Solid first reading?

[inesa909]

Does anyone know of a drill that would help in reading more efficiently. A lot of times I find that I have trouble absorbing most of the information on the first reading (especially on LR question stems).

Here is what I am currently trying:
Reading challenging material (not necessarily LSAT related)
Reading more.
Keeping a steady pace of reading
Listening to audiobooks/ NPR when driving
(maybe it'll be easier to track things if I inundate myself with information instead of jammin out- although I do throw in a jam session if I happen to be in the mood. None of this "technique" is based off of any inkling of scientific information.)
I do not try to memorize every little detail

I basically would just like to know if there are any other things I could do to help myself get a solid first read.

Thanks in advance!

[ohthatpatrick]

I think all your extracurricular activities are a great idea IF they are helping you cultivate a thirst for random knowledge.

A big help to increasing my retention of RC on the first read was developing within myself this mental state of "pure interest" or "total immersion". If you choose to find anything you're reading riveting, it's much easier stay locked in with each sentence.

Part of that involves forcing yourself to read slower or to re-read lines you don't understand. I often have to read the first sentence of an RC passage several times, just to give my brain time to conjure up concrete imagery of the topic at hand. (The first sentence is often very dense, so I need to break it into bite-sized pieces until I have put the whole sentence into my own words)

The other thing that keeps me engaged is that I know my job is to find, within this big passage, 2 or 3 key moments (sentences).

This may sound like a cheesy metaphor, but I've come to think of reading an RC passage like playing a level of Pac-Man.

Basically, there's a bunch of tiny, inconsequential dots you have to read through and then there's a few power pellets. With Pac-Man, the four power pellets are always in the four corners, even though different levels force you to take different paths to them.

With LSAT, there are also very common places to find the power pellets, but there are some passages that surprise you.

I'm attaching a little .pdf document that contains a summary of some of the patterns I look out for in RC that assist my reading and understanding. Check it out and let me know if you have follow-up questions about any of it.

Good luck.

[inesa909]

Wow. I feel like I've just been given the Rosetta Stone. The patterns sheet is super awesome! Despite having read the Manhattan RC book several times and done dozens of preptests, that little guide thing definitely organized all of the little things that were floating around in the grey matter.
TBH, I really didn't expect a substantial answer for this question but I'm so grateful to you for taking your time to answer it.

[benjaminbleo]

Patrick, I really love your advice, especially on re-reading the first sentence or something you don't know.

For me, I find it's really hard to pull the trigger and really " enjoy " the passage. Now I am trying ( really hard ) to read riveting and stay locked.