4.1 - Reading Comprehension Overview

Welcome to our chapter on Reading Comprehension, a.k.a. RC.

Much like the rest of the test, RC's all about your ability to stay engaged with and comprehend dense, wordy passages.

If you're a little winded from our Logical Reasoning chapter, don't sweat it. There's not too much to cover from a technical side of things on Reading Comp, so these lessons will be much shorter on average.

In this lesson, we'll:

• Introduce the Reading Comp section
• Touch on what types of passages you'll encounter
• Discuss how it's different from the reading you're used to
• Provide basic tips for studying RC

Reading Comprehension Anatomy

Each RC section is roughly 26-28 questions in length broken up into four passages. Each passage will cover a separate topic.

You'll have to read a passage (or a pair of passages related to one another) and then answer somewhere between 5 and 8 questions about the material.

In most cases, these passages will contain 15-20 sentences broken up in something like 2-5 paragraphs. It's not that much reading, but they can be pretty dense.

Passage Types

Reading Comprehension passages fall into four main categories: natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and law.

Natural Science

These passages, often referred to colloquially as the "science" ones, touch on all manner of subjects from the physical sciences.

You might encounter a passage about a biological study, or chemistry, or astronomy—anything's fair game, really.

Social Science

Social science passages dive into topics like political science, philosophy, sociology, etc.

I tend to hear less griping about social science passages compared to their natural science counterparts, but they're often no less convoluted. This may be partially due to the fact that the topics covered often reflect the undergrad majors that tend to feed into law school.

Humanities

Humanities passages tend to be a little fluffier than passages about the natural or social sciences. They often discuss topics such as art, literature, or poetry.

Perhaps because of their subject matter, these pieces tend to strike me as more subjective and editorial—an author will tell you all the ways that South Asian poetic tradition shaped modern society, for example.

Law

Then there are law passages. If you struggle with these, it might be time to consider a different career path.

These passages cover some sort of legal issue. You might read through a policy interpretation, or about the courtroom behavior of judges over time, or how an amendment to a national charter is expected to affect freedom of speech. Like the science passages, just about anything law-related is on the table.

Reading for Understanding

In undergrad, you probably spent each semester poring over your textbooks, making flashcards, and memorizing facts for later regurgitation. In other words, you read for volume and memorization.

The LSAT asks us to do a different kind of reading—reading for understanding.

It's sort of like sight reading music, where you get a piece of music you've never seen, a few minutes to read through it, and then have to perform it with only those few minutes of prep time. In RC, the passage is the never-before-seen piece of music, reading through it is your prep time, and the questions are the proof in the pudding.

Success depends much more on your interpretation skills than your memorization skills. It's all about reading as carefully as necessary to get what the author's trying to say, how they said it, and why they're intent on saying it.

RC Study Tips

General Advice

The best RC study advice I can give you is to just go drill passages. Drill them one at a time, including the questions.

When you make mistakes, don't make excuses like, "I just misread something." No one can coach that.

Instead, hold yourself accountable. What didn't you understand? Where is there evidence in the passage supporting the correct answer choice? Spoiler: there's always evidence supporting the right answer.

Prediction

Reading Comprehension questions are remarkably predictable. You just read the answer key for crying out loud! If you read carefully enough, you'll be able to conjure up some sort of prediction for just about any question the test throws your way.

If you're struggling with prediction, let Reading Comp be your prediction training grounds. Refuse to look at answer choices without first answering the question to some extent on your own. Your prediction skills will improve quickly.

Staying Engaged Regardless of Subject Matter

As a dyslexic, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if I can stay engaged with even the most boring RC passages, so can you. You just have to find a method that works for you.

Some people swear by the fake it till you make it approach—acting as if this passage is the most interesting thing they've ever read, even if it bores them to death in reality. Others will tell you to take meticulous notes. This one's more miss than hit.

Personally, I just lean into my love of learning. Every passage represents an opportunity to learn something new. Who doesn't love to learn?

No matter what approach you take here, I have some practical advice that will help you stay engaged: Stop at every punctuation mark to collect your thoughts.

These pauses are where the magic happens. You'll have an easier time understanding long, wordy sentences and putting together key ideas from paragraph to paragraph. These pauses are sort of like the rest one does in between sets while lifting at the gym. They give you time to reflect, recuperate, and avoid overexerting yourself.

Bad Advice

Now for some don'ts.

If anyone's telling you to work on flashcards or go read the Economist, they're full of crap. These gimmicks might improve your vocabulary, which I could buy for some ESL students, perhaps, but they're ultimately a waste of time.

You know where you'll read things that resemble LSAT Reading Comprehension passages? In LSAT Reading Comprehension passages.

I'm gonna double down on the note-taking comments from earlier, too. In only extremely rare cases will I advise note-taking and highlighting. You simply do not need it. Moreover, when you take notes and highlight, you're giving yourself cheap dopamine. You're giving yourself permission to write off the things you note and highlight.

Lastly, I don't care if you're the least scientific person on earth, or if you seem to struggle with fluffy literary arts passages as opposed to others—do NOT order your RC passages based on their types.

For one thing, you have to read at least some of the passage to even categorize it in the first place. Why would you read three sentences, classify the passage, and then decide to skip it because it starts using science lingo? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

For another, what kind of material do you think you'll be reading in law school? It ain't gonna be Harry Potter and romance novels y'all. If you think RC passages are dry, you might want to reconsider this whole attorney thing.

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That's a wrap for our Reading Comp introduction. Catch you next time where we discuss the key to mastering the section: working through one perfect passage at a time.

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