newer reading comp

[interestedintacos]

Any tips on how to prepare for the newer, more difficult reading comprehension sections even while only using material from older tests?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT2]

I know there is a general feeling that RC has gotten harder in recent years --

I don't know if I personally agree with that idea, but I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on what you've seen --

I'm actually putting together a blog about some shifting trends in RC. It should be up in a few weeks -- I'll come back then and post the link here.

[interestedintacos]

I've seen some statistical information (analyzing the prevalence of various question types from PT 1 to 62) that shows the difficulty could come from a higher number of extrapolation/expansion questions often mixed into specific reference questions. The idea is that having to shift gears from culling basic facts to thinking at a much more abstract level increases the difficulty, in addition to the fact that extrapolation questions are more difficult in general.

I've also seen that a few recent reading comprehension sections have had questions later removed from scoring, which didn't happen in the older days. This would further support the idea that whether or not the reading itself has gone up in difficulty, the questions may be requiring deeper analysis than before, even to the point where the test makers fail in creating a question without one clear answer.

If anything the general move towards easier logic games and harder reading comprehension makes sense to me. I would assume that reading comprehension is a better indicator of potential law school success, and at the very least when you get into extremely complex logic games you are going too far compared to the skills you might use/need in law school, at least given the time constraint. But all that could be irrelevant.

Also, I read in the MLSAT guide that logic games tend to fit into more easily defined categories in the modern era, but that contrasts with what I've heard about the most recent exams having very complex hybrid games. So I'm not sure...

[ManhattanPrepLSAT2]

Thanks for your thoughtful response --

I would definitely agree with you in terms of the possible reasoning behind the shift away from complex games.

I'll let u know when the blog is up.

[interestedintacos]

Thanks! I also recently heard the newer reading comprehension is more like SAT/GRE reading comprehension...which I know nothing about. I looked it up, and what I found said that GRE reading comp. is about finding specific things hidden in the text and not at all about main point or structure (which is actually the emphasis on the LSAT from what I gather so far). So that claim seems dubious to me, but perhaps it has some value.