Science Passages

[lsatstudier]

Hi,

I am working on Science passages right now, and I feel like I am having to really weed through the information to find the answer choice. Would you have any advice for being more efficient in these particular passages?

Thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

Science passages! Argh!

You're not alone there, Studier, as many of my students experience particular difficulties with those. That may be because us law school types tend to come from the liberal arts, and we haven't had to deal with the sciences since, oh, high school.

Here are a few ideas to help you with them:

1) Approach these just like any other passage, looking for Viewpoints, Main Point, Tone, etc. Don't get lost in the details - RC questions are not about the details but about eh logical relationships in the passages.

2) Don't get bogged down - when you encounter dense sections of jargon, latin terms, details of experiments, etc. that make your head spin, just put a bracket around them and move on. If you get asked a question that requires that you get back into that, you can look at it again later and then either tackle it or, if you must, just guess and move on.

3) Use substitution to make concepts more accessible. The passage talks about some sort of large, prehistoric flying creature with a long, impossible to pronounce Latin name? Change it in your mind to "Big Old Bird" and keep moving. It's easier to deal with a Big Old Bird than a whateverasauras gigantaneum flymaculum, right?

4) Expand your horizons by reading and listening to science info outside the LSAT. Watch some TED Talks, listen to Science Friday on NPR, read Popular Science, click on those science story links that your friends share on Facebook, etc. This isn't about getting more science info, because the test is not about your knowledge of the facts. Rather, it's about getting used to sorting through scientific discussions and analyzing them for indicators of tone, main point, viewpoints, etc. Get more comfy with science talk so that it is less intimidating when you hit it on the test.

5) Play to your strengths. Ultimately, if the science passages prove to be the hardest passages for you, then consider skipping them and saving them for last if you have time. They don't give you extra credit for answering the science passage questions, so do the passages that are, for you, the easiest to score well on. Never let the test dictate your decisions - you do what you choose to do, regardless of the order in which it is presented.

Good luck!