On LSAT Reading

chelseayang

我参加了05年6月的考试, 成绩出来之后发现阅读就做错了一题, 有几分出乎我的意料, 因为我去年10 yue考过一次, 阅读的最后一篇文章没有做完(所以最后取消了成绩). 我想我获得的进步是很多朋友所期待的, 所以在这里简单谈谈我对阅读的感想.

去年10月之后, 我决定在阅读上做一个长期的提高计划. 具体的做法是, 每天坚持大量的阅读. 我定了TIME, 一周一本, 刚开始的速度大概是2天看完, 到今年初的时候就是半天看完, 我读得很细, 从头到尾, 有时侯连广告都不错过, 呵呵, 其实广告是很有意思的, 很多广告语可是智慧和创造精神的结晶. 然后是到图书馆借了很多英文的书,到旧书店买也买了不少(我有书非买不可读的毛病) 小说居多, 也有一些严肃话题, 如哲学和艺术---- 但经常因为读不懂看了几十页就搁置一边了. 有时间也去翻翻WALLSTREET JOURNAL等报纸. 上网也只上英文网, 拒绝看中文的一切东西.

这顿猛看之后速度和语感都有提高, 连写东西都更顺手了.

但做题目的提高还在于我在阅读方法上的一个改变, 或者说是一个心态的改变. 我每次做完一道阅读题, 是好是坏, 读完了自己就知道了. 为什么呢, 如果我感觉自己在读的过程中整个思绪是沉浸在文章之中的话, 我的题目肯定做得好, 因为沉下去了, 就说明你的注意力集中得好, 沉下去也更有利于把握作者的思路, LSAT 的文章信息密度大, 如果你稍微错过某一环, 就很可能导致你剩下的文章读完了也不知道为什么作者说A了,作者怎么不喜欢B了.

简而言之, 就是一个”沉”字, 读的时候, 如果感觉自己一头扎进去了, 那就是理想的阅读状态, 就象你读小说一样, 完全沉浸, 所以很小的细节你都不会错过.  如果你感觉你在读的过程中自己游离于文章之外, 那就有问题.

但是, 要记住的是, 有三样东西, 做阅读题目的时候一定要把握, 任何文章, 读完了, 这三样东西你能说清楚, 接下来的题目基本上就差不多了.这三样东西就是:

the main point

structure

author’s attitude

LSAT题目的难度很大程度上由其问题答案的设计造成的, 答案为什么难呢? 因为A看着象, 呀, B怎么也看着象呢? 怎么解决, 很简单, 如果你把握了以上三点, 看到答案, 问题就迎刃而解了.

在你练习的过程中, 每读完一篇文章稍微停顿一下, 想想主要观点是什么, 文章结构是什么样的, 作者对他所讨论的人或事物持肯定否定还是中立的态度?熟练之后, 考试的时候这个过程就会少占用时间, 提高速度.

这是我的个人体会, 希望对大家有点用处. 每个人都有自己的一套方法, 如果你发现自己的方法达不到目的的话, 可以试试改变一些阅读习惯.

lawyer_1

好文章，支持。特别指出读完文章后该记住的三样东西。

sisinliag

楼主,强!!

据我所知05年6月阅读只错一个的老米也没几个!

想问一下楼主在实行此方法之前,即04年10月时阅读大致是个啥水平?平均错6个?

谢

chelseayang

差不多6个吧, 经常最后一篇时间不够

lawyer

hi chelseayang, great news! i really appreciate your sharing above. i have the same feeling as you do. The three things you mentioned, i think i have already grasped them; but that does not garantee a good understanding of all the detail questions...and this is my weakness right now. how much time do you think i need to go down to 4 mistakes. my average mistakes are currently 6. do you think i can make it in Oct. exam? which way do you think is better, extensive reading or intensive reading??

thanks a lot

mikewzhang

Chalsea,

Can you share with us your approach for LSAT games? I have difficulty in finishing those games. Is there any good books for LSAT games?

Many thanks,

chelseayang

to lawyer: i think you have a pretty good chance get from 6 to 4 or even less in two months.In my case, i haven't done intensive reading for a while probably because i had done a lot in school. Basically i ignore most of the "language points" in my reading. i am too lazy to check the dictionary

to mikewzhang: i am sorry that i am not good with games either.i just kept doing and redoing all those games. Logical Games Bible by Powerscore is the best tool book availabe as far. the good news is games have become much easier than before. so don't worry about it.

a few more words.

As to the three things I mentioned, It is not that people don't know. rather i thought most people know them in theory too well that they just ignore it in the actuall practicing, which was what i had been doing last year. So what i did this year is, after reading a passage, i took some time to answer these three questions, and then proceeded to the questions. After i kept doing this for a while, I found it extremely useful and I becames faster with the questions. In my case, i don't think my reading speed has improved significantly. it always took me like 4 minutes (or even a bit longer) for each passage. but I made it to finish answering all the questons in the rest 4 minutes.

LRzealot

谢谢chelseayang的好文章!

请问在做题时是应该先自己停下来想一下正确答案的特征再看选项, 还是看完题目就直接去看选项呢?

另外, 我觉得自己在读题干时花了一些时间. 请问怎样加快读题干的速度呢, 我觉得应该它们的结构是一样的, 应该可以一眼扫过, 但我却要花去大概7,8秒钟...?

最后, 请问怎样培养掌握三要素的"感觉"呢? (好像问题问得有点大...)

Thank you for your cogent analysis.

jeremyang

thanks for the tips of reading and congrats of your reading performance.

It's simply amazing of only getting 1 wrong.It only happened to me in dream.

BTW,how was your LSAT score if you dont mind sharing?

Which schools are you going to apply?



I'm stcuk at 6/7 wrongs at reading. Dont know if it can be reduced to under 4.

hongz

现在才看到！遗憾中！实在是好文章啊！~