Some RC Advice For Adrian Monk (That I'm Sharing With Y'All) Forum

[KDLMaj]

This is for Adrian, who asked me for my RC stuff. I decided that instead of re-sending this all via PM to people over and over again, I'd just put it out here. If you find it helpful, awesome. If not, awesome.

Here are 7 pieces of advice to get you started with RC (Along with links to some resources)

1) EXERCISE: First start by training yourself to find the Big Picture. Practice reading the intro paragraph and the 1st sentence of each paragraph for the gist, and then try to figure out what each paragraph is going to be about. ALWAYS read the intro paragraph and the 1st sentences before diving into the rest- once you have a big picture view, it's really easy to skim the rest of the junk. As you get better at this, start training yourself to guess where the author's main idea will be located so you know which paragraph to read more carefully and which ones are junk.

2) CONCEPT: Every passage on the LSAT is about one of four things: someone's theory/belief, a debate between multiple perspectives, something significant someone has done, or a problem/phenomenon (these days- mostly problem). Start trying to figure out which of these scenarios you're in when you read for the Big Picture- it makes it easier to get past the details and get to what matters. This is the true scope of the passage- make identifying it your first goal when you skim the intro and 1st sentences. (For example: a passage about dead dolphins and a researcher's hypothesis about why they died is really about the hypothesis- NOT the dolphins. It's a theory passage. Focus on the hypothesis, ignore dolphin crap)
(Notes On Passage Types: https://cloud.box.com/s/bi80az2gpy5ht0b8ompg)
(Visual Guide To Passage Types: https://cloud.box.com/s/7wy79v6p59ffg8zu1w5g)

3) CONCEPT: Once you know which of those passages you're in, all you have to do is find the author's opinion of that scope. That gives you the main idea, and the primary purpose. Broadly speaking, an author can either be pro, con, or neutral (if neutral, the main idea is just a description of the scope). If the author is con, be on the lookout for an alternative perspective (which then becomes the main idea). Once you have main idea, you can answer at least half of the questions in most passages. (It is the single most important concept you're tested on) THE ONLY THING YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN YOU LEAVE A PASSAGE IS THE AUTHOR'S MAIN IDEA AND WHAT EACH PARAGRAPH DOES. THE REST IS MOSTLY JUST CLOGGING UP YOUR BRAIN.

4) EXERCISE: The RC section assigns 6-8 questions per passage. Once you subtract your standard big picture questions like main idea, organization of passage, etc. most passages are left with 4-5 questions. On average, a passage is testing you on 5 or 6 sentences. The rest is utter garbage that doesn't matter. You have to read these passages KNOWING that most of what you see is never going to show up in the questions. Of those 4-5 questions, most of them are incredibly obvious about where in the passage they're coming from. Go flip through some passages you've never read and try to answer some of the questions- using their clues to take you back to the passage for the answer. You'll be shocked at how many you can answer VERY quickly. So there's no reason to try to read a passage by memorizing every little thing mentioned- most of the questions will tell you exactly where to go later.

5) EXERCISE: When you review a passage, ALWAYS mark where in the passage all of the correct answers came from while you're doing it. Then go back over the passage and figure out why they tested what they tested, how you could have known those were going to be tested, and what you focused on that ended up being worthless (and how you could've known it was worthless). This is the single most important thing you can do when reviewing RC.
(Issue Spotting Exercise: https://cloud.box.com/s/7h8ny3c9yp7zd25hmt7v)

6) CONCEPT: The LSAT RC section is testing you on your issue spotting skills. The parts of the passage they draw on for questions are incredibly predictable. Here's your cheat sheet:

When you're reading a passage, if you run into a sentence that matches one of the following criteria, then you are likely to be tested on it:
1) Someone's Opinion (They'll test A's opinion over someone else's opinion if they have to choose)
2) Contrast between two things (especially between opinions)
3) An Emphasized Detail (either set off by a phrase like "For Example", is a proper name or noun, or something that supports the A's opinion directly)

If it doesn't fall into one of those categories, it's not going to matter.
(Notes on Keywords in RC: https://cloud.box.com/s/u3nwouqfetj8va0e37eh)
(List of Emphasis/Opinion Words- the MOST IMPORTANT of them all- https://cloud.box.com/s/5p3425vav3e9153u7w2a)

7) CONCEPT: You can predict which sections of a passage you'll be tested on, but you can't predict HOW you'll be tested on it. For example, the LSAT may choose to test you on an example used to back up the author's main idea. They could test you in the following ways:
1) The passage states which of the following about <example>? (testing you on the example itself)
2) Describe the role the example played in the passage. (describing what it DOES, not what it IS)
3) The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements about the example: (really testing you on the A's opinion)
etc

Each of these questions requires a different reading of that part of the passage. So don't waste your time reading the crap carefully the first time. Just mark where it is, figure out the main idea and what each paragraph is doing, and move along. You can be the person who understands every piece of the passage better than everyone in the room, but that doesn't mean you're going to be able to answer the questions. Wait until a question directs you back to a piece of the passage before you read it carefully. THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THIS IS THE MAIN IDEA. YOU MUST WALK AWAY KNOWING THE MAIN IDEA WELL BEFORE GOING TO THE QUESTIONS.
(Ongoing RC Exercise To Help With Timing and Issue Spotting: https://cloud.box.com/s/hrdruzathbd3ot5m4fax)
(Section Management Notes: https://cloud.box.com/s/1kcm44eli9fczsnpizj3)

[Adrian Monk]

thank you kdl!, within the next few days, im starting rc, and this will be really useful!!

[Adrian Monk]

thank you kdl!, within the next few days, im starting rc, and this will be really useful!!

[Clearly]

Haha "read the first paragraph of each sentence", in a reading comp tutorial, classic.

[KDLMaj]

Haha "read the first paragraph of each sentence", in a reading comp tutorial, classic.

OMG I'm seriously cracking up right now.

[Clearly]

Haha "read the first paragraph of each sentence", in a reading comp tutorial, classic.

OMG I'm seriously cracking up right now.

I prefer to think of it as some really well thought out test of rc ability. That you would come back later and be like BAM you didn't even read this tutorial right!

[flash21]

KDL I noticed you emphasize skipping questions a lot and for some reason I want to resist this so badly, knowing that I'll probably have to skip questions anyway. This isn't a question, just something I was feeling and decided to write down I guess lol. I bet many of us feel the same way - the idea of skipping questions just kind of bothers me

[KDLMaj]

KDL I noticed you emphasize skipping questions a lot and for some reason I want to resist this so badly, knowing that I'll probably have to skip questions anyway. This isn't a question, just something I was feeling and decided to write down I guess lol. I bet many of us feel the same way - the idea of skipping questions just kind of bothers me

Most people struggle with the concept. And your comments there point out the reality of the situation. It's not a question of skipping vs not skipping- you yourself just pointed out that you're skipping questions each time regardless. It's about skipping strategically to get ahead. (My highest scoring students all did this and did it well- I once helped a girl triple her RC score from 6 to 18 in one sitting by finally convincing her to do what I was suggesting)

Usually when people are uncomfortable with skipping, it's because they have two (incorrect) beliefs about the exam:

The first is people often fundamentally believe that a question is worth either 0 points or 1. That's inaccurate. Questions will never give you more than one point, but they can take a TON away. Think of it this way:

Say I spend a few minute on question 7. I get it right, but the amount of time I spent on it keeps me from getting to question 27, which I also would have gotten right. At that point- it's a wash. Spending that extra time on 7 didn't really buy me anything. if I hadn't done it, I would have nabbed 27 anyway.

Now imagine you got 7 wrong. What just happened to your score? It went down a point- you got nothing for 7 and missed the point you would have gotten from 27. You actually would have been better off skipping 7- your score would be higher. And, of course, what happens when you get to question 8 after getting so bogged down in 7? You rush because you're stressing time at that point. If you end up missing 8 because of it, you've just lost TWO points.

The risk/reward ratio for questions on the LSAT is extremely skewed. No one question will ever make your score, but it can break it easily. And there's more to this than my simplistic situation- think of all those silly mistakes you make on the test, and how annoyed you are with yourself upon review because you don't get why you would make a mistake like that. That's rushing at its finest. People routinely sacrifice a ton of points that they should have had in the bag because they're cutting corners trying to get to that last question in the set. There's no bonus for it. You don't get a prize. (Unless a score that's way lower than your ability is a prize).

The other belief is that LSAC gave you 35 minutes with X number of questions because that's what the average person would need to complete it. 35 minutes wasn't chosen because it was fair, or because it was enough for most people to get through a whole section well. On the contrary, they need 50% of y'all to miss 40% or more of the test. Part of the way that's achieved is by reducing the allotted time to an amount that doesn't actually work for most people. They (rightfully) assume that if they don't give people enough time to do each question well, people will start missing questions over it. When you tell yourself "I MUST GET TO EVERY QUESTION!", you're just another statistic.

The LSAT is NOT a test of perfection. Half of the people who get 180s still miss a question or even two sometimes. You can usually miss like 17ish questions and still have a 90% score. Use the fact that the curve is actually pretty forgiving to your advantage.

And I know everyone loves to say, "But wait, I plan on getting a 175! I can't skip 2 questions per section and get that!" Awesome. Good for you. But let's get you to 160 first. Then 165. Then 170. (random numbers here- not assuming anything about your score in particular)

But I don't expect you (or anyone else) to take my word for it. Go practice it yourself.

Try this exercise for each section: https://cloud.box.com/s/rmde3ymihmd05xgldb0j

Pay particular attention to Steps 5 and 6. If you're mismanaging your questions, you may be surprised at what you find out. It's a really irritating exercise to do- not gonna lie- but it tends to be the exercise the blows peoples' minds afterwards.

[flash21]

Cool Maj, thanks, will try this this weekend (i work during the week and have to get up super early so I don't do any timed LR / RC I'd be too unfocused). Will get back to you on Thursday.

[KDLMaj]

Cool Maj, thanks, will try this this weekend (i work during the week and have to get up super early so I don't do any timed LR / RC I'd be too unfocused). Will get back to you on Thursday.

Excellent- looking forward to hearing how it goes. Remember to follow it to the letter. And add these notes to the mix:

For RC:
Be sure to mark the time when you start and then stop reading each passage. And mark the time when you leave the question set for each passage. (This is something you should always be doing btw- it helps you figure out where your time is going and why you're missing what you're missing)

For LG:
Be sure to mark the time when you start and then stop setting the game up. And mark the time when you leave the question set for each game. (Same as above- you should ALWAYS be doing this)

You'll add those timing notations in addition to what the exercise tells you. Again, your'e going to hate this exercise. But it'll be worth it- promise.

[xz01]

I don't post often but I just wanted to thank you for some of the tips you gave because it really helped me. I struggled at first but reading the first sentence of each paragraph before diving into the passage was an amazing idea because when you read the first sentence, you can anticipate and you actually know more or less the main point of the passage.

[KDLMaj]

I don't post often but I just wanted to thank you for some of the tips you gave because it really helped me. I struggled at first but reading the first sentence of each paragraph before diving into the passage was an amazing idea because when you read the first sentence, you can anticipate and you actually know more or less the main point of the passage.

You are very welcome- I'm so glad to hear it helped!

[mornincounselor]

Post removed.

[KDLMaj]

Do you have any advice for dealing with mentioned/supported EXCEPT questions?

So there are two major things to consider when it comes to these questions:

1) The order in which you tackle the questions in RC is CRUCIAL. Don't ever do them in the order they're printed unless you have a damn good reason. Part of the reasoning here is that your job is to grab the easy questions first so that if you run out of time, it's just for the most time consuming ones. Part of the reason is that doing a question after a few others can sometimes really help. Here's the general order you should do things in:

1) Globals- org of passage, main idea, primary purpose, etc. You should have been reading for these specifically.

2) Questions with stems that clearly point you to a particular part of the passage. If you look at it and say "Yeah I remember where this is"- great! Do it. If you you look at the question stem and are scratching your head on where that was- leave it.

3) Questions with stems that don't really tell you where to go (the hope is the research you did for the other questions will have helped you stumble upon what you need to spot the correct answer)

4) EXCEPT Questions- it's not that these are always time-consuming. But they're always a risk. Ideally, once you've done your research for the other questions, you'll at least be able to narrow these down pretty quickly. But ultimately, if I"m being honest, these are great questions to skip. I ALWAYS recommend proactively skipping 2 questions in each section (as in 2 in RC, 2 in each LR, etc). That means you get the heck out of dodge as soon as you see it or no later than 10-15 seconds into it. If you skip two, 2 minute questions- you just bought yourself 4 minutes. Think about what you could do with 4 extra minutes in RC. I'll bet you could get more than 2 points.

2) The only other thing to keep in mind here is that sometimes you can predict where the test is going to pull out an EXCEPT question. If you ever see a list of four things in a row, that will probably turn into an EXCEPT. So mark it.

I wish I had something better for these, but I'm a huge fan of turning obstacles into opportunities. If you know these take time, and you know you don't tend to get them right- you can either eat the time for little gain OR turn that time into gain somewhere else.

[mornincounselor]

Post removed.

[KDLMaj]

[Disclaimer: Students have different aims and desires in taking the LSAT. The average score is, after all, a 151. The advice for a 157 student will, and should be, different than that for a 163 student, or a 167 student, or a 172 student, etc.]


You ALWAYS recommend proactively skipping 2 questions per section? I think for the adequately prepared student this is bad advice for LG and indefensibly bad advice for LR.

In LG, if your in a time crunch I can see the merits in going out of order (although in the long run this is only slowing you down as it requires at least one extra reading of at least one question and its answer choices) or looking towards interchangeability and intuition to choose a likely correct choice without testing the remainder of choices, but I think you should do so with the intent of coming back to check.

In LR, running out of time is simply an indication of poor habits and a flawed process. Improvement comes with more extensive drilling and review of problem areas coupled with specific reflection of the real-time thought process as one analyzes a question. I don't think it's ever correct to skip a LR question.

I still struggle (-4 to -7) with RC so I'm looking for some fresh ideas but your advice seems to be in conflict with itself. On the one hand, you acknowledge the limits placed on us by time and advocate for skipping questions in order to better spend that time elsewhere. Yet, you also recommend reading extra sentences up front and skipping around in the questions, both of which use up our precious time without directly netting us points. I tried the "first sentence" tip today on 10 passages and it seems to have a positive impact on my up front understanding of many science and law passages, but if our means of freeing up this extra time is to skip multiple questions, I'm not sure its a good trade off.

Skipping 8 questions per section (let's say you eliminate 2 wrong choices and guess amongst 3: 8 * 1/3) nets out to 6 misses off the top. That means one has to bat .95 on the remainder to hit 170 on most tests. It reminds me of the old mantra of Kaplan to ALWAYS skip the passage with the fewest questions to focus more attention on the other 3. By doing so you cap your potential to a huge degree.

First- you should always feel free to use or discard any advice you'd like. As you, yourself pointed out people are in different places. But I will point out that you are here on these boards precisely because what you are currently doing isn't working well enough for you. It may be to your benefit to take a leap and try some advice before you critique it.

Common sense dictates that if you're only missing one or two questions on a section, there's no reason to skip 2 questions. But common sense also dictates that over 90% of people are nowhere near that point. I was a full-time LSAT instructor for almost 6 years, and for the last three or four of those years I would have people do a timing section in RC, LG, and LR using a digital watch to record how much time they spent on each question (and, of course, time spent on passage/game setup, time when they left the question set, etc). I would them have them add up how much time they spent on the four questions they had invested the most time in. Turns out- the vast majority of students were spending between 8-14 minutes on just 4 questions. And when I had them add up how many points they got out of those four- it turns out most were getting about 1-2 points. Want to talk about indefensible? Someone in the 150s spending 11 minutes to get 2 points. I would then have them do it again, but this time I'd make them select 2 questions to skip *immediately*. Not half way into the question- within seconds. For most of them, their scores would go by quite a bit more than 2 per section.

Interestingly enough, I would also do an exercise where I'd give people 30 minutes instead of 35 to complete their sections. Now, one would imagine that when someone loses 5 minutes from their overall time, they're going to see a massive drop in scores. And some would- those who were dealing with particularly bad anxiety or who were just stubborn. But most of the students would suddenly see an increase in their score- often a dramatic increase. Caught me by surprise the first time. It seems counterintuitive when you first look at it, but after talking with the students I quickly realized why.

Many students seem to be under the mistaken impression that just because you *can* get to all of the questions, you *should*. And so they cut corners through an entire section- especially on questions they deem to be easier- and their scores suffer badly for it. They kill questions they should have gotten right so they could land in questions they probably weren't going to get right. In LG and RC, most of them still wouldn't get anywhere near being able to finish the section. So their scores were perpetually in the toilet. In LR, they'd end up missing 10 questions, but they'd be proud to say that they had no timing problems because they got to all of the questions. Of course, upon review, they'd realize that 5 of those questions they should have gotten correct. But they wanted to skip 10 seconds here or 15 seconds there so they could finish. And that was costing them. Of course, these same people would still sit in a few questions for several minutes each- knowing full well that they were probably going to get them wrong.

So let's take stock here. Rush and cut corners in questions you know you can get right. Then, dump 2-3 minutes each into some questions you know you probably won't get right. It would actually be shocking if people *didn't* see their scores drop. But oddly people would be shocked when they did.

But it turns out that when you tell them they only have 30 minutes instead of 35- they suddenly believe that they don't have enough time to get to all of these questions. And by golly, magically they'd start making smart timing decisions. They'd skip a few questions proactively because they knew they'd take longer, and they couldn't afford that. But they also wouldn't cut corners on the ones they decided to do- because they knew they needed those to go well. And like magic- scores would jump up.

So here's where I'm going with this. Say you're missing 5 questions in a section, but 3 of them are questions you could have and should have gotten correct- you were just rushing and cutting corners. 2 of them you just weren't going to get. What would have happened to you if you had skipped those 2? Imagine you saved 4 minutes between them. What could you do with 4 minutes? Slow down on the rest of the questions, stop cutting corners, and start getting points. You're missing up to 8 in RC right now. It's possible that they're ALL content mistakes- that timing has nothing to do with any of them. But I highly doubt that. Maybe it's time you stopped trying to overcommit and start being smart about what's worth your time and what isn't.

The other funny thing about telling people to skip 2 questions is that I actually found that my students were MORE likely to finish a section if they told themselves they were skipping 2. Because rushing through questions only feels like it's buying you more time. It's actually eating up tons of it. Re-reading stims because you didn't read them right the first time. Re-reading all of the answers because you didn't understand what you were looking for. Staring blankly at the answers and going back and forth between 2 of them because you didn't think you had enough time to go back and research the answer in the passage- you thought memory would be faster. Blowing way too much time on LG questions because you raced through the setup so much you missed a key deduction. When people told themselves up front that they only had to do 23 questions that section instead of 25, they'd calm down and stop cutting those stupid corners. Then they'd end up with far more disposable time than just those two skipped questions would give them. Wouldn't take long before students would be coming to me saying "Well, after two weeks of this now I've got some extra time at the end I never had before- what should I do with it?". Not a bad place to be. One student- who argued vehemently with me about the wisdom of skipping 2 questions per section- FINALLY agreed to try it after being stuck at a 158 for two months. The next day he walked into class with a silly grin on his face. He had scored a 172- first time ever breaking into the 160s let alone the 170s. Because most of what he had been missing was based on bad management.

Now in terms of your concerns about my RC advice- you're missing the point quite a bit. Reading the intro and first sentences trick only saves you time if you then speed up when reading the rest of the garbage. There's another RC thread where I pointed out how to read a particularly tough passage using this trick- you should check it out. And your concerns about doing questions in a different order tells me that you're in serious trouble on your questions right now. If you don't understand why that's so important- your timing is likely a bigger issue in RC than you realize. You need to start focusing on this. You probably do this in LG and benefit greatly from it- it's time to translate that into RC. Same goes with the fact that you regularly prephrase in LR but magically decided not to do it in RC. Reading Comprehension is an identical structure to LG and consequently is managed in the same way. And RC questions ARE LR questions- they're identical. Virtually ever RC question type has an LR corollary. Why would you treat those questions differently from LR questions?

Some food for thought for you. But, of course, you should do what works best for you. I would never say that every single one of my 2,000 students benefited equally from every piece of advice I gave them. I can just tell you what worked for the vast majority. Maybe you're an exception.

[KDLMaj]

I forgot to mention- Kaplan's official advice was NEVER to skip the passage with the fewest questions. If someone from Kaplan actually told you that- they should have been fired. Kaplan always advocated doing the lion's share of questions in each passage- skipping the hardest and most time-consuming. There are very few situations where people should be skipping an entire passage. (Though, ironically, most of them do anyway...just for very bad reasons)

[Adrian Monk]

KDL- an update on some rc, i have not done a lot of rc, but with the work i have done so far i can say this. these lines written by you, really made me think alot of rc startegy, "THE ONLY THING YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN YOU LEAVE A PASSAGE IS THE AUTHOR'S MAIN IDEA AND WHAT EACH PARAGRAPH DOES. THE REST IS MOSTLY JUST CLOGGING UP YOUR BRAIN.". I realised that this was going to be my strategy, before i jump into every passage, im taking a deep breath, calm myself, and then before starting to read i tell myself i only need to know two things, 1. authors opinion 2. main idea of each para. Then i start reading, and i try to be an active reader, and i realised that if i try to focus on just those two things, i seem to be focussed, and know what my task is, because when i am constantly looking for things like whats the authors opinion in every para, or what is the main idea of every para, i am automatically locked in.

I also realised that when i focus on those two things, i can knock out a good number of q's. because when i know 100 percent whats the authors opinion or the main idea, i can knock out q's like main idea of the passage, authors purpose, q's regarding what the authors thinks, or states.

so, ive started to actually know what i am doing right now, and working on perfecting my strategy. I am of course yet to focus on dif q types, but for the time being, ive got a good start. I just wanted to drop in and say thank you!. you kinda simplified things, and i will always remember your idea about just knowing the author's idea and the main idea of each para . i guess i kinda knew that before, and everybody does that, but now, before even start reading, i tell my self to focus on those two things, and then i start, and that makes a difference.