LSAT Reading Comprehension - Should You Underline Passages?

Many people debate whether or not to underline relevant sections of LSAT reading comprehension passages. Some LSAT test prep courses say no. Others say yes. The proper advice, however, is that you should, indeed, underline LSAT reading comprehension passages when you read them. This might seem like a chore, but it brings with it a lot of value. Underlining LSAT reading comprehension passages is quite different than any underlining or highlighting you did back in high school or college. You would not be underlining a reading comp passage in order to remember or retain information. Instead, you will be underlining in order to locate information later (when answering questions). Indeed, you should have no interest in remembering as much of a reading comp passage as possible. This would force you to re-read certain lines and try to understand what the passage means. But this is not a literature class, and you do not have a photographic memory and should not try to memorize over 60 lines of text any way. You simply need to answer a handful of questions about a passage within a span of a few minutes. So all you need to do is be able to locate relevant information. Underlining the most relevant words, phrases, and sections of a passage creates signs, or guide posts, that you can use later on when you need to locate certain information to answer a question. Underlining helps you approach a a LSAT reading comprehension passage and answer questions efficiently, and it saves you time on an exam where every minute is crucial.