Help! I keep studying Reading Comprehension, but my score’s not improving!

If this is you, you’re not alone. Reading Comprehension (RC) is notorious for being the most difficult LSAT section to improve your score on. Our reading habits are deeply ingrained and it’s hard to change them—or so says the conventional wisdom.

While it’s true that we formed our current reading habits over many years, our performance on Reading Comprehension is far from unchangeable. I came into the LSAT as a dismally slow reader and thinker (during my college exams, I was one of the last few people in the room to finish, every time). And yet I came out of the LSAT with a 180. So believe me when I say that RC isn’t a test of your innate reading talents; it’s a test of your reading methods combined with your section strategy, both of which can be refined through practice.

Below is a list of troubleshooting tips to help you improve your current reading methods and section strategy. You’re welcome to read all of them, but the tips that are most useful to you will depend on what’s currently holding you back. And to figure out what’s holding you back, we need to talk about blind review.

The importance of blind review on Reading Comprehension

If you’re not already blind reviewing your RC practice, stop reading this post and go read this series of posts instead. There are nine posts in total—read them all. I’m serious; they will change how you study. Come back when you’re done. I’ll wait.

If you’re reading this part, then I trust that you’re a member of the blind review club. Great! Whenever you’re blind reviewing on RC, be sure to take as much time as you need to read over the passage again. Then, as you move through the questions, put your eyes on the exact passage text that supports each answer. Highlight that text. If you can’t find textual support, keep searching until you do. I promise it’s always there. (It’s just subtle and sneaky sometimes.)

Now have a look at some of your recent blind review results.

If you’re getting questions wrong during blind review, that suggests a need to better understand the passage. Focus on the tips for comprehending the passage.

If you’re mostly correcting your errors during blind review, that suggests you’re fundamentally understanding the passage, and your issue may be more related to timing and section strategy. Focus on the tips for section strategy.

Here’s the full list of the tips covered in this post:

Tips for comprehending the passage

1. Develop a working theory of the author’s main point
2. Identify the function of each statement and each paragraph
3. Practice explaining the passage
4. Highlight the right text
5. Try a no-highlighting approach
6. Cut through technical language by focusing on the verbs
7. Pay attention to what the author’s NOT saying
8. Read widely

Tips for section strategy

9. Leave time for the harder passages
10. Tackle the questions you’re confident in first
11. Focus on confidence, not certainty
12. Use process of elimination
13. Remember to use the search function

Tips for comprehending the passage

1. Develop a working theory of the author’s main point

Every RC passage is trying to make a point. It might be a rather assertive point (such as saying that a certain policy should be adopted) or it might be a more timid point (such as saying that a particular problem is not easily solved), but the author always wrote the passage for a reason.

As you read through the passage, form a working theory of what the author’s main point is. You should be able to paraphrase the main point in one sentence. (For example, “Maize farmers in Aztec society exerted a great deal of social influence even though they were poor.”)

Often, you can get a decent idea of the main point by the end of the first paragraph. Other times, though, the author’s point is unclear right up until the final sentence. That’s okay. When the main point is unclear, just do your best.

Perhaps the author begins the passage by discussing how significant maize was as a source of food in Aztec society. Your working theory of the main point might simply be, “Maize was an important crop to the Aztecs.” As you continue reading, evaluate each new piece of information the author gives you, and consider whether it changes your understanding of the overall point the author is trying to make. Perhaps the second paragraph is all about how maize solved the problem of chronic food insecurity in pre-Aztec societies. Your working theory of the main point might evolve: “Maize was considered unique by the Aztecs for its reliability as a crop and its ability to support a quickly growing population.”

Just when you think you’ve got the idea, the final paragraph shifts focus! Now the author is suddenly talking about farmers, and the ways in which maize defined their position in society. It becomes clear that this is what the author really wanted to say—the rest of the passage was just building the foundation for a discussion of maize farmers. Now your main point looks different again: “Maize farmers in Aztec society exerted a great deal of social influence even though they were poor.”

It’s normal for your working theory of the main point to have gaps as you progress through the passage. As long as you keep asking what the main point is as you read, you’ll fill in those gaps. What matters is that you’re engaging with the text.

Having a working theory as you read is important because it helps you identify the most important information in the passage. For each statement you read, consider how strongly that statement connects back to your current theory of the main point. If there’s a strong connection, the details of that statement are likely to be important to answering a question. Give that statement your full attention.

2. Identify the function of each statement and each paragraph

As you read through the passage, stop for a moment after each statement and ask yourself, “Why did the author bother saying that?” Every single statement in the passage serves a purpose—it might be making a point, supporting a point that was previously made, countering an earlier statement, or providing useful context for something that’s probably about to be said next. When deciding on the function of any statement, focus on the verb. What action does the statement perform? In the examples I just listed above, action words like “supporting” or “countering” are key. They answer the question of why the author included those statements.

Reading the passage in this way takes more mental processing power, and it might slow you down initially. I promise it’s worth it. Take some passages untimed at first to practice this. Stop reading after each sentence. Focus on articulating what that sentence’s function was in relation to any other parts of the passage. Write it down. As you continue practicing this way, recognizing the function of each statement will become second nature. You’ll focus on the function without even trying, and you won’t need to slow down or write anything down. Congratulations! You’ve wired your brain to read RC-style.

Now that you’re reading for function, here’s the next step. Whenever you reach the end of a paragraph, take five to ten seconds to mentally sum up the overall function of that paragraph. Often, each paragraph will have just one function. (For example, “introduces the author’s main point that free trade is good” or “supports the author’s critique of the proposed policy using an example.”) Sometimes, though, a paragraph will have two functions, such as both “introduces a point” and then “undermines that point with an analogy.” A paragraph will almost never serve more than two functions.

Lastly, once you’ve decided on the function of a paragraph, point to one key fact or statement that helps the paragraph serve that function. It’s good to get a little specific here. For example, “supports a scientific theory using an experiment” is okay, but “supports a scientific theory using an experiment that showed light travels faster in a vacuum” is better.

3. Practice explaining the passage

You won’t be able to do this during a timed test, but it’s good training for building your RC muscles early on. After reading a passage, explain out loud what each paragraph means. If you have any willing volunteers, you could teach the passage to them. Let them ask questions, and scour the passage to see if it provides answers.

If no one’s around (or if your roommate’s just not interested in hearing about ancient cuneiform tablets), you can teach yourself. Use your phone or computer to record yourself giving a summary of each paragraph. Leave it for a day or two, until the details of the passage have gotten a little bit fuzzy. Now listen back to your recording and ask yourself, “Did what I just said make sense?” If you’re confused by your own explanation, return to the passage and see if you can fill in the blanks. If you can understand better after a second look, ask yourself which parts of the passage text made the difference in your understanding.

4. Highlight the right text

Highlighting key words and phrases is a good way to emphasize important information in the passage, but only if you’re highlighting the right text. To make sure your highlighting habits are helping and not hindering, try this exercise.

• Complete a few timed passages, highlighting as you normally would.
• During blind review, choose a different highlighter color. As you review each question, highlight exactly where the support for your answer came from.
• Look back over the passage. Did the first highlighter color (from your timed take) get mostly overlapped by the second color (from your blind review)? If so, you emphasized the right information during your timed take. Well done!
• More importantly, where is your first color still visible? It turns out you didn’t need to emphasize that text so much during your timed take. Take a few moments to answer these three questions:
  1. What are the characteristics that originally made you think that text was important?
  2. Which characteristics of the text were actually important to the questions, as indicated by your second color?
  3. Are there identifiable differences between those two sets of characteristics? Jot down a few notes, and use those same characteristics to home in on the most important text on future passages.

5. Try a no-highlighting approach

This one’s a counterpoint to #4. I’m not saying that highlighting is bad (I just said it can be helpful in the previous tip!), but sometimes, focusing too much on the perfect highlighting strategy can get in the way of your ability to understand the passage. I found that I improved on RC when I stopped highlighting altogether, and I’ve seen other students improve this way too.

This advice may or may not work for you, but if you haven’t attempted a no-highlighting approach, it’s worth a try.

6. Cut through technical language by focusing on the verbs

The LSAT intentionally throws in technical language in an effort to make you stumble. When this happens, you should de-emphasize the nouns and focus on the verbs. Here’s an example using some text I pulled from Wikipedia about cell division:

Cell division in eukaryotes is more complicated than in prokaryotes. If the chromosomal number is reduced, eukaryotic cell division is classified as meiosis (reductional division). If the chromosomal number is not reduced, eukaryotic cell division is classified as mitosis (equational division). A primitive form of cell division, called amitosis, also exists. The amitotic or mitotic cell divisions are more atypical and diverse among the various groups of organisms, such as protists (namely diatoms, dinoflagellates, etc.) and fungi.

And here’s how I read it:

Cell division in [one group of things] is more complicated than in [a second group of things]. If [a certain characteristic] is reduced, [the first group’s] cell division is classified as [category 1]. If [that same certain characteristic] is not reduced, [the first group of things’] cell division is classified as [category 2]. A primitive form of cell division, called [category 3], also exists. The [category 3] or [category 2] cell divisions are more atypical and diverse among the various groups of organisms, such as [various examples].

Okay, we’re talking about cell division. You can have cells divide in two different groups of things—different organisms, I guess. In this paragraph, we’re really just talking about the first group of things. Cell division is more complicated for this first group. (What was this group called? Let me glance back... Oh yeah, “eukaryotes.” Weird name.) Anyway, for this group, there are three different ways that cells can divide. Which way a cell divides depends at least in part on a particular characteristic. (If I need to remember that characteristic, I can always look back.) The second two ways of dividing are more diverse when compared to the first way of dividing.

That was more manageable. It turns out, for RC passages, nouns are a lot less important than verbs. It’s the verbs that tell us what the relationships are between whatever is being discussed. Make the relationships your focus.

7. Pay attention to what the author’s NOT saying

Many of the questions on RC reward your ability to distinguish between what the author is and is not saying. RC loves to throw trap answer choices at you that exaggerate or extrapolate beyond what the text actually states.

You can prepare yourself for these questions by paying close attention to what the author doesn’t say, especially when the author makes a value judgment or comparison. For example, if a passage states that “the amended legislation was plagued by problems,” the author is making a value judgment about how effective the amended legislation was. The author believes there were problems. However, note that the author is not saying that the amended legislation was worse than the original legislation or that the amended legislation lacked any advantages. (Those things might still be true, but we can’t say for sure, because the author hasn’t told us so.)

Similarly, if the text reads, “Many critics at the time favored dramas over musical comedies,” the author is making a comparison between how a subset of critics felt about two things: dramas and musical comedies. First, note that the author is not saying that all critics, or even most critics, shared this opinion. Just some critics. Second, the author is not including anything else in this comparison. Can we say that dramas were those critics’ favorite genre? No, the author only tells us that the critics preferred dramas over one other genre. Likewise, the author is not telling us that the critics hated musical comedies. They merely thought that musical comedies were worse when stacked next to dramas. (Again, it’s possible that the critics loved dramas the best and hated musical comedies with a fiery passion, but there’s no way for us to be certain. The author hasn’t said so.)

The more you take note of what the author does and does not say when you encounter these kinds of value judgments and comparisons, the less you’ll fall prey to trap answer choices.

8. Read widely

This is often underrated, but a great way to get more comfortable with unfamiliar subject matter and technical language is to expose yourself to it more. Get used to reading dense nonfiction material on unfamiliar topics outside of RC passages. Doing so can translate to increased speed and comprehension during the test.

With that said, I’ve seen some ridiculous advice out there to spend time reading things like Wikipedia articles and introductory textbooks on physics or biology. Seriously? I would never do this to improve on RC, and neither should you.

Instead, I’ve compiled some recommendations. These sources offer material that’s similar to what you see on RC passages in that it’s fairly academic and presents arguments or findings with well-structured support.

• The Economist’s science and technology section and essay columns
• Scientific American
• Smithsonian Magazine’s history and science sections

Each of these sources allows you to read at least a few articles a month with a free account. They also allow you to sign up for a regular email digest, which serves as a good reminder to actually read them.

My advice is to choose one article a week that looks interesting and one article that looks aggressively boring. The more you condition yourself to engage with such material, the more you’ll be able to chew through the worst of the RC passages.

Tips for section strategy

9. Leave time for the harder passages

Statistically speaking, the first two passages of a section are easier than the latter two in terms of both passage complexity and question difficulty. That being the case, it’s wise to carve out some extra time to properly tackle the harder passages. If your objective is to complete all four passages, aim for the following timing:

• Complete the first two passages in 15 min (i.e., 7 min 30 sec per passage)
• Complete the latter two passages in 20 min (i.e., 10 min per passage)

10. Tackle the questions you’re confident in first

As soon as you read the question stem, consider whether you can predict the answer before looking at the answer choices. If you can make a confident prediction, or you know exactly where in the passage you can find the answer, proceed to answering the question.

If, however, you read a question stem and you’re uncertain about the answer, flag that question and move on. Tackle these questions at the end of the passage. This way, you won’t waste time spinning your wheels on tough questions partway through a passage. Instead, you’ll know exactly how much time you can afford to spend on the tough questions before you need to wrap things up on the current passage.

11. Focus on confidence, not certainty

RC questions ask you for the best answer, not the perfect answer. As such, the test makers are able to make questions more difficult by giving you a set of answer choices where none of the options look great. They’re hoping you’ll waste your time agonizing over each option, looking for the perfect choice when it doesn’t exist.

You can get around this trap by ranking your answers based on confidence. I use a five-point scale like this:

1. I’m 80-100% confident this answer choice is right
2. I’m 60-79% confident this answer choice is right
3. I’m not really sure about this answer
4. I’m 60-79% confident this answer choice is wrong
5. I’m 80-100% confident this answer choice is wrong

For each question, the goal isn’t to find the answer choice that matches rank #1. The goal is to choose the answer choice that matches the highest rank available. On some questions, you simply won’t be 80-100% confident, and that’s okay. Take a step down the ladder and find the answer choice that best hits rank #2, or even rank #3 if that’s the highest one available.

12. Use process of elimination

You can also use the ranking system in the previous tip to work backward through a question, eliminating the answers you’re confident are wrong. This approach can often leave you with just two possible correct answer choices. Once you’re only debating between two answer choices, the important differences between those two options usually become more clear, and you can typically settle on one answer with greater confidence.

13. Remember to use the search function

This might seem like a pretty basic tip, but it’s surprising how often students are unaware of, or forget about, the search function in the digital testing interface. The LSAT includes a search box that you can use to highlight and jump to the specified text. This can be extremely useful for RC when you (a) vaguely recall that a certain concept was discussed but can’t remember where in the passage it came up, or (b) know that a certain concept was discussed repeatedly throughout the passage and want to identify everywhere that it was mentioned.

If you’re not sure how to use the search function, check out this blog post from LSAC. (They discuss it about halfway down.)

Also, note that 7Sage’s digital interface also has a search function. Just use Ctrl-F (on a PC) or Cmd-F (Mac).

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