How to Crush Reading Comprehension Like an LSAT Boss: Store, Recall, and Engage

Reading Comprehension on the LSAT is a Game of Recall

As a former English teacher turned LSAT curriculum developer and instructor, I’ve seen a consistent pattern over the years that took me by surprise: Most students graduate high school—and even college—without ever being taught how to study or take effective notes.

"Most students graduate high school—and even college—without ever being taught how to study or take effective notes."

We tell students to “study” or “pay attention,” but we rarely teach them how to read in a way that actually supports recall. And we're quick to call them lazy for not figuring out how to study well on their own.

Reading comprehension struggles on the LSAT aren’t usually about intelligence—they’re about anxiety around time. That pressure to move quickly makes it nearly impossible to slow down for thoughtful, active reading and, just as important, effective recall.

And let’s be clear: there’s nothing wrong with going back to the passage. You’re not failing if you double-check something. But here’s the catch—you can only retrieve information efficiently if you’ve laid the groundwork during your first read. That means focusing on:

• Main Ideas: What’s the core takeaway of each paragraph or the passage as a whole?

• Organization: How does the argument unfold? What’s the structure or pattern? Do theories evolve as new ideas are presented?

• Logical Conclusions: What conclusions are the author (or another person in the passage) drawing—and how?

  
  

If you haven’t stored that info with intention, it becomes almost impossible to find it again under pressure. So this post is about how to create mental storage systems—not only to help you “read faster,” but to retain what matters and know where to find it.

Let’s walk through some core strategies (defined clearly—no jargon, just tools that work):

Strategies to Enhance Recall: Break down information into chunks, engage actively with the content, synthesize ideas, and take effective notes for better memory retention.

1. Chunk It   Break the passage into logical sections. Reading line by line without marking structure is like wandering through a house without noticing the rooms. Use paragraph breaks, transitions, or visual markers (like brackets) to section off shifts in ideas.

2. Read Actively   Track the subject and verb in each sentence. Passive skimming won’t help you store anything. Ask yourself: “What’s being claimed here? Is this support or conclusion?” This keeps your brain engaged sentence by sentence.

3. Synthesize It   Connect each sentence to the one before it. Reading comprehension is a logic chain. You’re not just collecting sentences—you’re constructing meaning. If you find yourself starting a new paragraph without being able to sum up the last, pause and reset.

4. Note It (Mentally or Physically)   Don’t transcribe—capture. Choose what’s worth remembering and mentally flag it. That might mean writing a margin note or just pausing to rephrase something aloud in your head. The goal: make it retrievable later.

5. Recall It   Practice pulling the passage back into view. After reading, cover it and ask: What was that paragraph doing? What was the passage’s main idea? If you’ve chunked, read actively, and synthesized, this should feel easier—not stressful.

This isn’t about making reading robotic. It’s about putting systems in place so that when you do return to the passage (which is normal, by the way!), you’re not lost. Somewhere in that text, a refresher is waiting for you—if you made it findable the first time.

🧠 Want to turn these techniques into habits?

👉 Join our next LSAT Boss Live class or sign up for one-on-one tutoring. We don’t just teach you what to do—we walk you through how to do it until it sticks.