Reading Comp. Timing

jacquieabraham8-1

Hey I just had a quick question and wondered if anyone had some advice on how to get through all 4 passages on the reading comp section. Accuracy isn't really my problem, it seems like time is as I can only complete 2 passages. Any advice? How fast are some of you reading?

KevinLuminateLSAT

People who are completing 4 passages and maintaining high accuracy are usually spending about 2.5 to 4.5 minutes on reading each passage.

If you're very accurate but only getting to 2 passages, it's possible that you're spending too much time looking back to the passage for line support on every question. If you think this may be what's happening, try a couple of RC sections where you try to answer questions without going back to the passage at all except for questions that ask about specific lines. Your accuracy might dip a little bit, but don't worry, as that's not the point of this exercise. You want to see what it feels like to answer questions based solely on a strong understanding of the passage.

If you think you're taking too long on reading the passage, this can be caused by a lot of different things. For some small, quick potential fixes: Are you taking notes? If so, try not doing that and just saying in your mind what you'd be writing. Are you finding yourself rereading entire paragraphs or even multiple paragraphs? If so, try rereading individual sentences and clauses the moment that you don't understand it, instead of waiting to the end of a paragraph. And if you are getting lost in the details of a complicated example, try to step back and remember the overall point of the example; trust that this is more important than the details of the example itself, at least for your initial read of the passage.

It's possible that you might need a more intensive overhaul of the way you're reading passages or, if you haven't been studying too long, just more time practicing RC questions and getting used to the kinds of things the LSAT asks about and how they create trap answers.

Cant Get Right

Agreed with @KevinLuminateLSAT . I just want to specifically reinforce that you're going to need to bring down your accuracy rate, lol. That sounds counter-intuitive, but if you double your error rate and finish the section, you're going to do so much better overall. Testing well means taking risks; taking risks means missing some things you might not otherwise miss with a more cautious approach. But you're sacrificing about 11 points by only getting through two passages. That's not acceptable. So to do better, you're going to have to do worse.

jacquieabraham8-1

Yeah that's something I'm noticing. I've stopped taking notes which is what actually helped me get through 2 passages. But I feel like it's understanding the passage. I definitely go back and look for support if I'm not sure on something. And 7sage records the time I'm taking to read a passage and its sometimes shorter than the target time. It's just nerve wracking to only have a minute and a half to answer 7 questions on a passage...feels impossible and it definitely freaks me out. I spend time doing my low res. summaries and it helps me for the most part. But i typically take about 5 minutes to read a passage. Once i get to the questions that's where I eat up some of my time. How do I make sure I'm spending enough time understanding the passage? Also i started skipping some answers and going back to it if i feel that I'm taking too long

jacquieabraham8-1

I certainly cannot read a passage in 2.5 minutes and understand it enough to answer questions accurately. That's a real hit or miss for me. But I'll definitely take the advice! @"Cant Get Right" @KevinLuminateLSAT

Cant Get Right

Yeah, I average about a 4:00 minute read time. 3:15 is about where I max out, but I can go 5:00+ when I have to.

To figure out time management, start by committing to understand the passage. That’s not the place to cut time. If you don’t comprehend the reading, you should not perform well on a fair test of your reading comprehension.

From there, do the math.

So if I average a 4:00 read time, that’s 16 minutes for four passages. 35 minus 16 is 19 minutes. 19 minutes divided by 27 questions means I’ve got about 42 seconds per question.

That doesn’t necessarily tell me how to manage my time well, but it gives me a pretty clear understanding that I’ve to be aggressive, and I’m not going to get to refer back to the passage for confirmation as often as I’d like. I’m going to have to take risks and trust my memory and comprehension even where it’s not 100%.

Hope this is helpful to get you started! Just remember that RC is kinda uncomfortable if you’re doing it right. It takes a lot of practice and discipline to overcome, but trust your read and allow yourself some mistakes. Utilizing an acceptable margin of error is critical for maintaining pace and empowering aggression and acceptable risk management.

jacquieabraham8-1

@"Cant Get Right" Thank you!