To those scoring high in RC

Matthew LLC

Do you read for specific details? Or do you just vaguely remember where details they are? I'm trying to cut down on my time in RC, but I'm having a problem quickly locating detail questions. How do you do it? For me, I can read a passage and understand the main point, the relationships between the paragraphs, and the author's attitude, but I take too much time on detail-oriented questions. It's either I look at a passage broadly, or in detail, but not both.

Thanks.

brna0714

My RC has gotten much stronger as of late (-0/-1 in the last few sections I've done) and I really believe it's all about pausing while you're reading to make sure you- 1. clearly understand the purpose behind the paragraph you've just read and 2. link it up with previous paragraphs and ideas. This pausing also helps me create a mental image of where everything is in the passage which allows me to refer back quickly for detail questions. I don't read all that fast generally (I take about 3 minutes to read the passage) but I do know when to speed through information (background, procedures in an experiment, how to construct a Koch curve, whatever) and when I need to be 100% sure that I understand something (main point, other people's argument). I speed up and slow down as needed.

All of the pausing and rereading seems counterintuitive since most people are concerned about time in RC but it has really helped me fly through the questions. I never thought I'd be able to finish an RC section with 5 minutes left but I'm doing it now because I take the time upfront to really understand the passage and to anticipate the questions and answers as I read.

I've also worked through Manhattan RC; I found it very helpful. One of their strategies involves trying to anticipate what the author will say next or where the passage is headed based of your experience with other LSAT passages (since they are generally very, very formulaic). This has done the most, I feel, to improve my speed because I am actively processing as I read.

Hope that helps!

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You know, I have a completely opposite strategy from @brna0714

I typically get -0 to -2 in reading comp. I started around -8 to -10, so I'm feeling pretty good.

The first thing that dramatically improved my RC was when I stopped highlighting and underlining and read faster. I also had been stopping/pausing after long sentences/paragraphs, like brna0714 suggests, and it seems like all of that just confused me and broke my train of thought. As soon as I stopped I improved massively.

The other huge thing that I did that helped me was starting to spend vast amounts of time on the passage. I normally read each paragraph twice now. I reread anything that I don't feel I understand 98% the first time. I also reread copiously on the questions, so if a question mentions even one sentence, I will probably reread the whole paragraph.

I feel that all of that, spending more time on the passage and rereading as necessary, also paying more attention to that and less to hunting down important stuff (through underlining) brings me closer to the passage and helps me understand what is going on.

brna0714

@josephellengar 's strategy may work better for you, reading is a very individual task and I'd argue that there is no such thing as one side fits all approach. It's just a matter of trying several strategies and figuring out what works best for you.

visualcreed

Agreed that different strategies work for different people. I was averaging -8/-9 until recently where I now usually at worst get -3. I attribute my jump to scribbling on the page as I read. To be honest I underline and take notes as I read but I don't look back at my scribblings during the questions. Just the act of putting a pencil to paper helps me to keep focused and allow me to have greater comprehension.

brna0714

Sort of makes me wonder if people improve because of repeat exposure and then attribute their improvement to whatever strategy they implemented most recently or happen to be using at the time. Could be just me but I definitely felt like I had hit a wall with RC and wasn't seeing any improvement and then one day things just "clicked." I guess I'll qualify my earlier comment.. It could causation or it could be only correlation.

Pacifico

I've found that the LR curriculum, practice problems and problem sets have actually helped me more than anything else on RC. I think this is because the massive quantity of LR practice has forced me to read differently than I used to, my reading now is much more critical even without sacrificing speed. I first noticed this change when I was writing an article review for a class this past month, which I often have to do, but this time it was significantly different. After two months of almost nothing but Logic lessons and LR work, I could actually feel how differently I was reading. An added benefit is that this style of reading has kept me engaged so I don't lose interest in boring passages as easily since I am constantly critiquing the passage in my head. I could definitely see how 7Sage's Memory Method could work well for a lot of people, but for me it just gets in the way of the flow as @josephellengar mentioned. Fortunately their LR lessons more than made up for it and have definitely been key to my improvements where I had been -10 or more on RC down to -3 at most.

lschoolgo

@brna, josephell, pacifico can you post which PTs' RC are you referring to for the scores?

brna, how much time do you spend on question per passage. since you are finishing with 5 mins to spare, it seems you do a passage in around 7 mins.

josephhell pacifico, how much time you typically do the first read in, and how much additional time you spend re-reading the passage when doing questions. how do you manage time or do you run out of time?

amanda_kw

@brna0714 Thanks for the advice. I'm wondering if you had a moment of going from missing -3 to missing -0/-1. I was missing 7 and am now missing about 3, but I'm really trying to get to that -0/-1. I'll try your strategies. Getting the purpose of the passage and applying that to questions has definitely been the most helpful.

brna0714

@amanda_kw Yes, -3/-4 was my MO for a long time. I hope they work for you. Recognizing when something is significant and when it's not has helped improve my speed and accuracy.

@lschoolgo I aim to finish each passage in 7'30" but it varies. If I can get through a super easy first or second passage in 5 minutes then I use that extra time on a harder passage later on. I try not to sacrifice accuracy for speed. I'm on PT 57 and have been working through the tests in chronological order if that helps (beginning with 39). I also put together my own sections from the Cambridge Packets for practice with timing.

AlexanderL0

If you guys are getting -0 to -3 what are your PT scores? RC is my worst section, if I had -3 on RC my PT scores would be close to 170. I average -5 on LR and -5 on LG but still -10 on RC

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@lschoolgo

Can you post which PTs' RC are you referring to for the scores?

I've been working my way through the early tests. So far I've done 1-36. I also simultaneously did 40-54 and 61+62. The later ones I normally get maybe one more question wrong per passage.

How much time you typically do the first read in, and how much additional time you spend re-reading the passage when doing questions. how do you manage time or do you run out of time?

If I don't reread I spend about 3:30 on the passage. Normally I will reread at least one paragraph, which takes about an extra 45 seconds per paragraph. During the questions I reread copiously, so unless I know the answer right off the bat, I'll probably spend an extra 30 seconds per question rereading. I don't do it quite as in-depth the first time. Mostly I'm deep-skimming just to reinforce the material in my head.

I typically finish with about 5 minutes to spare and use that to go back to whatever questions I circles the first time. I have a very high bar for changing my answers when I check because I always get it wrong the second time.

lschoolgo

@brna0714
So you read the passage in about 3mins reading it thoroughly and then take about 4:30 min on average to do questions? do you usually get through the questions within the 4:30 min even if you have to refer back to the passage and re-read paragraphs for detail questions?

an additional thing to note however is that late 50s is right around the PT# when RC began to become much harder, which has been the trend since.

----------quote
@lschoolgo I aim to finish each passage in 7'30" but it varies. If I can get through a super easy first or second passage in 5 minutes then I use that extra time on a harder passage later on. I try not to sacrifice accuracy for speed. I'm on PT 57 and have been working through the tests in chronological order if that helps (beginning with 39). I also put together my own sections from the Cambridge Packets for practice with timing.

lschoolgo

@josephhellanger

i have a somewhat similar approach to doing the initial read of the passage fast, but I thought, in your first post in this thread, you were referring to doing the first read much faster than 3:30 min. is it correct that you take 3:30 mins to do the read of the passage?

it probably means that with reread you spend about ~5:00 mins on the passage (assuming 3:30 first read plus 2 pargraph rereads 2 * 0:45). That would leave you just about 2:00 min to do all questions in a passage if you wanted to finish with 5 minutes remaining in the section.

how do you finish all questions in a passage in just about 2:00 min considering you reread for around 0:30 min per question?

---------------- quote josephhellanger
I've been working my way through the early tests. So far I've done 1-36. I also simultaneously did 40-54 and 61+62. The later ones I normally get maybe one more question wrong per passage.

If I don't reread I spend about 3:30 on the passage. Normally I will reread at least one paragraph, which takes about an extra 45 seconds per paragraph. During the questions I reread copiously, so unless I know the answer right off the bat, I'll probably spend an extra 30 seconds per question rereading. I don't do it quite as in-depth the first time. Mostly I'm deep-skimming just to reinforce the material in my head.

I typically finish with about 5 minutes to spare and use that to go back to whatever questions I circles the first time. I have a very high bar for changing my answers when I check because I always get it wrong the second time.

brna0714

@lschoolgo-
Yes, I am aware of the shift in difficulty around PT 57 or so. I've tried out my strategies on a couple of PTs in the mid to late 60's and have had similar success. I didn't find the passages themselves to be more difficult in and of themselves; I felt there *may* have been a few more "trap" answer choices than was typical for earlier PTs. Bringing in careful, critical analysis of the wording the answer choices has helped here (this is not a different skill set from what is used in LR).

As for your other question- I use approximately 4'30" to answer questions. I refer back only when the question refers to particular lines in the passage or for detail questions that I can't recall right away (sometimes it pays to trust your memory but I'd imagine that varies test taker to test taker). Having the strong mental image helps me get in and out of the passage quickly so that if I have to return to it, my time is spent reading and not searching.

Disclaimer: I am by no means offering up my advice as expert. I am simply sharing information that I wished someone had shared with me months ago.

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@lschoolgo

Hmm, I may have had my guesses on the timing a little bit wrong here. But I think the main idea of my strategy stands.

i have a somewhat similar approach to doing the initial read of the passage fast, but I thought, in your first post in this thread, you were referring to doing the first read much faster than 3:30 min. is it correct that you take 3:30 mins to do the read of the passage?

Yes, my first read is very thorough. That's where I tend to do a lot of the reread and make sure that I understand 98% of what they are saying as well as the thrust/main point/attitude of the author.

it probably means that with reread you spend about ~5:00 mins on the passage (assuming 3:30 first read plus 2 pargraph rereads 2 * 0:45). That would leave you just about 2:00 min to do all questions in a passage if you wanted to finish with 5 minutes remaining in the section.

how do you finish all questions in a passage in just about 2:00 min considering you reread for around 0:30 min per question?

I am sure about 5:00 remaining, and pretty sure about 3:30. Not 100% sure about the other times I gave. Anyway, I reread an entire paragraph on the questions only if they are mentioning a specific part of the passage. I will not reread on "main point," for example, nor will I reread on "attitude/opinion/agree" questions if I already have a *very* good idea of what the author is saying. For those questions I may not refer back at all.

I guess the best way to characterize my strategy is that I am looking to be wholly confidence that I understand the passage. I try not to make any bargains in terms of "didn't quite get that, but choosing an answer to save time." And I do that with very little regard for how much time it takes me (a lot). This thoroughness allows me to save time later in the passage and do some questions in only 10 or 15 seconds if I already picked up on the autgors point.