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SOS: Final Push for RC

rachelmartinez422rachelmartinez422 Free Trial Member

Hey everyone!

I'm taking the November LSAT, and am in the final push for studying. I've gotten my LR and LG consistently up to -0/-1 but the reading comp section is absolutely killing me. Do ya'll have any suggestions besides just practicing to improve active reading and memory? Thank you!!!

Comments

  • RealLaw612RealLaw612 Member
    1094 karma

    Yes. Read RC passages one paragraph at a time. After each paragraph summarize in VERY simple terms what it means and what relationship it has in the context of the passage. For example, if the first paragraph is about a painter and his contribution to our understanding of African influences in 20th century African-American art, simply make a mental note: "background info - how he/she influenced art" then move on to paragraph 2 and do the same. For example, if paragraph 2 talks about specific examples of how the artist contributed to the aforementioned understanding make the mental note: "his/her specific contributions." Paragraph 3 could be "critics opinions - disagreement" or some such thing. The point is to make a mental way for you to quickly remember what information each paragraph has. You are not trying to memorize the specific details of the passage - only give yourself a way to know how to find it.
    Hope this helps. Good job on the stellar LR and LG numbers!

  • AudaciousRedAudaciousRed Alum Member
    2689 karma

    RC didn't improve drastically for me until I learned to summarize in my own way. I tried symbols and underlining and one word summaries like JY and all teach.. but it just wasn't quite enough. Instead, I read it like I was going to have to explain this to my spouse or my boss at the next meeting. You want to understand it enough that you can explain it easily and quickly to another person and answer some questions about it, and retain enough detail that you know exactly where to find it to clarify if you needed specific details. Like, how do you tell your friend about a book you read? What kinds of words do YOU use? If your friend asked you about a specific line, you'd know right where to find it, right? If you can do all that with an LSAT rc section, you've got it.
    Put your summaries into terms and wordings you understand naturally. I didn't even have to write reminders anymore. I just summarized in my head as I went paragraph by paragraph.

    In short..put things in your own words and into your own understanding.

  • BlindReviewerBlindReviewer Alum Member
    855 karma

    I'm not sure if this will be that helpful but for me one big thing I had to get over for RC was second-guessing myself. I was really daunted by the time constraints and material that even though I was a good reader, I found myself freaking out. Take your time with the passage, and let the time bleed a little on harder passages -- you have to trust that the section as a whole will be doable as long as you go fast on the easier passages and take a bit more time on the harder passages. I think I tried to limit myself to 8ish minutes per passage, and the inflexibility made me rush or freak out, leading to a lot of mistakes. For practice, it might help to just set a watch but not look at it until the end of a section, and focus on the material rather than the time. You might be surprised to find that even when you think you're behind, you finish within the limit!

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