Do I hit a wall? Any advice would be appreciated, Thank you!!

jyang72

Hi Everyone,
In the beginning of June this summer, I was in the middle 150. In the last 4 prep test, I got 154 in prep test 63(BR 169), 160 in prep test 49(BR 172), 157 in prep test 68(BR170), and 160 in prep test 51(BR 174). RC is my worst section and I always tend to miss 10-12 questions in prep test and miss 4-6 questions in BR. Now I consider doing easiest question in each passage first and then going back to harder questions in each passage instead of trying to finishing up all the questions in one passage first then going to next passage. Usually I only have 3 or 4 minutes left for the last passage and I missed some questions that I could have got right given enough time. I tend to spend 3.5 minutes on the passage but easily got stuck in questions. Besides the Economist, I am also reading some classy British Literature such as the Great Expectation. Since i am not a native English speaker , I think reading some novels will help my reading skill.
This is my raw score and BR score from the recent 4 prep tests for the reference:
Prep test 63, first LR 20 (BR 21), LG 17 (BR 23), second LR14 (BR 23), RC13 (BR 22) Raw score 64, BR score 89.
Prep test 49, LG 21(BR 22), first LR19 (BR 24), RC 17 (BR 21), second LR 19 (BR 25), Raw score 76, BR score 92.
Prep test 68, RC 13 (BR 24), first LR 21 (BR 22), second LR19 (BR 20), LG16 (BR 23), Raw score 69, BR score 89.
Prep test 51, first LR 18(BR 23), RC16 (BR 24), second LR18 (BR 24), LG 22 (BR 22), Raw score 74, BR score 93.

Still, when I do RC and LR, I was always frustrated by getting stuck on questions and spending 2 minutes on some hard questions and still did not get it right. I usually spend 9 to 10 hours doing BR and aim to get 180 in BR. I usually can get LR questions right during BR. Sorry for typing so much. What would guys say my problem is? Is it just timing or fundamental issues? Besides the Economist, would reading some difficult novel help my reading skill? Thank you guys for bearing this long post!

Pacifico

If your BRs are that high then it is more timing than it is fundamentals. Though if you're spending 9 to 10 hours on BR to hit those numbers then I'd say there are some issues with the fundamentals that need to be addressed since there's no way it should take you that long. Despite your relatively good English in your post, it sounds like reading quickly under pressure for argument structure is what might be tripping you up. Unfortunately I don't really think reading the Economist or anything else will provide a quick fix for that, since combining speed with understanding is much easier if you can already read quickly under pressure.

Nonetheless, I would read anything and everything you can get your hands on, but I would stay away from novels simply because you need to be reading for argument structure and novels will not have that in the way that you need them to, and you don't read novels like you need to read on the LSAT. Try reading some Supreme Court or other lower court opinions (or listening to them). Science, Nature, Scientific American and other such publications can help you for science passage and how arguments are made in those fields.

What did you use to prep for the LSAT? If you didn't use it, I think that the LSAT Trainer would help give you the right mentality for how you need to be reading during the LSAT in order to be effective. And if you can work your way through the argument structure during LR, then you need to apply that same analytical approach to RC and then you should see it pay dividends there.

jyang72

I used the LSAT Trainer and I also drilled almost all Cambridge RC passages, but I still miss a lot of questions in RC, do you think I need to reread the Trainer? It seems that novels won't help and I will try reading something more difficult. Do you think I need to keep doing prep test or go back to fundamental? Thank you for your advice! @Pacifico

Pacifico

I would at least reread all the Trainer sections on RC, as well as the ones on LR that talk about reasoning structure, and of course the introduction. I think you should try drilling more timed RC passages, both individually and as full sections. I would mix it up between timing with a stopwatch, and timing with a timer to see how the pressure affects you.

On average you're likely to have one passage about law, one about a hard science, one about a soft science, and one about history. Of course, there will be exceptions to this, or there may be some overlap. Mike Kim writes that there will be one each on "law, science, history, and humanities," which is pretty much saying the same thing since the humanities can have a pretty broad interpretation. Finding challenging works in these areas to read will likely benefit you in the long run. Even if you don't gain a deep understanding of all of these areas, just gaining a familiarization with some common terminologies will help you greatly. Hit me up if you have any other questions. Good luck!

jyang72

@Pacifico , Thank you for your advice again. But when I do RC, I always struggled with if I should finish questions based on my short-term memory or keep going back to the passage. I have some trouble with inference questions and most strongly supported questions in RC. If I try to finish questions based on my short-term memory, my last RC passage would suffer since I rush through it and could not have a well-built short-term memory. What else should I do to improve? Thank you!!!

Pacifico

I can't remember all the details of what he says off the top of my head but Mike Kim details these issues in one of the RC chapters. There are certain question types you should be able to do from memory, while others you need to confirm only your answer in the passage, while others you may need to disconfirm several choices. I'd revisit those and work on drilling individual passages to improve your memory and speed. If you use 7Sage then the memory method might work well for you, but there is a lot in the Trainer that will help as well. At a certain point though you just have to drill drill drill and not worry about what you've done so far.

jyang72

@Pacifico. This is wonderful. I will start drilling right away. But how do you drill RC usually? Identify main point, purpose, the purpose of each paragraph?

Moosader

I didn't read everything that was said because I am lazy, but the Trainer has good things to say about RC, especially timing (chapter 25 and another later). Take good notes on his timing chapter.

For me, I saw good improvements by applying LR strategy to RC: stay focused on the specific task and many answers (at least 3, but usually all) can be eliminated because they don't refer to the task, or only part of the task. I hope that helps.

jyang72

@mheannarino Thanks for your advice. I will go back to the Trainer right away.

Pacifico

@jyang72 said:
@Pacifico. This is wonderful. I will start drilling right away. But how do you drill RC usually? Identify main point, purpose, the purpose of each paragraph?

I was -9 in RC on my diagnostic and by the time I got through the curriculum I was averaging -2 to -3 on my first few PTs. I've made some dumb mistakes in the RC sections on my last couple of PTs (my first isolated bubbling error, misreading, etc.) But nothing has worried me too much since my wrong answers are spread out across at least two passages and it's not like I was fundamentally not understanding an entire passage. I just need to stay focused a little more and keep my mind from wandering during some of the boring stuff. I've almost never had timing issues with RC so I haven't needed to address that either.

I also tend to do really well on isolated passages if and when I drill, so I don't really find that I get as much out of that because my issues don't really have as much to do with lack of skill as they do with lack of application of those skills, which hits me during the full PTs much more significantly. I've found it much more helpful to just have a well rounded subject matter knowledge base so I listen to a variety of audiobooks, read a lot of news on varied topics, which helps me by simply developing a familiarity and common vocabulary for many different subject areas.

That being said, at this stage in the game I still need to be in a test mindset in order to do well on a PT so I have started drilling 1 RC passage, 1-2 games, and about 10 or so questions from an LR section (a full section not a problem set, so I can see a variety of question types). This has been more than enough RC for me (along with the PT itself of course), and I'm going to continue with this until I start to see major issues coming up. Since I've started PTing, LR has been the only area where I have seen major issues so that's the only section that I drill out of need, and I drill LG just because it's fun.

For you it sounds like the memory method would be a good approach to work on the timing/retention issues, and really digging into Mike Kim's methodology should help bring a lot of that together for you. Whether you've got some old PTs to cannibalize for RC, or just some RC packets, I think taking at least half of them and really working through them methodically, and even repeating them multiple times, should help you in speed, retention and comprehension. You might almost want to fool proof some RC passages just to develop your English skills and your reasoning structure recognition. Perhaps doing a more drawn out version of the memory method could be of help to you, one in which you spend time rewriting the major points, author's opinions, overall structure, reasoning behind each paragraph, etc. The more you can draw out of a given passage, the more it will help build your skills for future ones.

jyang72

@Pacifico . Thank you man. I think RC Training is a great way to improve my English reading and short-term memory. LSAT is not only the way to go to Law school but a great way to prepare us to study in Law school.