Getting to -0 in RC?

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• 2 Likes

  Auntie2020 Member

  December 2020 552 karma

  Following!
• 2 Likes

  jordan.trent Member

  December 2020 43 karma

  Same!
• 1 Like

  yoder Core Member

  December 2020 60 karma

  same :-) if anyone has great advice, we are all ears.
  my only guess, is read more efficiently because the questions I will typically miss are related to concepts very briefly mentioned and complex in their importance
• 1 Like

  JenniferKau Member

  December 2020 34 karma

  following
• astonch65 Member

  December 2020 18 karma

  following!
• tayjaycee17 Member

  December 2020 59 karma

  I want to improve
• kirthi726-1 Core Member

  December 2020 5 karma

  following!
• 15 Likes

  BarbaraD Member

  January 2021 90 karma

  Might be a little unrelated but how did you improve your RC score to -3?
• 1 Like

  whatsmyname Member

  January 2021 606 karma

  which are the curve-breaker questions? I imagine inference is one of them?
• 2 Likes

  julianaporoye27 Alum Member

  January 2021 edited January 2021 196 karma

  I would like to know the answer to that too @BarbaraD lol
• cholmies Core Member

  January 2021 8 karma

  following!
• 31 Likes

  Ravinder Alum Member

  January 2021 869 karma

  I have a simple solution that eventually helped me to get 177 (though, admittedly it took me a number of attempts). It is a bit counterintuitive but I found that going a little slower in the passage (even spending 30 sec to 1 min more per passage) to gain better understanding is very helpful and will actually allow you to "cut through" the answers much faster. You can regain much of the extra time spent in the passage by then doing two things: 1. pre-phrase almost every question (even general questions) so that you know ahead of time what you are looking for. 2. Then, read the answers slowly...one clause at a time...and ask yourself if the clause is accurate. If any word in the clause is inaccurate then just "kill" that answer choice and move on. You will find that vast majority of the answer choices can be killed in just the first clause or two. It takes practice to gain this skill of killing answer choices with barely reading the answer choices. I found the best way to gain this skill was to first do the passage quickly in real time and note the amount of time you spend on the passage and the time spent on the answer choices. Also, put a hashmark at the word that you "killed" the answer choice at on this first pass. Then take a few minutes break and reread the entire passage slowly and methodically noting every detail to gain complete understanding. Then redo all the questions slowly...first pre-phrasing each question more accurately this second time around. Then very slowly look to see what is the first word that you can now absolutely "kill" each wrong answer choice at. I call this the "Feedback Loop". The real learning takes place in comparing your first pass to the insights you now gain on the second pass- which provides you a very valuable "feedback". Quality is much more important than quantity. Just doing 10-20 will substantially improve this skill. As you go through more passages, try experimenting on spending more or less time in the passage on the first pass and see how that impacts the accuracy of how you can kill the answer choices earlier and earlier. I don't know if I am explaining this clearly. It is easier to show in practice. If you would like perhaps I can make a video of one passage and email it to those who want to try it. Hope this helps.
• 1 Like

  tams2018 Member

  January 2021 727 karma

  @Ravinder said:
  I have a simple solution that eventually helped me to get 177 (though, admittedly it took me a number of attempts). It is a bit counterintuitive but I found that going a little slower in the passage (even spending 30 sec to 1 min more per passage) to gain better understanding is very helpful and will actually allow you to "cut through" the answers much faster. You can regain much of the extra time spent in the passage by then doing two things: 1. pre-phrase almost every question (even general questions) so that you know ahead of time what you are looking for. 2. Then, read the answers slowly...one clause at a time...and ask yourself if the clause is accurate. If any word in the clause is inaccurate then just "kill" that answer choice and move on. You will find that vast majority of the answer choices can be killed in just the first clause or two. It takes practice to gain this skill of killing answer choices with barely reading the answer choices. I found the best way to gain this skill was to first do the passage quickly in real time and note the amount of time you spend on the passage and the time spent on the answer choices. Also, put a hashmark at the word that you "killed" the answer choice at on this first pass. Then take a few minutes break and reread the entire passage slowly and methodically noting every detail to gain complete understanding. Then redo all the questions slowly...first pre-phrasing each question more accurately this second time around. Then very slowly look to see what is the first word that you can now absolutely "kill" each wrong answer choice at. I call this the "Feedback Loop". The real learning takes place in comparing your first pass to the insights you now gain on the second pass- which provides you a very valuable "feedback". Quality is much more important than quantity. Just doing 10-20 will substantially improve this skill. As you go through more passages, try experimenting on spending more or less time in the passage on the first pass and see how that impacts the accuracy of how you can kill the answer choices earlier and earlier. I don't know if I am explaining this clearly. It is easier to show in practice. If you would like perhaps I can make a video of one passage and email it to those who want to try it. Hope this helps.

  This seems like a very good method. By real time, you attempt a passage in 8 minutes and 45 seconds? Also how many passages do you attempt in one study session?
• 1 Like

  Ravinder Alum Member

  January 2021 869 karma

  Yes, real time on average is 8 min 45 sec. Keep in mind easier passages can be done faster. I would do just do one or two passage per session until you get very skilled at killing the wrong answer choices as early as possible. Spending a lot more time on the second pass is most important.
• 1 Like

  lsat2016 Free Trial Member

  January 2021 edited January 2021 488 karma

  @Ravinder said:
  I have a simple solution that eventually helped me to get 177 (though, admittedly it took me a number of attempts). It is a bit counterintuitive but I found that going a little slower in the passage (even spending 30 sec to 1 min more per passage) to gain better understanding is very helpful and will actually allow you to "cut through" the answers much faster. You can regain much of the extra time spent in the passage by then doing two things: 1. pre-phrase almost every question (even general questions) so that you know ahead of time what you are looking for. 2. Then, read the answers slowly...one clause at a time...and ask yourself if the clause is accurate. If any word in the clause is inaccurate then just "kill" that answer choice and move on. You will find that vast majority of the answer choices can be killed in just the first clause or two. It takes practice to gain this skill of killing answer choices with barely reading the answer choices. I found the best way to gain this skill was to first do the passage quickly in real time and note the amount of time you spend on the passage and the time spent on the answer choices. Also, put a hashmark at the word that you "killed" the answer choice at on this first pass. Then take a few minutes break and reread the entire passage slowly and methodically noting every detail to gain complete understanding. Then redo all the questions slowly...first pre-phrasing each question more accurately this second time around. Then very slowly look to see what is the first word that you can now absolutely "kill" each wrong answer choice at. I call this the "Feedback Loop". The real learning takes place in comparing your first pass to the insights you now gain on the second pass- which provides you a very valuable "feedback". Quality is much more important than quantity. Just doing 10-20 will substantially improve this skill. As you go through more passages, try experimenting on spending more or less time in the passage on the first pass and see how that impacts the accuracy of how you can kill the answer choices earlier and earlier. I don't know if I am explaining this clearly. It is easier to show in practice. If you would like perhaps I can make a video of one passage and email it to those who want to try it. Hope this helps.

  How much time do you take on average to read the passage, and then to do its questions, respectively? Could you create the video mentioned above taking a fresh (not done or seen before) RC section? How many did you miss in RC in your official take?

  Your post is very useful. I have trouble with RC mainly with timing. With unlimited time I go perfect, but it's been impossible to do it in 35 mins.
  I have a 17x score in official but with -5/-6 in RC (ran out of time), so I'm considering retake, but I usually get -5/-7 in new RC due to timing. I got there by reading more slowly similar to your approach (because speed reading was negating comprehension), taking upto 5-6 minutes to read the passage in some cases.