LSAT | Two Reading Comprehension strategies

All right, so we're about to do a reading comp section. Everybody's like, oh great, this is not what I want to do right now. Well, here's my advice. So there's a lot of things to think about when it comes to reading comprehension, but the two most important things are one, make sure that you own the passage, and two, try to predict the answers as you go through the questions. Now your prediction doesn't need to be precise. It can just be, oh, I think the author is likely to agree with this idea or disagree with this idea. That's it. But on main point questions, you would articulate what you think the main point is. Now when it comes to understanding the passage, the way I like to do it is I don't take notes, and as I read, I try to understand what the author is saying in my own words or visualizations, right? Have you guys ever talked to someone and then gone and told what that person said to someone else? But yeah, this is pretty much like human life, right? But oh my god, you wouldn't believe what so and so said. But have you ever sat there and struggled to quote exactly what that person said? Like, I don't know exactly what they said, but the point is is they don't like John, right? And they want to leave or whatever, right? Whatever they, you don't know, you're not quoting them verbatim, but you are conveying the idea, right? Because what happened? When you were listening to them, you were paying attention, and you understood what they were trying to say, even if you didn't memorize the words. Well, when it comes to reading comprehension, I don't try to memorize what all these words are saying. Like, that would be a nightmare. But there are only 15 sentences, and as you're reading, if you're visualizing what the person is trying to say to you, then essentially you're turning those words into ideas, and then you just remember the ideas. And what happens when you're reading a passage this way? Well, sometimes as you assimilate new information, it contradicts what you thought the author would say. You're like, wait a second, hold on, I thought you were saying this, and you seek clarification. Well, unfortunately you can't talk to this person, but you can read the sentence again, or go back to earlier in the passage and clarify. And sometimes that makes you realize, oh, I misunderstood what they were saying. But then you keep going, and then by the time you're done, you should be able to look away from the passage. You literally look up, and you can say to yourself, okay, well essentially this is what the person was telling me, because you're now referencing the visualization, or the ideas in your head, rather than the specific words. I think it's, to me, it's impossible to remember, or to memorize the words. But in any case, a sure sign, not a sure sign, a pretty good sign that you haven't internalized the passage enough, is when we get to the end of the passage, or you get to the end of the passage, and you ask yourself, just like I would ask you, hey, what's the main point? And you start looking back at the passage, and start reading sentences. You're like, well, it's basically like, this guy is doing this, like, it's not in here, right? It's like, kind of in here, like got somewhere back there? But another sign is people will tell me what the topic is, like, oh, this passage is all about nuclear power in Sweden. It's like, okay, sweet. I think 98% of test takers got that. So, they don't ask questions like, oh, what is the passage about? Oh, Sweden. It's about Sweden. It's about nuclear power. No, they ask you, when they ask you what the main point is, they're asking you complete sentences, right? Sweden has decided to move away from nuclear power because of the accidents in Chernobyl and Third Mile Island, or something like that, right? I'm just making this up, though, because we go. But if that's essentially the point of the passage, then that's what you want to note, right? You're getting into the details, but you're also staying, like, above the fray and kind of looking at the big picture. In any case, bottom line is, try to internalize what you're reading. Try to understand what the person who wrote this is trying to tell you. And when you're done, go into the answers or the questions, and as you read each question, try to loosely predict what you think the answer is. Again, you're pulling that from your visualization. I would say I go back to the passage once or twice. Sound good? All righty, let's go ahead and do this 35-minute section. Anyone not have the section? This is test 88, section 3. All right, we're good. Okay, so I will give you 35 minutes. Good luck. Begin now.