RC Approach: Harder questions first?

Comments

• Burden.of.Floof Core Member

  December 2021 1050 karma

  How would you determine which passages are the hardest in enough time to switch gears? I would be concerned that it would take too much time.

  I've personally found a lot of success doing the passages with the most questions first. If the passages are easier you should be able to move through them faster and have plenty of time at the end to tackle the harder passages if they have the fewest questions.

  What are your BR scores in RC like?
• legallyconfusion Core Member

  December 2021 56 karma

  @"Burden.of.Floof" That's a good question. I guess I made the assumption that the last two passages are always the hardest lol. I guess my problem is that I spend too much time on the easier passages (even though the questions aren't tough) because I overthink my answer choices sometimes. I think I'll try to speed it up, so that I have more time to do the last two passages.

  My BR scores tend to be -5/-6, and again, it's the harder passages that get me.
• 1 Like

  Scott Milam Member Administrator Moderator Sage 7Sage Tutor

  December 2021 1342 karma

  All thing being equal, it is better to tackle easier passages/questions first. Every question is worth the same, so better to tackle the questions where you have a 90% chance of success before the ones where you have a 50% chance.

  Thankfully, RC passages are typically arranged from easiest to hardest, so you should be good taking them in order. The one exception is A/B passages. If you find these challenging, it may be best to save them to the end.
• 2 Likes

  Burden.of.Floof Core Member

  December 2021 1050 karma

  Yeah it has not always been my experience that LSAT passages are arranged easiest to hardest. Just today I took a section that had the hardest passages at the beginning, and even if it's true generally, I wouldn't count on that. Just like you shouldn't count on the first questions of an LR section to be the easiest.

  It's hard to give advice without knowing your goals and timeline, but if you're shooting for -0 to -2 on RC my advice would be to take the timing element out of it. My general feeling is that one shouldn't rush into taking 35 minute sections too quickly. If you're not scoring in your goal range untimed (which is basically what BR is), it might be worth it to take some time and do untimed RC passages until you feel more confident.
• legallyconfusion Core Member

  December 2021 56 karma

  @"Scott Milam" @"Burden.of.Floof" Thank you both for your awesome advice! I really appreciate it!