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2 Likes
Anyone crushing Reading Comprehension(RC)?
Mia Fairweather
Alum Member
I would LOVE to hear from someone that just kills Reading Comp every time you get to a passage. What is it that you do? Have you always done well at RC or did you have to really work at it? what changes did you make?
Comments
What do you consider 'crushing'?
Just here to say: lol no. Not me. It is the bane of my existence. Hopefully someone else can help haha.
I've always done pretty well at RC-- I got -3 on my diagnostic, for example, and now I'm getting -0. But there's a lot of things that I've done throughout life and that I do now that I think really help.
My other tip? READ. A lot. I know you're busy studying, but if you want to become a lawyer, there's a good chance that you've already been reading for your entire life.
This is all gold ^^
Great advice @hawaiihi !!!
@hawaiihi Awesome advice! Thank you!!!!!
@10000019 like just kicking a** on RC someone who is able to get -0 on RC sections, but maybe started off doing not too hot, someone who really struggled with it in the beginning but has really made strong improvements
@michael_theodore @tylerdschreur10 i'm glad you find it helpful! RC can be a real beast but we can definitely conquer it! Good luck to all of us!
What exactly do you mean by "writing down the specific line numbers that apply to the multiple choice answers to either rule them out or show that they are the right one"? do you go back in the passage and see if you can find the information in the passage since most RC questions are basically Must Be True questions? Based on what you said I am thinking that you attempt to back up the information in the answer choice with a line reference and if you can't this is an indication that the answer choice is incorrect...is that right?
do you have a sample of the info from your spreadsheet? I am trying to figure out how to simplify my typed explanations.
Also, I am loving the LSAT Master Sheet that you shared thank you so much for that
Last thing, any suggestion for where to find great science passages to read?
@hawaiihi you da bestest
Yes that's exactly what I mean! Go back and write down the line reference that seems to indicate which choice is correct. if you've got time (i.e. untimed passage), I'll go back and write down a line reference if it rules out a choice as well (my thought process being: "the answer cannot be B, because in line 42 it says the opposite").
Here's an example writeup for an RC question I got wrong (with major details changed, don't wanna get in trouble): The answer is A, that the passage's primary purpose is to "trace the development of the definition of an important term." Many phrases in the passage signal this, especially in the topic sentences of paragraphs: "The history of the inclusion of the ethnic category in the definition of workplace discrimination (19-20), "The original definition of workplace discrimination" (23), "the Handbook's definition of workplace discrimination" (51), "the terms and definitions used in many state laws" (59).
For great science passages, I would suggest here: https://longform.org/sections/science , https://www.theatlantic.com/science/, or https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/?source=sitenav (or other nat geo articles).
Glad to help! Good luck!
Scientific American, Science Magazine, National Geographic (though sometimes it's less about reading and more about the cute animals).
Dear @hawaiihi, last evening I spent about an hour and half stalking your posts on the 7Sage forum related to RC, taking notes, of course. Normally, I go at about -3 to -4 on RC, but I drilled an RC section this morning and got -0 for the first time when under timed conditions. If you ever need a kidney, hit me up!
@"paulmv.benthem", That is awesome!
My average is in the -2 range and I went -0 on the Sept 2017 test. I probably started around -6. Those final few points are always the hardest, so I do consider myself to have come a long way. Once you start hitting -4 there's just nothing left but the absolute hardest questions which really do take enormous effort to conquer.
One really important component of RC is knowing how to manage your time and what your passage read time means about how you've got to answer the questions. I'm a slow reader and it takes me 3:30 to 4:00 to read a passage. That means I don't really have the luxury of agonizing over answer choices. I've got to read my options, choose the one that seems best, and move on. Knowing how to manage my time most effectively for my abilities yields the highest returns. Of course, I frequently miss questions I could have gotten if I'd slowed down or returned to the passage to confirm, but the time involved in that, for me, would ultimately cost me more points than it would save. Conversely, people who read the passage in 2:00 have a lot more time in the questions and so their strategy is very, very different.
Calibrating the level of detail to hone in on is another critical RC skill. I think most people try to take away too much information. Work with your limitations. A solid low resolution summary is much more effective than a sketchier but higher resolution takeaway. For the handful of question that do require specific details, again it's about managing your inherent limitations much more than it is overcoming them. For me, I just don't have the mental capacity to track that much information at that level of detail. I can't do it. So I use a system of distinct annotations to mark specific details that I know are frequently used: Actors, context, attitude, relative language, negations, and impact statements. Each thing has a distinct notation. I do not have time to refer back to the annotations, so I don't do this to create reference points. Rather, it's the act of annotating itself that serves as a mental highlight while I'm really trying to focus on the big picture stuff. When I'm asked about a key detail, I've almost certainly marked it and I usually recollect having annotated it. This doesn't work for everyone, but everyone has to find the something that works for them.
Studying the question and answer choices very closely is maybe the final thing I had to learn. I'm always amazed at the level of subtlety that they rely on. An AC may refer to something as an "example" when really it was more of an "analogy." These types of subtleties always give me pause and I really have to think about the nature of what they're referring to. If this isn't something you find yourself pondering often, you're either much smarter than me or you're missing something.
I will also say that I've always been a fairly prolific reader. I studied English Lit in UG, so my reading in fiction and literary analysis is the deepest, but I'm also well read in the other humanities in addition to science and math as well. Having broad interests/exposure is really helpful. There are two LSAT passages drawn from source material that I've actually read, and many others on subjects with which I am intimately familiar. There was a question on the Sept 2017 RC that I got only because I've read a book that detailed the history of policy on Mississippi River management, lol. It was a curve breaker and I think I'd've certainly missed it without that back ground. So, you can't catch up to me on 30 years worth of reading, but you can still achieve broad exposure on a lot of different topics very quickly. Go on a binge of informative youtube channels: Crash Course and Kurzgesagt are two of my favorites. Follow links to other things that look interesting and just let yourself fall down the rabbit hole.
Oh my god @"paulmv.benthem" that's amazing!!! Congratulations!! So glad I could help--although really, it was all you!
Well, @hawaiihi, your tips were, without a doubt, some of the most valuable pointers I have found for RC. Good luck on your results from yesterday's test!
Don't know if I'm "crushing it," but I feel I've made a good amount of progress lately. I used to miss 7-11 questions regularly per section. But ever since I started to stick to a strategy that's sort of a blend of the Memory Method and the LSAT Trainer's approach I've been doing much better. And I was pretty frustrated for a while. I now read the passage relatively slowly for understanding and try to see why each paragraph is there, and I only refer back to the passage if it's a question that mentions a line number or line numbers.
After every paragraph I say something to myself mentally about what the paragraph did. "Introduced X's theory on why..." "Limitations of theory B." It takes me 3-4 minutes to read the passage usually, but I end up not needing to look back too much, and I've found that I get more questions right that way. It also makes reading the passage more enjoyable. I initially tried to do a quicker read with an emphasis on getting a sense of the structure and then referring back as needed, but I think that that approach ended up proving to be ineffective because I wasn't really understanding the passages' structures as well and I would forget more details. Or I'd mostly understand the structure but would suffer in terms of understanding. And as I said, it ended up just feeling like more of a chore, whereas I'm kind of starting to like the section now.
Would you please consider sharing those notes you took while viewing her RC-related posts? It'd be super easy to take a picture and just upload them onto a site like imgur.com.
Sure thing! I'll clean them up a little and post them tomorrow.
Thanks so much!!
The simplest and most effective thing you can do is to eliminate. Wrong answer choices are made to sound correct and correct answer choices are made to sound wrong. Don't try picking the correct answer, eliminate the wrong ones.
I have my own RC technique. It is more lawyerlike. I break down issue/thesis and viewpoints. I view premises in the argument for each side as something break apart,so it destroys the conclusion. It destroy the premises so that the whole thing falls apart like house of cards. I have it down pat either 1-2 wrong on the reading comp.
@LSATSniper ... Could you elaborate on this technique of yours?
Thesis will appear either in first paragraph in first 10-15 lines of the 1st paragraph or the last paragraph. I know that the viewpoint of each side will appear in the 2nd -3rd paragraph possible 4th paragraph if there is another viewpoint.They have their own premises and a conclusion for each viewpoint. The author's viewpoint is more of neutral observer from the other viewpoints in most cases. I use the topic as the thing being discussed. I will put a box around it. I will use an initial such Av-> for author's and pointing to the author or Sv-> to identify some scientist. I use a lower case v to indicate viewpoint. If I see premises being numbered from a viewpoint I will number v1,v2,v3. I notate the paragraph. For dates, I will put brace around them. With things being defined like definition. I will put parenthesis around them. for where the paragraph transits put a curly brace next to it. That is pretty much how i work the reading comp.
Hey @yahejazi, sorry about the delay! Here's what I got,
Having a clear idea of the whether the passage is informative or persuasive as been especially helpful for me when going through the answer choices. Oftentimes, especially for the main point questions, there will be an answer choice that covers an appropriate amount of content, but lacks the correct indication of intent/purpose. Hope it helps!
Thank you so much!
I agree with all lot of what's been said. The two things that I'd add are about quickly finding text support. Circle or underline any adjective or pseudo-active that let's you know the opinion of the author or the person being discussed. These few words are usually all you need to assess tone, and I was always stuck between two answers before doing this.
The second part is to always remember that there should be explicit text support for non-inference questions. If multiple answer choices are tempting on spec, look for which has the most direct textual support. I used to pick things that were plausible, but that were not actually said. It helped me stay on message.
Hi @"paulmv.benthem" Thanks for providing your write-up! Would you mind elaborating more on how delineating btw informative vs persuasive has helped you with the questions?
Wow, great notes! I like that informative/persuasive idea too-- that may help for the questions where you have to assume the author's point of view.
Awesome advice thanks everyone!!!
Another note I just thought of... one question that used to throw me was when a question would ask, "What is the author's attitude regarding X?"
Usually one, of the choices is something "(adverb) critical." I used to get really thrown, because in my mind being "critical" was especially negative ("Your point of view is stupid and totally useless!") However, it really helped me to to realize that "critical" just means "disagrees with" or "expressing adverse judgements" and doesn't necessarily have to be aggressively negative.
I know this is kind of a random point, but I just thought of it-- do with it what you will!