Imagine somebody gives you a baby spoon and tells you to dig a hole in a cement-covered parking lot. Then, they tell you that you’ve only got 30 minutes to do it. That’s kind of like taking the reading portion of the LSAT. The only way your “LSAT reading skills” are going to get better is by reading material that’s dense, kind of like concrete. However, you’re going to need to use something better than a baby spoon to get through it.
If you do a google search on the best tactics for digging through a reading comprehension article on the LSAT, chances are, you’ll find a bunch of people saying the same thing. Read past LSAT prompts. It’s hard to argue with that statement. What better way to prep for an exam than by reading actual exams?
But, those articles had to come from somewhere, right? That’s great news for you, especially if you don’t have access to an endless supply of past LSATs. So, in that vein, here is a list of a few good sources for good LSAT practice material.
1. The Wall Street Journal
I’m sure you’ve heard of this magazine. If you can get your hands on a copy of the Wall Street Journal. One issue will be bursting at the seams with long, dense articles. The topics are a long range of financial articles, for the most part, which makes sense since it’s named after the stock market.
2. The Economist
This magazine is an “upscale” one, not unlike the Wall Street Journal. It’s based in London and also gives opinions on a wide range of topics. With the Economist, don’t be surprised if a bunch of stuff is way over your head. It’s that way for most people. Most topics are economics-related, which means the articles are going to assume you have a working knowledge of that area of study.
3. Education Week (a.k.a. EdWeek)
This newspaper covers a wide range of topics from an “education” perspective. Most of the topics deal with K-12 education, but they are very well-written and will provide a reader with lots of stuff to “practice” their LSAT reading comprehension skills.
Here’s a list of some other sources of good study material.
In addition to these magazines, there are also numerous scholarly journals run by universities all over the world. These journals range in topics from popular science, math, and even legal issues.
The best thing you can do in reading articles from these different sources is become familiar with a broad range of topics and phrases. If you can do that, the temptation to fall asleep during the LSAT will undoubtedly be much smaller.
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