There are myriad standardized tests, and one common way to categorize them is by determining the extent to which a student needs to know real-world information to perform well on the test.
On one end of the spectrum is the MCAT, the test that prospective medical school students take, which requires extensive knowledge of biology, chemistry and physics.
The LSAT, on the other hand, the test for prospective law school students, is generally considered a “content-free” exam — meaning all you need to know is the English language to take the test.
[Read about what to expect and how to deal on LSAT test day.]
But is this actually true? Almost all of the LSAT is content-free; but as we’ll explore in this post, the LSAT commonly tests a few pieces of real-world knowledge.
Before we explore those, it’s important to keep in mind that you should not try to apply specific subject matter knowledge to the LSAT. If a passage or argument tells you something is true, don’t question it — even if you know from your own outside knowledge that it is false or an oversimplification.
Here are the three pieces of real-world knowledge that the LSAT tests.
1. Dictionary definitions of words: This might fall under the criterion of knowing the English language, but it’s important to recognize that the dictionary definitions of words sometimes differ from common or colloquial meanings. Knowing the precise meaning of words can make the difference between getting a question right or wrong.
Perhaps the best example of this comes from the December 1996 exam. In a logical reasoning question on this test, the prompt discussed a type of tea that is very high in caffeine.
The correct answer choice stated that the tea also contains a soluble narcotic. To get this question right, the test-taker needed to know that one definition of the word “narcotic” is a drug that induces sleep and not — as the more colloquial usage suggests — simply a dangerous or illegal drug.
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A more recent example was the use of the word “nonoxidizing” in a passage in the December 2009 exam. To get one of the questions on that passage right, the test-taker had to know what oxidizing means in the context of metals — tarnishing or rusting, for example. I have reviewed this question with many students, and it becomes much clearer when the word is properly defined.
Unlike other standardized tests such as the GRE, there is no set of commonly tested vocabulary words for the LSAT, so students have no way to fully prepare for situations like these examples.
I advise students to look up every word on the practice LSAT — and elsewhere — that they encounter and don’t know. This is a good habit for both the LSAT and life.
2. Statistically significant surveys or studies: A typical source of flaws in the logical reasoning section is improperly constructed or conducted surveys and studies. To get these questions right, one must have a basic knowledge of statistical analysis. More specifically, a test-taker should know that sample groups must be both big enough and “representative” of the group they are claimed to represent.
To gauge if the sample size is large enough, look for indications that very few people participated, usually well fewer than 100. Note that statisticians may rightly claim that even 100 participants may not constitute a statistically significant sample, but for LSAT purposes, we are looking for egregiously small samples.
With an unrepresentative sample, does the group in question have characteristics that might skew it in one direction? For example, when conducting a survey about insomnia, asking international pilots or emergency room doctors might skew the results because these professions often require irregular sleep patterns.
[Learn how to conquer logical reasoning on the LSAT with a sample question.]
3. Common Sense: Unlike the two previous sources of outside knowledge, use common sense sparingly. Only use common sense in the most obvious situations.
For example, assume that a business would avoid doing something that would bankrupt it. If you didn’t make this seemingly obvious assumption on a recent LSAT, you would have answered a logical reasoning question wrong.
However, using too much common sense can get you in trouble. For example, assuming a causal relationship between cigarette smoking and lung disease — even though this link is well-established — could lead you to answer a question incorrectly.
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3 Pieces of Real-World Knowledge the LSAT Tests originally appeared on usnews.com
