Navigating Reading Comp Passages

sumaiyarehmann

I find the way 7sage goes through the reading comp passages soooo useful. Although I have one problem and do not really know how to navigate it. If I take my time when going through the RC passages and review it the way I learn in the videos, I find myself taking 30 minutes to do 2 passages...and that's just not good.
How do you guys condense your time reviewing the passages, while using JY's method?

kwyoung707

I've only done 5 PT's so far so take this with a grain of salt. On this last PT tho, I got my current best timed score of a 161 with my best RC section as well of -8.

So I do the low resolution summaries for passages that are on topics I don't like (art) or understand (also art) so I can at least have some basic structure and comprehension of what's going on. For topics I am aware of or find interesting, I skim the first and last 2 sentences of each paragraph. That way, I get a sense of the structure of the passage, the main point of the passage, and then the questions that refer to specific lines in the text are a given since you just use context clues surrounding said sentences. The main issue for me in the "infer" and "imply" questions. Those actually require some understanding of the text and at least in the PT's I've done, I haven't seen an infer or imply question that references lines in the text so it makes me have to skim and find where the inference is being drawn from.

Also, reading the questions before the passage has done wonders for me. A lot of the passages are intentionally dense and full of words no normal person would use and I've found that you don't even really need to understand or read any of that to get a large portion of the questions right.

Skipping passages with only 5 questions too. Unless it's a really short passage, I skip it until the end since it has the least amount of points possible for a potentially high amount of time invested.

That's my experience and strategy so far though and I still have a few more months of prep. All in all, consistent practice is the main thing you can do to get better and BR.

POGGINGmywaytolawschool

I found that I was on the same boat as you for a really long time. But I actually greatly improved my score just by not thinking too much. Generally when I read I read and I make a mental note or a physical note on structure and I usually will highlight some keywords to remind me of what the role of the passage is. And that should take care of about half of the questions. I found that when I pay attention only to structure I 1) get through passages faster and 2) actually carve out time to take a second look when it's a detail oriented question.

I think for the first few untimed practices while you're getting used to it, definitely use JY's method. But at some point it will take way too long so instead trust that the efforts you put in will help you because when you do the passages enough you will subconsciously know what you're looking for.

What put this into perspective for me was when I decided that I should try to do one set of questions reading the question just once without looking back at the passage and without doing any highlights, doubling back and rethinking about what I just read and instead just making a mental note of structure and purpose of each paragraph. I wound up doing really well with 80% accuracy on a 4 level set and with 30 seconds to spare.

I would say that on your next attempt read through the passage just once and head straight to the questions without looking back. This is more of a "trust in yourself" exercise but it worked wonders for me.

Obviously not perfect yet on a regular timed exam I still get about 8 RC questions wrong. So I'll be following this thread as well!

sumaiyarehmann

Yeah I just tried that, and it did not go as well for me. I feel like theres some questions where I genuinely have to look back in the passage. The passage feels so dull I don't know what's going wrong. I summarize the paragraphs with a low-resolution summary...but even then I am not doing well.

I plan on taking my first PT this Friday. I've been studying about 3 weeks (2 weeks LR, 1 RC) and I want to see how it goes. I take my exam in August and am hoping that I reach the score I need...

Question: How long into using 7sage/ following the methods do you begin to see improvement? I only started 7sage on Monday. Perhaps I need to get more familiar to see improvement? What do you think/suggest?

POGGINGmywaytolawschool

I would say if you just started using 7Sage to honestly not sweat it. It took me a while to get used to the actual questions and passage setups in itself. Just the exposure to the type of language used is helpful. Might take a couple weeks to be completely comfortable with it. Until then what I would do is continue breaking down the passages in the way JY taught. Then once you feel like you can "predict" the questions/ structure and the answers and you're still not doing well then maybe try this method again to see if you have improved. For me, because the sentences were so convoluted it took an entire month to get used to it.

Also I ramped up on the amount of reading that I do on the daily. I read at least 30 minutes a day now and whenever I'm free. Getting used to the different ways words are used was also extremely helpful.

If anything, you're allowed to take the LSAT more than once. So study hard for the August one but if you don't wind up with the score you want don't stress since you can still take the September or October one. Even the November one wouldn't be too late.

Also really breaking down logical reasoning questions and understanding those structures and reasoning really helped with reading comprehension as well.

GOOD LUCK!

sumaiyarehmann

Yeah I just tried that, and it did not go as well for me. I feel like theres some questions where I genuinely have to look back in the passage. The passage feels so dull I don't know what's going wrong. I summarize the paragraphs with a low-resolution summary...but even then I am not doing well.

I took my first PT AND DID HORRIBLE. Very discouraging but I'm trying to blind review now.

Question: How long into using 7sage/ following the methods do you begin to see improvement? I only started 7sage on Monday. Perhaps I need to get more familiar to see improvement? What do you think/suggest