The LSAT is two days away. To quell some of your anxiety, we’re bringing you a quick tip for each section of the LSAT.
Logical Reasoning
Logical Reasoning is dominated by the Operation family. Strengthen, Weaken and Necessary questions will make up the bulk of your test. Your key to success is to find the main point and focus on it. That’s what you’re trying to strengthen or weaken. That’s where the assumption becomes apparent. If you don’t know what the main point is, you’re gonna have a bad time. So this Saturday, for each Operation question, please find the main point.
Logic Games
Note: As of August 2024, the LSAT will no longer have a Logic Games Section. The June 2024 exam will be the final LSAT with Logic Games. Learn more about the change here.
At this point, you’re about as good at Logic Games as you’re going to be. However, things may go horribly, terribly, awfully wrong if you fail to double check your rules. You might not even know how bad things went until you get your score back. This is because rule misrepresentations are predictable. “Thomas and Rutabaga are separated by exactly one chair.” That’s a reversible block, but I’ll bet you dollars to donuts a ton of people would represent that as a non-reversible block. The test makers know this and can offer you up wrong answer choices that would fit the misrepresented rule. So, make sure you double, and triple check your rules.
Reading Comprehension
For Reading Comprehension, make sure you read really hard. Just kidding. There’s no way you can do well on the Reading Comprehension section if you don’t stick to the methods you’ve been learning during these past months. Don’t get nervous and then try to freestyle it.
The key, for me, was always nailing the Main Point question. Heck, sometimes just knowing the main point can lead you to the correct answer choice for four questions! (Think: Main Point, Author’s Attitude, “Best Title,” “Append a Sentence to the End”).
So, here’s my favorite Reading Comp method: Look for the problem, mystery, or question that’s the subject of the author’s passage. This will often lead you to the main point. If the author identifies a favored solution to their problem, then that solution is the main point. If there’s no solution, the main point is just the problem. If there are many solutions and the author doesn’t pick one, then the main point is just a neutral summary of all the solutions.
Good luck!