Struggling BAD on Reading Comp. (HELP)

SharleenTakesLSAT

Hey Everyone,

As you have probably seen from the title, I am struggling HORRIBLY with the reading comp section, I always get about -15 wrong, even before I used 7Sage I never did this bad. I do well on all other sections, but can't seem to get any improvements on this on in particular.

Has there been any tips or tricks that have helped you overcome RC? I am taking the October LSAT next week and am worried that this section will ruin my score. I am losing hope for this section and filled with anxiety that I won't improve.

Any suggestions will be amazing, thank you

crystal0712

Something that helped me go from -7/9 to -4 is, and some might be against this but we get desperate sometimes, actually skipping the comparative passage all together. I always struggled with timing on RC, and when I read faster, my accuracy went down. So what my tutor taught me is as you go through the section, read the passages slowly, take your time really understanding what the passage is saying, and don't move on to the questions until you have a good understanding. Then, do the questions as normal. When you get to the comparative passage, pick a letter and answer that letter for all the questions. Don't even read the passage or questions, just fill in the letter and move on. Go back to in-depth reading and answering for the rest of the passages.

What you might find is because you skipped a passage, you'll have about 3-6 minutes left over to go back and review the skipped comparative passage (this will fluctuate as you get more confident with RC). When you go back to the comparative, don't read the passage, but skim over the questions and see which you can answer without actually reading the whole passage. These will be questions like ones that only deal with passage A/B, ones that reference a specific area of passage A/B, or structure questions that you might be able to point out. Look at the answer you selected while skipping and see if the answer makes sense. If it doesn't, change it to one that does make more sense or simply a different one.

Normally, with selecting the same letter for all of a passage's questions, at least one is going to be right. After that, your review with your extra time should help you get one or two more right. Now, the key to this strategy is that you must work on getting all of the questions right on the other passages that you took your time on. This might sound scary, but you might surprise yourself on how much you can understand and answer when you give yourself the time. If you get all the other passage problems correct, and you get at least one right with your skipping due to all of them being the same letter, you will automatically go down to -6/7 depending on how many questions the comparative passage has. Add the questions that you might get right from your second quick review of the comparative and you can bring that down to -4/5.

I HATED RC and I never thought I could conquer it, but this strategy has allowed me to be so comfortable with it because I can slow read and really understand the passages which makes the questions a lot easier, while still using analytical skills, that are easier to master than speed reading, to squeeze out those extra points. If you have any questions please reach out to me, I'd love to help a fellow RC struggler

sarakimmel

Agreed with @crystal0712 , with one caveat: I would skip whichever passage has the fewest questions (or one you are having particular trouble with, like a topic you know you struggle with). But yes, increasing your understanding and therefor accuracy by narrowing your focus and slowing down is key for a speedy improvement.

claw2023-1

@crystal0712 I'm so happy I saw your reply. Thank you!

hills1111

I agree with @crystal0712 that I leave the comparative until the end, but I would add that with the comparative, control-F will often be your friend if you're running out of time. Often the comparative passage will have questions that only deal with something in A or B and if you ctrl-F words in the answers, you will see they actually belong to the other passage and not the one the question refers to so you can quickly get rid of incorrect choices. Or the opposite, if a question is referring to something that should appear in both A and B, you can eliminate choices that only appear in one of the two.

I struggle hard with RC, but have found that often I get overwhelmed by trying to fit all 4 in so giving myself more time on 3 has definitely helped.

Cashhhyyy

@hills1111 said:
I agree with @crystal0712 that I leave the comparative until the end, but I would add that with the comparative, control-F will often be your friend if you're running out of time. Often the comparative passage will have questions that only deal with something in A or B and if you ctrl-F words in the answers, you will see they actually belong to the other passage and not the one the question refers to so you can quickly get rid of incorrect choices. Or the opposite, if a question is referring to something that should appear in both A and B, you can eliminate choices that only appear in one of the two.

I struggle hard with RC, but have found that often I get overwhelmed by trying to fit all 4 in so giving myself more time on 3 has definitely helped.

THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!!

claw2023-1

@hills1111 Wait you can control F on the actual exam? I haven't heard of that till now

SharleenTakesLSAT

@crystal0712 OMG THANK YOU!! I am definitely going to try it, thank you for your helpful words, I needed it

RC has just filled me with so much tension, it's a struggle for me!

SharleenTakesLSAT

@carolynlaw2022 Yes you can, also a time saver!

SharleenTakesLSAT

@sarakimmel thank you thank you for your advice, it is much needed

SharleenTakesLSAT

@hills1111 thank youuu for the advice!!

Smelly Cat

Have you made sure that untimed you are getting at least 90%+ accuracy rate?