Improve RC by June

Comments

• 4 Likes

  btate87 Alum Member

  April 2018 782 karma

  I started to see the most improvement when I just started doing a few things.

  1) In general - more timed RC sections. As it was my worst section I was hesitant to just dive in early on. When I was hammering RC hardest I was doing at least a section every two days from PT's 35-50.
  2) After doing a section (either as a timed section or a full PT), review each passage in its entirety. Don't move on from a question until you're confident you have support in the text. For those really painful questions that are a little more abstract, write down/type up an explanation for why you're choosing one answer over the other contenders.
  3) Come back to sections you've done after a week or two, and time each passage individually to help you get an idea of where you're spending time. This sort of practice really helped me relax when I notice that a passage (especially the first or second) takes 10 minutes or more, because I had seen enough passages I could easily finish in 5-6 minutes. Going over the 8.5 minute mark really stressed me out and caused some unforced errors before this.
  4) Don't spend a lot of time on questions. Learn your tendencies on timing, and try to weight it towards reading the passage, and if a question trips you up, assume it's a curve breaker and move on. Don't stress over where the question is in the section, and don't underestimate how easy it may be if you have time to return to it. Out of my last 5 PT's I've skipped question #1 on 4 of them.

  After a lot of that my average came down from -5/-8 down to -1/-2. I really think the biggest components of improving RC are doing a LOT of sections, and reviewing all of them thoroughly and repeatedly.
• 1 Like

  ChapmanEC Alum Member

  April 2018 85 karma

  Thank you so much, @btate87! I really appreciate your insight. I will give that method a try!
• Adam Hawks Alum Member

  April 2018 990 karma

  @btate87 Out of curiosity, why did you review the PTs from 35-50?
• btate87 Alum Member

  April 2018 782 karma

  @"Adam Hawks" I was still in a stage of prep where I was not going full force on a PT schedule. I had that schedule fairly mapped out (and am in the midst of it now). During that RC grind, I didn't want to burn any tests that I had included in that schedule so I used tests between the end of the CC and the earliest PT I had down for later which was #50.
• 2 Likes

  ExcludedMiddle Alum Member

  April 2018 737 karma

  I agree with btate87's advice. I'll add that the older preptests are definitely still helpful for drilling RC, in my opinion. I think it may even be a good way to add endurance since the comparative reading passages are, at least to me, less taxing than digesting a single, several-paragraph passage. I actually kind of enjoy the comparative reading passages.

  Also, the 7Sage memory method is the only thing that's worked for me in RC (granted, I probably incorporate aspects of reading for structure, which is recommended by the Trainer etc.). Slowing down and really setting yourself up well with a good initial read is the way to go.
• AudaciousRed Alum Member

  April 2018 2689 karma

  @3984589235 said:
  Slowing down and really setting yourself up well with a good initial read is the way to go.

  Try this. I find when I read it at a comfortable speed, and really try to absorb or imagine the story it's telling, I go back to the material less and sometimes fly through the questions. Worth a try.
• oooops27 Member

  April 2018 19 karma

  Thanks chapman, once I crawl out of the LG blackhole I'll give this a shot.
• studyingandrestudying Core Member

  April 2018 5254 karma

  The RCs webinars are great and it also seems to help sometimes to connect RC to LR.
• 2 Likes

  goingfor99th Free Trial Member

  April 2018 edited April 2018 3072 karma

  @lsatplaylist said:
  The RCs webinars are great and it also seems to help sometimes to connect RC to LR.

  The way I see it, RC is a more elaborate, more involved version of LR. LG is the abstract form of LR/RC.
• studyingandrestudying Core Member

  April 2018 edited April 2018 5254 karma

  @goingfor99th, That's a good description.