
    12637 karma
    Zombie thread... o.o

    image
  • stepharizonastepharizona Alum Member
    edited July 2016 3197 karma
    @"Dillon A. Wright" said:
    Zombie thread... o.o
    The related discussions area strikes again :) But I too was like wow this is great JY is posting a lot oh wow 3 years!
  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    27809 karma
    @"J.Y. Ping" said:
    !!! It's a mammal that lays eggs (the only one!) It delivers venom from its hind foot and despite that, it's still adorable.
    Tastes amazing too.
  • inactiveinactive Alum Member
    12637 karma
    @"Cant Get Right" said:
    Tastes amazing too.
    image
  • AlejandroAlejandro Member Inactive ⭐
    2424 karma
    platypuses are vicious, creatures of the devil.
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