1
00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:26,219
If you are, uh, if you're spending two
minutes skimming an LSAT Reading Comp passage

2
00:00:26,659 --> 00:00:28,960
so you can "save time" for the
questions...

3
00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,460
you are- you're essentially setting your
score on fire.

4
00:00:33,979 --> 00:00:35,159
It's a total illusion.

5
00:00:35,822 --> 00:00:39,141
Oh, I- I- I did that for the first three
weeks of my prep.

6
00:00:39,561 --> 00:00:43,981
I thought, okay, 500 words, I need to get
through this in two minutes flat,

7
00:00:44,161 --> 00:00:44,882
otherwise I'm...

8
00:00:45,521 --> 00:00:46,422
I'm dead in the water.

9
00:00:47,121 --> 00:00:48,061
But then, guess what?

10
00:00:48,462 --> 00:00:53,321
I spent, like, 90 seconds per question,
just, uh, desperately scrolling back and

11
00:00:53,382 --> 00:00:56,121
forth, second-guessing every single
choice.

12
00:00:56,694 --> 00:00:57,495
Exactly.

13
00:00:57,995 --> 00:01:00,134
Because you didn't actually read it.

14
00:01:00,614 --> 00:01:00,894
You just...

15
00:01:01,315 --> 00:01:03,154
your eyes crossed the words.

16
00:01:03,954 --> 00:01:08,974
The math of this is, is completely
counterintuitive, but the best test-takers,

17
00:01:09,394 --> 00:01:14,914
they aim to spend about 80% of your time
reading and understanding the passage and

18
00:01:15,194 --> 00:01:17,314
20% reviewing the answer choices.

19
00:01:18,055 --> 00:01:18,834
Eighty-twenty.

20
00:01:20,204 --> 00:01:21,404
Eighty-twenty.

21
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That...

22
00:01:22,625 --> 00:01:27,704
okay, when you first told me that, Adrian,
I had this massive wave of timer panic.

23
00:01:28,204 --> 00:01:33,085
Spending, what, like, six or seven minutes
on a single passage before even looking

24
00:01:33,125 --> 00:01:34,024
at question one?

25
00:01:34,564 --> 00:01:37,664
It- it- it felt like jumping out of a
plane without a parachute.

26
00:01:39,216 --> 00:01:42,636
But what happened when you actually forced
yourself to do it?

27
00:01:43,196 --> 00:01:45,456
When you- when you took that leap?

28
00:01:46,171 --> 00:01:48,292
Well, the weirdest thing happened.

29
00:01:49,111 --> 00:01:49,931
The questions...

30
00:01:50,491 --> 00:01:52,831
they- they became almost a joke.

31
00:01:53,752 --> 00:01:58,491
Like, instead of a minute and a half of
agonizing over two attractive choices,

32
00:01:59,331 --> 00:02:03,071
I was looking at the stem, knowing exactly
what the answer should be,

33
00:02:03,611 --> 00:02:05,991
and clicking it in fifteen seconds.

34
00:02:06,671 --> 00:02:08,271
Literally, fifteen seconds.

35
00:02:08,851 --> 00:02:13,531
Because the passage was already, like, a-
a three-dimensional map in my head.

36
00:02:14,212 --> 00:02:14,532
Right.

37
00:02:14,953 --> 00:02:18,472
Because the questions aren't testing your
speed-search skills.

38
00:02:18,952 --> 00:02:20,552
They're testing your comprehension.

39
00:02:21,412 --> 00:02:25,333
And the tool I use to force this with my
students is what I call...

40
00:02:25,952 --> 00:02:29,012
well, it's the "Sentence-by-Sentence
Translation" drill.

41
00:02:29,972 --> 00:02:33,032
You treat every single sentence like a
deposition.

42
00:02:33,933 --> 00:02:38,013
If you read sentence one, and you cannot
immediately explain it to a,

43
00:02:38,352 --> 00:02:41,632
say, a ten-year-old, in plain, everyday
English...

44
00:02:42,492 --> 00:02:46,673
you do not- you absolutely do not move on
to sentence two.

45
00:02:48,014 --> 00:02:50,034
It's so painful at first.

46
00:02:50,694 --> 00:02:54,634
You- you get to some insane sentence
about, uh, science, like,

47
00:02:55,215 --> 00:02:59,094
"aztreonam-induced metallo-beta-lactamase
production..."

48
00:02:59,614 --> 00:03:00,854
and your brain just...

49
00:03:01,434 --> 00:03:02,114
freezes.

50
00:03:03,060 --> 00:03:04,599
Right!

51
00:03:05,099 --> 00:03:07,920
And that is where most students get bogged
down.

52
00:03:08,539 --> 00:03:10,559
They- they try to memorize the jargon.

53
00:03:11,059 --> 00:03:17,039
But here is the trick: de-emphasize the
nouns and focus on the verbs.

54
00:03:17,599 --> 00:03:18,439
That's the secret.

55
00:03:19,159 --> 00:03:22,920
You don't need to know what
"metallo-beta-lactamase" is.

56
00:03:23,479 --> 00:03:23,779
Call it...

57
00:03:24,219 --> 00:03:25,559
call it "Jargon X."

58
00:03:26,159 --> 00:03:30,959
If the sentence says "Jargon X blocks
Jargon Y," that's it.

59
00:03:31,399 --> 00:03:32,479
That's your translation.

60
00:03:33,019 --> 00:03:36,979
The verb "blocks" is the actual logical
relationship.

61
00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:39,700
The nouns are just window dressing.

62
00:03:40,519 --> 00:03:41,100
Yes!

63
00:03:41,559 --> 00:03:46,619
I remember reading a passage about, um,
volcanic ash, and instead of trying to

64
00:03:46,659 --> 00:03:50,699
pronounce these crazy mineral names, I
literally just told myself,

65
00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,960
"Okay, gooey rock stuff makes the other
rock stuff slide faster."

66
00:03:55,899 --> 00:03:56,979
That was it!

67
00:03:57,020 --> 00:03:58,619
And it worked perfectly.

68
00:03:59,257 --> 00:04:01,757
It's about reducing cognitive load.

69
00:04:02,438 --> 00:04:02,698
Which...

70
00:04:03,237 --> 00:04:07,458
actually, this brings us to something
that's been driving me a bit crazy lately.

71
00:04:08,277 --> 00:04:11,657
You know, LSAC's Executive Vice President
Susan L.

72
00:04:11,798 --> 00:04:17,097
Krinsky announced that the new LawHub
interface would introduce a redesign featuring

73
00:04:17,277 --> 00:04:21,138
fully functional highlighting and
underlining across the stimulus,

74
00:04:21,558 --> 00:04:23,577
question stems, and answer choices.

75
00:04:24,481 --> 00:04:28,361
Right, the new 2026-2027 interface.

76
00:04:28,982 --> 00:04:30,861
Everyone's, like, celebrating this.

77
00:04:31,161 --> 00:04:34,502
"Oh, finally, we can highlight the answer
choices and the stem!"

78
00:04:35,181 --> 00:04:35,861
But...

79
00:04:35,941 --> 00:04:36,621
you're not a fan?

80
00:04:37,361 --> 00:04:39,801
I think it is a cognitive trap.

81
00:04:40,502 --> 00:04:41,641
Highlighting is...

82
00:04:42,482 --> 00:04:43,721
it's a security blanket.

83
00:04:44,482 --> 00:04:49,281
It- it tricks your brain into thinking it
has processed information just because you

84
00:04:49,361 --> 00:04:50,161
colored it yellow.

85
00:04:51,141 --> 00:04:56,441
You- you click and drag, and your brain
goes, "Ah, okay, I've secured that fact,

86
00:04:56,861 --> 00:04:57,722
I can forget it now."

87
00:04:58,501 --> 00:04:59,361
It's passive.

88
00:04:59,949 --> 00:05:00,490
Hmm.

89
00:05:01,329 --> 00:05:02,809
You know, I- I think you're right.

90
00:05:03,709 --> 00:05:07,690
When I used to highlight, my screen looked
like a coloring book,

91
00:05:08,229 --> 00:05:11,050
but if you asked me what the paragraph was
actually...

92
00:05:11,090 --> 00:05:12,689
like, what its point was?

93
00:05:12,909 --> 00:05:14,409
I had no clue.

94
00:05:14,549 --> 00:05:16,209
I just knew I highlighted some nouns.

95
00:05:16,942 --> 00:05:17,722
Exactly.

96
00:05:18,362 --> 00:05:23,842
So, what I challenge my students to
do-especially now with these fancy new tools-is

97
00:05:23,902 --> 00:05:26,622
the "No-Notes, No-Highlights" challenge.

98
00:05:27,463 --> 00:05:31,302
When you're practicing on LawHub, ban
yourself from using the highlighter.

99
00:05:31,762 --> 00:05:34,862
No pencil, no digital scratching, nothing.

100
00:05:35,662 --> 00:05:39,843
Force your brain to do the heavy lifting
of holding that structure in your working

101
00:05:39,902 --> 00:05:40,222
memory.

102
00:05:41,199 --> 00:05:41,919
That sounds...

103
00:05:42,419 --> 00:05:43,639
terr- terrifying.

104
00:05:44,199 --> 00:05:47,959
How do you- how do you track where you are
without any of those crutches?

105
00:05:48,569 --> 00:05:52,069
By building what I call a Paragraph
Function Map.

106
00:05:52,809 --> 00:05:57,189
Instead of tracking *what* the author is
saying-which is what leads to highlighting

107
00:05:57,250 --> 00:06:01,429
all those messy nouns-you track *why* they
are saying it.

108
00:06:02,149 --> 00:06:05,069
At the end of each paragraph, take five
seconds.

109
00:06:05,629 --> 00:06:06,750
Just five seconds.

110
00:06:07,209 --> 00:06:10,369
And assign it a precise, action-verb
function.

111
00:06:11,189 --> 00:06:13,389
Is this paragraph "introducing a claim"?

112
00:06:14,010 --> 00:06:16,189
Is it "undermining a counter-analogy"?

113
00:06:16,829 --> 00:06:19,090
Or is it, say, "conceding a loophole"?

114
00:06:19,777 --> 00:06:20,637
Oh, I see.

115
00:06:21,318 --> 00:06:26,137
So, instead of highlighting "the
sedimentary layer contains iridium,"

116
00:06:26,797 --> 00:06:31,757
I just write in my head: "Paragraph two is
the evidence for the impact theory."

117
00:06:32,341 --> 00:06:32,901
Boom!

118
00:06:33,402 --> 00:06:33,841
Yes!

119
00:06:34,181 --> 00:06:34,661
That's it.

120
00:06:35,221 --> 00:06:39,541
You're mapping the architecture of the
argument, not the interior design.

121
00:06:40,141 --> 00:06:44,382
If you know the first paragraph is the
"old theory," the second is the "new

122
00:06:44,441 --> 00:06:47,361
discovery," and the third is the "author's
caveat"...

123
00:06:47,801 --> 00:06:49,121
you don't need highlights.

124
00:06:49,562 --> 00:06:53,701
You know exactly where to look when a
question asks about a weakness in the author's

125
00:06:53,781 --> 00:06:54,061
view.

126
00:06:54,715 --> 00:06:55,254
It's like...

127
00:06:55,974 --> 00:06:58,514
it's like learning to walk without
training wheels.

128
00:06:59,134 --> 00:07:04,015
It's scary for the first ten minutes, but
once you realize your brain can actually

129
00:07:04,054 --> 00:07:04,594
do this...

130
00:07:05,514 --> 00:07:08,074
you- you never want to go back to those
digital crutches.

131
00:07:09,558 --> 00:07:10,277
Exactly.

132
00:07:10,817 --> 00:07:14,597
So, next time you're on LawHub, close the
highlighter tool.

133
00:07:15,237 --> 00:07:16,317
Trust your brain.

134
00:07:16,777 --> 00:07:19,458
It's a lot stronger than a yellow digital
marker.

135
00:07:20,991 --> 00:07:21,431
Alright.

136
00:07:21,451 --> 00:07:22,431
Let's do it.

137
00:07:22,512 --> 00:07:23,451
Good chatting, Adrian.

138
00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:25,579
Talk soon, Nora.