Still Struggling RC

[reg4315]

Hi!

This is kind of a two-pronged question -

The first part related to the subject line; that being, I'm still struggling with RC. At the end of the day, I feel like I don't know HOW I should be studying and what I should be doing to try and improve on this particular area. Would you recommend just drilling RC after RC? And, if that's the case, would it be beneficial to purchase the RC Bible? I took the full live course, and am just taking tests 54-present from now until the December exam, so I don't want to do any of the RC passages from those tests as my means of extra practice.

The second part is more of a concern - my diagnostic in July was a 151. Test 4 of the course was a 158, and I have taken two prep tests since (planning to do 3/week up until December exam). Those 2 came in at 163 (#53) and 159 (#54). My goal is a 167. I'm concerned because I dropped 4 points from one test to the other - is this normal, i.e., I'm guessing the goal is to see the overall RANGE of your scoring gradually increase, rather than expecting to see a direct linear improvement with zero points of inflection, right?

Sorry, I guess I just need some assurance that to hit a 167 is possible given the 159-163 range I'm in now come December 2.

Thank you so much in advance.

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Reg,

I'm going to answer this in two parts, and start with your second question first. The short answer is that you should not worry at all about what looks like a score drop to you. Score ups and downs are very natural (and expected), and your sample of tests is so small that this one drop isn't decisive or really meaningful. Fortunately, I've been asked about similar occurrences over the years, and so I've had a chance to explain how all this works, and why it's not a big deal at all many times. Here's the most recent discussion of score variation: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=15091&p=38786. Please check all of that out (my reply there includes numerous links so there's a ton of material there).

Thanks!

[Dave Killoran]

Ok, back to your first question now!

First, let me refer you back to some prior discussions of RC practice and improvement:

How To Increase Your LSAT Score When You Are Stuck — My colleague Jon took a conversation between me and a student and reworked it into a longer discussion about how to improve in each section.

http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/my-lsat-prep-regiment-part-1 — Our student Marvin shares some of his prep regimen thoughts. Marvin and I have spent a considerable amount of time talking about the best way to improve and this is why I asked him to talk about it. It helps to see an actual student put the optimal prep approaches into action. Part 3 talks specifically about RC.

You asked about how to study RC. Certainly repetition with passages is key, and I'd go back deeper than just PT 54 (see Should You Avoid Older LSATs?) in order to get more unused source material (LSAC's Books of 10 are good, as are our Training Type books). With plenty of passages in hand, you can take a study approach that I'll very briefly describe here:

• 1. Improving Recall
  
  Your memory is a muscle, and you can make it stronger. Thus, to improve your recall takes practice. Using a set of unused RC passages, reach each one slowly and then break down each paragraph. What did you just read? What did the author say, and what was his or her point? If you don't understand part of what you read, read the paragraph again. Write down your thoughts if that helps.
  
  Do this for each paragraph, and then at the end of the passage, put all the pieces together and do the same thing for the passage as a whole.
  
  Next, move on to the questions and do them without ever again referring to the passage text at all. This forces you to keep your memory in operation throughout the entire process, and once you've done this 10-15 times, you begin to realize that you have to focus more on recalling elements while reading. that makes you better. Time/speed is no important here, the emphasis is on recall and memory, so take as much time as needed to fix the ideas from each paragraph in your mind.
  
  
  2. Improving Prediction
  
  After you've completed the above exercise (or at least have started working on it), move to another exercise. In this one, as you read, note spots in the passage that you think you will be asked about. Attempt to predict what the test makers will ask you. Then, immediately after reading and noting the questions you think will be asked, compare what you predicted to what the test makers actually did (this requires you to preview each question stem, which is fine for our purposes here). You may find that you are close ins some cases and way off in others. That's ok: you want to be as accurate as possible, but the real point of this exercise is to see how you value pieces of the passage as compared to what the test makers actually do. If your RC Radar is way off, this drill tends to show that up immediately.
  
  Keep in mind that not all questions can be predicted, so there's really no such thing as 100% accuracy in this drill. It's the process that is important, not the result.
  
  
  3. Improving Mental Mapping
  
  This is very much the same as Drill 1 above, except here we use our mental mapping tool, ViewStamp, as the testing point. As you go through each paragraph, don't just ascertain the point and what was said, but also all the ViewStamp elements as well. Focus now not just on broad recall, but specific detail recall such as which group stated each viewpoint, etc
  
  Next, preview each question, and as you preview each one, write down next to the question where in the passage you expect to find the answer. You might put "all" for a Main Point questions, but "3rd paragraph" for a question about a specific idea referenced in the question. Practice with this as it helps fine-tune your mental mapping, and it makes you much more aware of how your expectations about where info is for answering a question matches up with where the information actually is found.

The three exercises above help you reinforce specific parts of the RC approach: knowing what was said, knowing what they will ask, and knowing where to find answers. It takes work, but the real value is that it forces you to examine how you take in information, and how well you understand what the test makers are doing. But as you begin to get better at each part, your score and confidence will start to improve. Then, begin doing more an more passages at speed, and you'll find that your reading will be better and you'll be more relaxed inside each passage. Those will both really help!

Good luck and please let me know how it goes!

[reg4315]

apologies for the late thank you, Dave, but THANK YOU!!

[mo_wan]

Hi Dave,

I read this post and tried implementing into my strategy. This is the way I work so far, would you please be able to provide me with some guidance.

So I'm having trouble improving my score. My timing, and accuracy is still off. How I am or was preparing was to spend a day per week reading 3-4 passages untimed (usually hard science), and then one timed section the same day. I have been doing this for about 3 weeks now. Then after every paragraph try to paraphase what was just said. Then pause after the whole passage, and ask myself what the mainpoint was. Just recently I added that after every paragraph I also go through the VIEWSTAMP points, and mark down any areas where they might ask a question about. But my score is still fluctuating. For example, for one timed section and one practice test, I got through 3 passages and scored about 15/20. On another practice test, and timed section I got through 2 passages and I had to rush the third cause I didnt have much time and ended up getting 10/17 or so. Im I preparing the wrong way? Should I be timing myself during the paragraphs? My average score is about 13. My goal is 3 passages at about 18 correct.

My workflow is as follows when timed, is this correct?:

Read paragraph, try and paraphase while reading. At the end of every paragraph quickly state to myself the structure and a brief summary. Once I'm done the whole passage I ask myself what the main point was? The authors tone?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, back to your first question now!

First, let me refer you back to some prior discussions of RC practice and improvement:

How To Increase Your LSAT Score When You Are Stuck — My colleague Jon took a conversation between me and a student and reworked it into a longer discussion about how to improve in each section.

http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/my-lsat-prep-regiment-part-1 — Our student Marvin shares some of his prep regimen thoughts. Marvin and I have spent a considerable amount of time talking about the best way to improve and this is why I asked him to talk about it. It helps to see an actual student put the optimal prep approaches into action. Part 3 talks specifically about RC.

You asked about how to study RC. Certainly repetition with passages is key, and I'd go back deeper than just PT 54 (see Should You Avoid Older LSATs?) in order to get more unused source material (LSAC's Books of 10 are good, as are our Training Type books). With plenty of passages in hand, you can take a study approach that I'll very briefly describe here:

• 1. Improving Recall
  
  Your memory is a muscle, and you can make it stronger. Thus, to improve your recall takes practice. Using a set of unused RC passages, reach each one slowly and then break down each paragraph. What did you just read? What did the author say, and what was his or her point? If you don't understand part of what you read, read the paragraph again. Write down your thoughts if that helps.
  
  Do this for each paragraph, and then at the end of the passage, put all the pieces together and do the same thing for the passage as a whole.
  
  Next, move on to the questions and do them without ever again referring to the passage text at all. This forces you to keep your memory in operation throughout the entire process, and once you've done this 10-15 times, you begin to realize that you have to focus more on recalling elements while reading. that makes you better. Time/speed is no important here, the emphasis is on recall and memory, so take as much time as needed to fix the ideas from each paragraph in your mind.
  
  
  2. Improving Prediction
  
  After you've completed the above exercise (or at least have started working on it), move to another exercise. In this one, as you read, note spots in the passage that you think you will be asked about. Attempt to predict what the test makers will ask you. Then, immediately after reading and noting the questions you think will be asked, compare what you predicted to what the test makers actually did (this requires you to preview each question stem, which is fine for our purposes here). You may find that you are close ins some cases and way off in others. That's ok: you want to be as accurate as possible, but the real point of this exercise is to see how you value pieces of the passage as compared to what the test makers actually do. If your RC Radar is way off, this drill tends to show that up immediately.
  
  Keep in mind that not all questions can be predicted, so there's really no such thing as 100% accuracy in this drill. It's the process that is important, not the result.
  
  
  3. Improving Mental Mapping
  
  This is very much the same as Drill 1 above, except here we use our mental mapping tool, ViewStamp, as the testing point. As you go through each paragraph, don't just ascertain the point and what was said, but also all the ViewStamp elements as well. Focus now not just on broad recall, but specific detail recall such as which group stated each viewpoint, etc
  
  Next, preview each question, and as you preview each one, write down next to the question where in the passage you expect to find the answer. You might put "all" for a Main Point questions, but "3rd paragraph" for a question about a specific idea referenced in the question. Practice with this as it helps fine-tune your mental mapping, and it makes you much more aware of how your expectations about where info is for answering a question matches up with where the information actually is found.

The three exercises above help you reinforce specific parts of the RC approach: knowing what was said, knowing what they will ask, and knowing where to find answers. It takes work, but the real value is that it forces you to examine how you take in information, and how well you understand what the test makers are doing. But as you begin to get better at each part, your score and confidence will start to improve. Then, begin doing more an more passages at speed, and you'll find that your reading will be better and you'll be more relaxed inside each passage. Those will both really help!

Good luck and please let me know how it goes!

[Jon Denning]

Hi Mo! I noticed that this was posted twice, once here and again at lsat/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=18073, so we're going to leave this one alone and will reply in the RC section thread as soon as possible. Thanks!

[SuzieQ22]

Can the main point ever be implied or does it need to be explicitly stated in the passage? Sometimes it seems like all the info in a passage is leading to a central argument/conclusion/larger point that is never directly stated. In this case, could an unstated conclusion be the main point?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Absolutely Suzie! That's a fairly common scenario. I'd say it's more common than having the conclusion explicitly stated in RC. Part of your prephrasing work (before jumping into the questions) is to think about what you think the main point of the passage is. It should be something that encompasses the author's main idea and perspective on the topic.

I often find it easier to find the main point if I do a good job of understanding the structure of the passage. Structure drives understanding, and knowing how the pieces work together in the argument helps me to see what the main point is. I also strongly recommend having an idea of the passage before you look at any of the answer choices. If you don't know what you are looking for, the answer choices won't lead you there.