With the October LSAT less than two weeks away, many law school hopefuls are likely hunkering down and are hopefully well into the practice test phase of their preparation.
When deep in preparation and having worked at the LSAT for weeks already, many students tend to focus on specific question and game types. This is generally a good way to prepare, but it risks losing sight of some key overarching strategies for each section that are broadly applicable and can help you immensely on test day.
In this week’s post, I’ll present key skills that are applicable to most questions on each of the three sections. Be sure to continue to cultivate these skills as you continue to practice in these final important weeks.
[Erase three common LSAT preparation myths.]
Logical Reasoning
1. Separate the important information from the unimportant information: Most arguments in the logical reasoning sections contain at least some information that is either not an essential part of the argument or is not helpful in terms of answering the question. Distinguishing this important information will speed you up and make you more accurate.
In general, the two elements of an argument that you should pay most of your attention to are the premises and the conclusion. Premises are generally introduced by words like “because,” “since” and “for,” while conclusions are generally introduced by words like “therefore,” “thus” and “so.” Make sure to use these connecting words to help guide you to these most important parts of the argument.
Pay less attention to parts of the argument like pieces of background information — usually these are broad, very general statements such as “childhood obesity is a major problem in North America” — and any statements that are presented as conflicting with the argument’s premises or conclusion.
2. Focus on precision : One of the most common sources of assumptions and flawed arguments in the logical reasoning sections is making a simple jump from one closely related concept to another. One key to making sure you are able to see the subtle word changes that the LSAT employs in the logical reasoning sections is to make sure that you are aware of the assumptions you make based on common sense and your knowledge of the outside world.
For example, an argument may discuss immoral behavior and not preventing another person from being harmed. Although these two concepts are closely connected in our collective moral code, we need that connection to be explicitly made for LSAT purposes.
[Learn to avoid common LSAT logical reasoning mistakes.]
Logic Games
1. Look for connections between rules : Every game will enable you to make some sort of connection between two rules that will enable you to make some further deduction. These connections are essential to answering most questions on the logic games section.
Avoid simply symbolizing each rule individually. Instead, look for characters and other elements of the game that two rules have in common; these will usually lead you to some connection between the two rules in question.
2. Focus on what must be true : Perhaps the most common way to use time inefficiently on the logic games is to generate legal scenarios for a game without having a specific purpose for creating those scenarios. My students do this very frequently in the context of testing answers by trying to come up with scenarios that either prove or disprove each individual answer choice.
Instead of engaging in this time-consuming and last-resort strategy, focus on making deductions with the information you are given, such as determining what else must be true based on the information you are given. Only after you have made all deductions should you move on to testing answer choices or otherwise coming up with legal scenarios.
[Check out LSAT trends to know for upcoming tests.]
Reading Comprehension
1. Understand the structure of the passage : Some questions ask you directly about the structure of the passage or the structural role a single paragraph plays in the passage. But even for the many questions that do not specifically ask for this information, you can use a structural understanding of the passage to direct you to information you need to answer a question.
For example, if a question asks you to identify the author’s opinion about a certain thinker’s view, and you know that the thinker’s view is articulated in the second paragraph, you can quickly skim that paragraph only and likely find the information you need to answer the question.
2. Eliminate answer choices that are inconsistent with your general understanding of the passage: Although most reading comprehension questions require you to recall or find some specific information, many bad answer choices can be eliminated simply because thy are not consistent with the general theme or opinion of the passage.
By eliminating those answer choices first, you are able to focus more precisely on two or three viable answer choices, and, in the event that you are running out of time, you will be able to make an educated guess instead of a random one.
Are you taking the October LSAT? How are you preparing? Let me know in an email or tweet me.
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Cultivate Essential Skills for Each LSAT Section Types originally appeared on usnews.com
