Getting to -0 in RC?

audreyvw

I'm looking for advice/resources for getting to -0 in the RC Section. I'm very consistently getting -3 on RC sections and am typically missing the "curve-breaker" questions. I usually finish all the questions but don't have time to go back and review the harder questions. What's the best way to drill these harder RC questions? Do I need to just improve my speed on easier questions?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Auntie2020

Following!

jordan.trent

Same!

yoder

same :-) if anyone has great advice, we are all ears.
my only guess, is read more efficiently because the questions I will typically miss are related to concepts very briefly mentioned and complex in their importance

JenniferKau

following

astonch65

following!

tayjaycee17

I want to improve

kirthi726-1

following!

BarbaraD

Might be a little unrelated but how did you improve your RC score to -3?

whatsmyname

which are the curve-breaker questions? I imagine inference is one of them?

julianaporoye27

I would like to know the answer to that too @BarbaraD lol

cholmies

following!

Ravinder

I have a simple solution that eventually helped me to get 177 (though, admittedly it took me a number of attempts). It is a bit counterintuitive but I found that going a little slower in the passage (even spending 30 sec to 1 min more per passage) to gain better understanding is very helpful and will actually allow you to "cut through" the answers much faster. You can regain much of the extra time spent in the passage by then doing two things: 1. pre-phrase almost every question (even general questions) so that you know ahead of time what you are looking for. 2. Then, read the answers slowly...one clause at a time...and ask yourself if the clause is accurate. If any word in the clause is inaccurate then just "kill" that answer choice and move on. You will find that vast majority of the answer choices can be killed in just the first clause or two. It takes practice to gain this skill of killing answer choices with barely reading the answer choices. I found the best way to gain this skill was to first do the passage quickly in real time and note the amount of time you spend on the passage and the time spent on the answer choices. Also, put a hashmark at the word that you "killed" the answer choice at on this first pass. Then take a few minutes break and reread the entire passage slowly and methodically noting every detail to gain complete understanding. Then redo all the questions slowly...first pre-phrasing each question more accurately this second time around. Then very slowly look to see what is the first word that you can now absolutely "kill" each wrong answer choice at. I call this the "Feedback Loop". The real learning takes place in comparing your first pass to the insights you now gain on the second pass- which provides you a very valuable "feedback". Quality is much more important than quantity. Just doing 10-20 will substantially improve this skill. As you go through more passages, try experimenting on spending more or less time in the passage on the first pass and see how that impacts the accuracy of how you can kill the answer choices earlier and earlier. I don't know if I am explaining this clearly. It is easier to show in practice. If you would like perhaps I can make a video of one passage and email it to those who want to try it. Hope this helps.

tams2018

@Ravinder said:
I have a simple solution that eventually helped me to get 177 (though, admittedly it took me a number of attempts). It is a bit counterintuitive but I found that going a little slower in the passage (even spending 30 sec to 1 min more per passage) to gain better understanding is very helpful and will actually allow you to "cut through" the answers much faster. You can regain much of the extra time spent in the passage by then doing two things: 1. pre-phrase almost every question (even general questions) so that you know ahead of time what you are looking for. 2. Then, read the answers slowly...one clause at a time...and ask yourself if the clause is accurate. If any word in the clause is inaccurate then just "kill" that answer choice and move on. You will find that vast majority of the answer choices can be killed in just the first clause or two. It takes practice to gain this skill of killing answer choices with barely reading the answer choices. I found the best way to gain this skill was to first do the passage quickly in real time and note the amount of time you spend on the passage and the time spent on the answer choices. Also, put a hashmark at the word that you "killed" the answer choice at on this first pass. Then take a few minutes break and reread the entire passage slowly and methodically noting every detail to gain complete understanding. Then redo all the questions slowly...first pre-phrasing each question more accurately this second time around. Then very slowly look to see what is the first word that you can now absolutely "kill" each wrong answer choice at. I call this the "Feedback Loop". The real learning takes place in comparing your first pass to the insights you now gain on the second pass- which provides you a very valuable "feedback". Quality is much more important than quantity. Just doing 10-20 will substantially improve this skill. As you go through more passages, try experimenting on spending more or less time in the passage on the first pass and see how that impacts the accuracy of how you can kill the answer choices earlier and earlier. I don't know if I am explaining this clearly. It is easier to show in practice. If you would like perhaps I can make a video of one passage and email it to those who want to try it. Hope this helps.

This seems like a very good method. By real time, you attempt a passage in 8 minutes and 45 seconds? Also how many passages do you attempt in one study session?

Ravinder

Yes, real time on average is 8 min 45 sec. Keep in mind easier passages can be done faster. I would do just do one or two passage per session until you get very skilled at killing the wrong answer choices as early as possible. Spending a lot more time on the second pass is most important.

lsat2016

@Ravinder said:
I have a simple solution that eventually helped me to get 177 (though, admittedly it took me a number of attempts). It is a bit counterintuitive but I found that going a little slower in the passage (even spending 30 sec to 1 min more per passage) to gain better understanding is very helpful and will actually allow you to "cut through" the answers much faster. You can regain much of the extra time spent in the passage by then doing two things: 1. pre-phrase almost every question (even general questions) so that you know ahead of time what you are looking for. 2. Then, read the answers slowly...one clause at a time...and ask yourself if the clause is accurate. If any word in the clause is inaccurate then just "kill" that answer choice and move on. You will find that vast majority of the answer choices can be killed in just the first clause or two. It takes practice to gain this skill of killing answer choices with barely reading the answer choices. I found the best way to gain this skill was to first do the passage quickly in real time and note the amount of time you spend on the passage and the time spent on the answer choices. Also, put a hashmark at the word that you "killed" the answer choice at on this first pass. Then take a few minutes break and reread the entire passage slowly and methodically noting every detail to gain complete understanding. Then redo all the questions slowly...first pre-phrasing each question more accurately this second time around. Then very slowly look to see what is the first word that you can now absolutely "kill" each wrong answer choice at. I call this the "Feedback Loop". The real learning takes place in comparing your first pass to the insights you now gain on the second pass- which provides you a very valuable "feedback". Quality is much more important than quantity. Just doing 10-20 will substantially improve this skill. As you go through more passages, try experimenting on spending more or less time in the passage on the first pass and see how that impacts the accuracy of how you can kill the answer choices earlier and earlier. I don't know if I am explaining this clearly. It is easier to show in practice. If you would like perhaps I can make a video of one passage and email it to those who want to try it. Hope this helps.

How much time do you take on average to read the passage, and then to do its questions, respectively? Could you create the video mentioned above taking a fresh (not done or seen before) RC section? How many did you miss in RC in your official take?

Your post is very useful. I have trouble with RC mainly with timing. With unlimited time I go perfect, but it's been impossible to do it in 35 mins.
I have a 17x score in official but with -5/-6 in RC (ran out of time), so I'm considering retake, but I usually get -5/-7 in new RC due to timing. I got there by reading more slowly similar to your approach (because speed reading was negating comprehension), taking upto 5-6 minutes to read the passage in some cases.