Approaching the Passages - Critical Steps LSAT Course Book

[saranash1]

P.40
3. Focus Your Attack
Reach each passage at your normal reading speed. Reading too slowly will prevent you from having enough time to answer all of the questions. REading too quickly or skimming will cause you to miss much of the detailed information presented in the passage and will force you to reread most of the passage, something that will also prevent you from answering most of the questions. Do no change your reading speed, but rather change your reading strategy.

I have notes in my book from my on-line course from my instructor instructing us to read for an argument (main ideas) and the main point and the ideas that the author uses to get you there. He instructed us not to read all the words (to skim) because if the questions ask for specifics your going to have to go back to the passage anyways.

Which attack is best?

I have only taken one practice test so far and I only get 14 out of 25 questions completed in time.

[Steve Stein]

Hi saranash1,

Thanks for your question. Part of the answer depends on your general plan of attack. First of all, when do you plan to take the test?

Let me know--thanks!

~Steve

[saranash1]

tomorrow

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Sara,

It would have been optimal if you had taken more practice tests, because then we could have experimented a bit with your approaches to find the best approach for you. But, that doesn't stop us from talking about what works best for most people

Overall, the best strategy is to read at a fast enough pace to retain the majority of what you are reading, but not so quickly that you don't pick up major details. I call this an accelerated reading pace, and it picks up the pace of the regular reading you do.

Tomorrow, try to read for understanding, and do not go so slowly that you are taking a long time over certain words or phrases. If you run into something that isn't clear or that you don't understand, you can skim through that (and I'm sure this is what your instructor was referring to) but for the most part you are looking to understand what you read.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[saranash1]

thanks for your help!