It’s September, so you know what that means! It’s time for a pumpkin spice invasion and the September LSAT. Now that you’re wrapping up your LSAT prep, let’s dive in (to the LSAT)!
What Will Be on the September LSAT?
Logical Reasoning
Logical Reasoning boils down to a few primary skills – making arguments, analyzing arguments, and working with flaws. Over half of this section will have flawed arguments so be on the lookout for those gaps in the logic.
For questions asking you to analyze or make arguments, you are bound by the facts presented to you, whereas when addressing arguments you can bring in some outside information to help address those flaws.
On recent tests, the LSAT has also added principle questions, which are subsets of other question types. These questions will have you fill in some part of a general principle and a specific application to facts. I would pretty much always recommend diagramming these out, as both the principle (criteria judgment) and application (facts judgment) can be diagrammed out.
In general, you can expect 3-5 “diagramming questions” per LR section.
Reading Comprehension
While RC passages seem like they can be about pretty much anything, your job remains relatively consistent independent of the topic. Make sure to focus on the subject of the passage (i.e. what the passage is about), how many viewpoints there are about that subject, and where the author stands on the issues. These are big-picture skills the LSAT loves to focus on, and will make up the majority of RC questions.
On test day, expect one comparative passage asking you to compare and contrast two smaller passages, and then three full-sized passages to work through. For the comparative passages, your focus should be on the similarities and differences between the passages, jotting down topics of discussion that are solely in each passage and those that are in both.
As with the other two section types, the difficulty ramps up as you go, so try to finish up those first two passages a bit quicker than the last two if you’re planning on getting through the whole section and have trouble with timing.
Logic Games
In the Logic Games section, you also want to leave a bit more time at the end, as the last two games generally are tougher than the first two games.
I’d expect one grouping game, one ordering game, a combo game, and a tiered ordering game, as they have been gravitating towards this breakdown on recent tests, but don’t be surprised if they throw a curveball at you with something a bit unexpected.
The LSAT loves to add wrinkles or twists to a logic game to make you think it’s something brand new. In actuality, it’s likely they are just adding ordering or grouping elements in a sneaky way, so try to translate these wrinkles to rules you’re more comfortable with.
I would also expect at least one game that has relatively few deductions. In these instances, once you’ve gone through your mental checklist for deductions, you want to make sure to think about those more hidden spacing elements or potential candidates for scenarios.
On the spacing front, is there a particular slot or group that is inherently more restricted than the others? Or are particular players or rules that seem impactful and restricted? These spacing limitations can be the basis for deductions and scenarios in those harder logic games.
Final Thoughts
During the September LSAT, as on any test day, if you find yourself stuck on a question, remind yourself that each question is only worth one point. In fact, I would generally recommend being pretty aggressive in seeking out those low-hanging fruit points first so you bank those before spending 3-4 minutes on some of those tougher questions.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that the test is on a curve, which means if they do throw something truly diabolical at you, the curve will probably be a bit easier on you as well. Keep that positive energy and momentum going and don’t get stuck and you’ll be able to ace the LSAT!
