How to Improve on RC?

[Seamus]

Hello,

First, I have lurked this Forum for the past couple months and have found it so helpful! Thank you guys for your excellent advice! Second, I was hoping someone on the Forum might be able to provide some pointers with improving RC score. It got me on the June 2018 LSAT. To explain my situation and provide context:

Started studying (roughly 15 hours a week) in January for June 2018 LSAT with weekly study plan. Out of college- work full-time so limited time to study each week.
Read, annotated, and reviewed Powerscore Bibles.
After reading the Bibles and taking my first PT, I hit 162 (rough breakdown: -4 LG, -5/6 each LR section, -3 each RC section)
I then focused for a whole month on drilling LG and consistently started to hit -0/1. I attribute this progress to the drilling.
After mastering LG and then isolating the LR Question Types that I kept missing (Flaw of Reasoning+PR Qs), I started to hit 169 regularly from May-June on practice tests.
Come June 2018 LSAT, I received a 165. However, I was concerned because of my score breakdown: (-1 on LG, -6 on RC, -5 on 1st LR section, -5 on 2nd LR Section). I bombed the Scientific Reading passage and ran out of time on the Comparative Reading passage. Also, on each LR section two of the problems I missed were one of the first six problems. Interestingly, I never miss a problem in the 20s.

Any advice for improving on RC? Any strategies that work for you particularly well? My path to success, as I see it, is to get RC down to -2, keep LG down to -0/-1, and get each LR section down to -3 then I'm golden. I'm retaking in November. My goal score would be 169/170. I have a 3.94 GPA so I don't want to waste four years of hard-work on a 165 when I know I can hit 169 at the very least. Thanks so much for your advice. You all rock!

[James Finch]

Hi Seamus,

Great to hear about your score improvements! Always good to see all that hard work paying off. To your question about Reading Comprehension improvement, the first thing to look at is whether there is a pattern of certain passage types being more difficult than others. For example, maybe you find science passages quick and easy to understand, but diversity passages slow you down and lead to mistakes. From there you can see whether certain question types or position within the set are more likely missed (there is a general progression, similar to the Logic Games, from easier questions to harder ones, with the hardest generally saved for last, and the first 2-3 relatively easier than the rest). If you can discern a pattern, then you can work on whatever is causing the greater difficulty.

Next, look at the notes you are making to markup the passages. Some people don't really take many, myself included, but others need to keep a short summary of each paragraph to remember where all the important information is located. Notation is very personal, and depends a lot on your memory, but can also be used selectively if and when you may need it (ie a science passage with loads of unfamiliar terminology). Just be sure that however you go over the paragraph, you retain the VIEWSTAMP information somewhere, as quickly accessing that information is the key to efficiently answering most of the questions. Don't rush the passages, but make sure you're getting the information you need on the first read and can quickly access it when needed.

Hope this helps!

[Seamus]

Hi James,

Thank you, absolutely! Couldn't have done it without the Bibles. The advice is helpful, thank you! I normally breeze through the Diversity+History passages and the Comparative Reading and Science passages are the two that give me the most trouble so I will focus on drilling those and maybe try a couple different note taking methods to see if one works better. Right now I mark up the passages quite heavily.

[Adam Tyson]

Nice work, Seamus! Keep up that hard work and you'll make progress.

If you apply and are registered for a future LSAT, the schools to which you apply are likely to set aside your application for delayed consideration until after they have that score. So, there isn't much advantage to applying before you've taken the November test. There's also not much of a disadvantage, since you won't be flatly rejected that quickly. In short, it's up to you! Both are common approaches. Just don't be too hasty to send in that app if it isn't ready yet. Get everything to be as good as it can be, including a stellar personal statement, glowing letters of recommendation, any addenda that you might need to add to your app, etc.

Take the time you need to get your LSAT score where it needs to be, and also to get your application where it needs to be. When you're ready, submit! Good luck!