Few to zero wrong on RC... How do they do it?

Mark Tenorio · May 2013

Does anyone know how people can get few (like 1 or 2) to zero wrong on RC. I find it ridiculously hard sometimes to attain the necessary information within 8-9 minutes and to answer the questions for each passage.

Are those people just going back and forth between the Q and passage really really fast?

Litian.Chen · May 2013

i think its because they know what to skip during the first time reading and can locate those details really fast when they need answers from them

Mark Tenorio · May 2013

Hmm interesting.

Quinn Nguyen · May 2013

Hey Mark, have you tried pre-skimming (skimming before you read)? Graeme taught me that trick and it's actually helped a lot. Scan for the subject matter, the first line of each paragraph, and pre-determine the author's point.

I finally, finally made it to a point where I can finish an entire RC section in time and each passage in < 7 minutes.

But really, what helped the most was JY's advice to not linger over hard questions. The dialogue inside my head goes: " circle your gut feeling and get the hell outta there!" This helped loads.

Quinn Nguyen · May 2013

That's with liberal arts/legal passages, though. I'm a goner with science.

I have no love for platypuses. None!

J.Y. Ping · May 2013

!!! It's a mammal that lays eggs (the only one!) It delivers venom from its hind foot and despite that, it's still adorable.

Mark Tenorio · May 2013

Hmm, I dont know if that worked or if im doing improperly. Just did PT 65 and I was kinda lost on the last passage

Mark Tenorio · May 2013

O how i miss the greek tragedy passage.

Quinn Nguyen · May 2013

@JY

Whoa, shoots venom from one foot?! I didn't know that.

Okay, I'll stop taking out my RC frustration on adorable semiaquatic mammals. Sigh. Thanks for keeping me in check.

J.Y. Ping · May 2013

On behalf of platypus around the world, I merrily accept your implied apology.

Mark Tenorio · May 2013

@Quinn

The problem I have trouble with is when I skim read, I don't have the time to make those inferences or have time to assess the passage. At most I can determine the authors attitude and MP of the passage. i have trouble with the tiny details they use for the Q stems.

Quinn Nguyen · May 2013

@Mark Me too. Currently being killed on details. The answer is obvious during blind review, only bc I read the surrounding text.

I tried this new strategy today: separate inference from MP/Author's attitude questions. Or do inference questions first. My trouble is switching between "fact finding questions" and "general feeling questions" -- taking care of the questions you're good at might free you up to read inference questions closely?

So down for a reading comp review session. Those with jedi-level RC skills are welcome to join!

J.Y. Ping · May 2013

Good discussion here! I'll add that a lot of the difficulty and time burnt for RC comes from trying to distinguish amongst the answer choices. For me, the harder RC questions are always ones where the right answer is subtle (it doesn't scream I'm right) and the wrong ones are attractive. So I tend to have better luck eliminating the wrong ones more than feeling attracted to the right ones.

Mark Tenorio · May 2013

Okay, so I did something new today for BR and tested what would happen if I read at a pace I was comfortable with. I took 2.5-3 minutes reading the passage trying to understand it. It took me about 4-6 minutes answering the questions. So it would take me around 7-9 minutes depending on the passage (6 if it was a really easy passage). I think I'm going to use this strategy instead of skimming it fast. I just can't seem to be actively reading if I were to read at 500 wpm...

J.Y. Ping · May 2013

That's a good division of time.

Mark Tenorio · May 2013

@J.Y. You make RC look so easy lol.

Samarth Chaddha · May 2013

Glad to see a discussion on RC here. Does anybody feel like they need an explanation on any old passage from RC? Maybe we can boil it down to one passage to request the 7sage team for one? Not sure if they will appeal to the request, but its worth a shot. I find JY's grinding through the passages very helpful, and I'm getting greedy for some more especially on the earlier PT's (before PTs 45 etc). Maybe a nice, dirty science passage outlining the death of platypuses due to excessive C02 mixed with its embroyonic polarity gone bonkers?

Just a shoutout to see if others feel the same way...

J.Y. Ping · May 2013

Yeah, please vote (with the "Like" button). I think with some pressure I'll actually make them.

Quinn Nguyen · May 2013

"Maybe a nice, dirty science passage outlining the death of platypuses due to excessive C02 mixed with its embroyonic polarity gone bonkers? "

Samarth, what you are suggesting sounds like hell on earth. And yes, I would like to participate.

Mark Tenorio · May 2013

@Quinn You didn't like the palytapus reading? i thought that one was alright. The one I hated the most was the riddled basin of attraction.

Amir Shakoorian · May 2013

This will sound mean but I'm glad i'm not the only one who runs out of time in finishing the RC section (I always run out of time with a whole passage remaining). I think I'm at a particular disadvantage because English is not my first language (as i imagine is the case with some other 7Sagers) and I am slow at reading even the most simple writings (think Harry Potter). I'm not taking the LSAT until October and I'm hoping my recent subscriptions to The Economist and Scientific American will pay off.

YZ · June 2013

@Quinn, i feel the same

YZ · June 2013

@Mark, I love basin of attraction, i thought that one is not too scientific...:)

YZ · June 2013

@Samarth, i love the idea too!

Peter · June 2013

ahh I've gotten at least one wrong on every law passage. I probably should just take the hint.

jpak822 · June 2013

Over the past few months, I've been practicing skimming and then attacking questions for the first 2 passages... basically I have an attack plan to read and answer questions for the first 2 passages within 15 minutes (skipping up to 2 detail-except questions, and then spending the remaining 20 minutes for the last 2 passages).

For easier RC sections I now have up to 5 minutes to check over some questions I guessed earlier, and at least 2/3 minutes to check over 1/2 hard questions

This is my plan of attack:

I spend the first minute of the 35 minutes quickly reading the first few lines of each passage to determine my passage order... I usually tackle the following passages as the first 2:
1) Non-humanity diversity (non-art/literature/film) - talks about women's issues, african american and native american racial equality issues, immigrant issues
2) Legal - talking about some system flaw or the way in which the law helps ppl
3) Science - typical dense passages with a lot of details (I basically skim over the details, noting the conclusions and main ideas discussed)

The last 2 I do are:
4) Legal - talks about some theory or reasoning behind the law (very dense passages and hard to understand even if you do spend 5 minutes reading...)
5) Standard humanity - talks about literature, art, economics, politics, philosophy, etc... even if it talks about some african american or asian american achieving/creating sth great
6) Science - ecology or evolution... these tend to be more humanity like in that it talks about some social issues in which something impacts the well-being or understanding of human beings

The reason for doing numbers 1 through 3 first is that their main points and passage structures/flows are quite predictable.. This is why I can skim through 10-30% percent of the passage and still get most of the questions right (the time consuming part is to go back to the question to answer detail questions.. but even if you read in detail, you won't remember it anyway... thus its a waste of time!!!)

J.Y. Ping · June 2013

@jpak822 this is great! Everyone should try to understand more about which RC passages are especially though for them.

Jackson Mejia · June 2013

jpak822- I think you have seriously saved my June Lsat. I was consistently getting 2-3 wrong on the RC section so I exclusively focused on the LR and AR which I was able to get down to where I feel comfortable for the schools I would like to attend. Problem was that my RC started sliding until I hit a wall this week and got 11 questions wrong. it wasnt until I read your post that I noticed that about a week and a half ago I changed the way I approached the RC. instead of reading for the important information I was following Mark Tenorio's advise and carefully reading every single word. the problem is that you just cant remember everything- and you hurt yourself - by not giving yourself sufficient time to go back to the passage when you have to for specific reasons. After reading your post- I did a few RC sections using your technique, what I originally had been doing. I was done 5 minutes early and was back down to 3-4 wrong. I can live with that. thanks again.

jpak822 · June 2013

@Jackson Mejia - glad to be of help mate!

Jackson Mejia · June 2013

took the test on the 10th. I had at least 5 minutes to go back an recheck my answers on one of the RC had about 8 minutes on the second. i am hoping the first was experimental. in either case I had enough time to go back and double check my answers and on two occasions I was able to pick what I felt was a better answer on a second go around. I am extremely pleased with how June's Lsat went. thanks again Jpak

linfeng0831192 · October 2013

@jpak822 really, thank you!

MaxineSP · July 2016

What helped me improve was pretending I was very interested in the content. I am constantly asking myself questions in my head whilst reading, even if I don't actually care in real life. For example, if the section is about medieval art, for those 8 minutes, I mentally pretend medieval art is my passion. I want to know everything there is to know about medieval art. This active reading helps me retain the information better.

kmarie7 · July 2016

What I have learned is I do better not underlining much at all. I am slowly bringing my RC score down by just reading, and not stressing about what should be underlined. I realize this does not work for everyone, but you just really have to find what works for you.

Cant Get Right · July 2016

Wow, you guys are digging deep!

blah170blah · July 2016

@"Cant Get Right" I was thinking the same thing. I was like, "Wow this is a really interesting discussion ... what this was from... 3 YEARS AGO?!" WHOA!

Cant Get Right · July 2016

Yeah, great thread though, so definitely a good one to resurface.

inactive · July 2016

Zombie thread... o.o

stepharizona · July 2016

@"Dillon A. Wright" said:
Zombie thread... o.o

The related discussions area strikes again

But I too was like wow this is great JY is posting a lot oh wow 3 years!

Cant Get Right · July 2016

@"J.Y. Ping" said:
!!! It's a mammal that lays eggs (the only one!) It delivers venom from its hind foot and despite that, it's still adorable.

Tastes amazing too.

inactive · July 2016

@"Cant Get Right" said:
Tastes amazing too.

Alejandro · July 2016

platypuses are vicious, creatures of the devil.

Howdy, Stranger!

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