Reading Comprehension Questions | Inference and Main Point

You've probably noticed much of the LSAT is about presenting simple things in a confusing way. The LSAT is all about hiding what's staring you right in the face. Reading Comp is no different.

If you've done more than a few Reading Comp passages, you've probably noticed by this point that RC passages tend to have a few of the following:

-main point/main idea questions
-primary purpose/function questions
-inference questions

This blog post will give a few quick tips on main point and primary purpose/function questions. I'll then go into detail with some tips for the more difficult types of RC inference questions.

Main Point Questions
Most of the time, these questions ask about the author's viewpoint or whichever viewpoint is given more attention and space in the passage.

In other words, this is often the aspect of the topic covered in the majority of the passage, not only in one paragraph. LSAT-takers often fall for choices that describe specific parts of the passage, rather than the majority of the passage.


Primary Purpose/Function Questions
These questions are very similar to main point questions. The difference? The answer choices are worded a bit more generally. In other words, they use more abstract language. Pay very close attention to the verbs used in each answer choice.


Inference
Inference questions don't actually ask for new information. They'll often require you to take the contrapositive of something in the stimulus or passage or to simply connect different parts of what's already there. This means you simply have to read a little deeper into relevant lines of the passage. Reading "between the lines" can obviously be difficult to do, but there's a common "trick" LSAC often uses in more difficult RC inference questions.

For these questions, the passage gives you the information you need (as it does for all inference questions). However, the passage simply presents this info in a way that makes it difficult to see and extract this info. This information is presented indirectly. The passage tells you something the author (or a person within the passage) doesn't believe. As a result, if you read carefully, you'll indirectly learn about what the author (or person within the passage) does believe.


Example #1:
PrepTest 37, Section 1, Question 19 (page 292 in "Next 10").

The passage describes Ellison's views on the audience's relationship to works of art by describing his criticism of an opposing viewpoint.

What do I mean by this? I mean that it describes Ellison's interpretation of the criticisms, and then it says Ellison doesn't like these things.

In lines 20-28 of the passage, Ellison says the critics' view makes "the narrow assumption that audiences are capable of viewing the world only from their own perspectives."

If Ellison considers their opinion to make a narrow assumption, then Ellison must disagree with this narrow assumption and whatever directly follows from it.

If the critics think audiences can't view the world from other perspectives, Ellison must think audiences are capable of viewing the world from other perspectives. In other words, as we see in choice C, "audiences have the capacity" to view the world from another perspective (or "appreciate" different art).


Example #2:
PrepTest 36, Section 2, Question 11 (page 265 in "Next 10").

"Would be most likely to agree" means they're asking another Inference question. The passage in full of info about Binns' opinions, so there's no need to guess at what Binns "might" think.

In lines 33-37 of the passage, Binns says the scholars treat the writings as "an autonomous and coherent whole, underestimating the influence on English writers..."

Binns believes these scholars underestimate the influence on English writers, so we can conclude Binns does not actually believe these writings are an autonomous and coherent whole. If Binns thinks they're not as simple and clear as the scholars have implied, Binns must think they're actually more complicated.

In other words, as choice C suggests, Binns thinks these scholars have done a "superficially coherent reading."


Example #3:
PrepTest 35, Section 2, Question 26 (page 235 in "Next 10")

This example isn't quite the same as the other 5, but I included it simply because it's a good opportunity to demonstrate another way LSAC masks content. In this passage, LSAC tells us about legal positivism in the middle of presenting Dworkin's opinion.

The legal positivists believe laws' meanings are all about judges' interpretations of the law. Paragraph 2 talks a lot about legal positivists' belief in "underlying convention," so you could potentially answer the question o n the basis of that paragraph. However, LSAC's trick is to tell what legal positivists most clearly believe in lines 45-49 through Dworkin's eyes.

In order to learn what the legal positivists themselves believe, we need to put aside Dworkin's opinions and focus on the views of the legal positivists themselves. If we ignore Dworkin for a moment and focus on legal positivism itself, we'll learn they're focused on meaning as convention, rather than innate (core) meaning, so choice D fits.


Example #4:
PrepTest 29, Section 2, Question 10 (page 26 in "Next 10")

The people with the view in lines 51-54 believe "the attempt to write down traditional languages is misguided and unnecessary." To phrase this in a positive form, we can describe their viewpoint by saying they believe traditional languages will be okay even if we don't write them down.

As choice A suggests, they believe the languages will survive without being written down.


Example #5:
PrepTest 22, Section 1, Question 15 (page 121 in "10 More")

In lines 49-52, we learn the "anti-objectivist" personal narrative can bridge the gap between those who are "legal insiders" and people excluded from legal discourse and the accompanying power.

In these lines, we're indirectly learning legal insiders have the power, so choice B fits.


Example #6:
PrepTest 19, Section 3, Question 6 (page 29 in "10 More")

Lines 45-50 describe P.D. James' "determination to leave areas of ambiguity...and to distribute guilt..." as a "conscious rebellion against the traditional neatness of detective fiction."

By describing P.D. James' crime novels in contrast to the norm, the author of the passage tells us traditional detective fiction doesn't leave areas of ambiguity or distribute guilt. Thus, choice D fits because it describes the neatness of detective fiction with a synonymous statement: "straightforward assignment of culpability for the crime."

Photo by maynard / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Newer LSAT Reading Comp Tips And The Truth About Reading Comp

If you have limited time, reading newspapers to prepare for Reading Comp might not be the best idea.

Most newspaper articles fit one of two formats:

Hard news stories
1. Hard news stories tend to include the key details first, then zoom out to give the context

Ex. President Obama signed a bill into law yesterday to _______. The article then continues by giving other parties' reactions, then some reflections on why or why not this new law might be important and/or good.

Human interest stories
2. Human or public interest stories with more of a local spin usually start with a short anecdote, then zoom out for larger story.

Ex. "Yesterday, a giant squid attacked Joe as he relaxed in his in-ground swimming pool the other day. Sadly, this attack is only latest in a long string of giant squid attacks. No one knows how the giant squids are getting into these pools. Local law enforcement officials say they are doing everything in their power to prevent future attacks. The mayor recommends that citizens carefully check their swimming pools before entering. The evil scientist at the local marine biology research laboratory was not available for comment."

Okay, maybe a giant squid attack is more along the lines of hard news, but it just sounded like fun. You know what I mean.

People have short attention spans, so newspapers want to get most important info to readers first. This goes for The Economist, NYTimes, etc.

Newspapers generally choose one of the two models I mentioned for one main reason: they know that most people probably won't read the entire article, but they want to keep the public informed, or at the very least, give people the impression that they're learning something important.

The Truth About Reading Comp: The Passages Are Not From The "Real World."
I don't blame you for thinking they are, given LSAC's acknowledgement of "source material" in each PrepTests. You can find this acknowledgment by turning to the page after Section 4 but before the Writing Sample.

It'll say something like:

Acknowledgment is made to the following sources from which material has been adapted for use in this test booklet.

The key word there is "adapted."

LSAT Reading Comp passages are actually written by LSAC. As I've said before, they're actually structured like big Logical Reasoning stimuli.

The passages' source material is not written with the intention of confusing the reader (one passage in PrepTest 32 is even "adapted" from Cosmos by Carl Sagan, an excellent book if you ever have the chance to read it).

However, LSAC "reworks" (I'd say "remixes," but LSAC isn't that hip) the source material and paraphrases it in the most boring way possible.

Example
Take PrepTest 30, Section 3, Passage 4, associated with Questions 22-27. (It's in The Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests.) I looked at the source material to compare it to the actual passage.

The source material was a book review from the May 8, 1994 NYTimes (titled "The Secret of the Marshes"). My finding: LSAC purposely "boring-ified" the article for the LSAT.

In fact, almost none of the article itself appears in the passage, and I had difficulty finding any direct quotes. LSAC basically took parts of the article and paraphrased them with the purpose of making them uninteresting. The same goes for the Cosmos passage I mentioned a few paragraphs ago.

The NYTimes article included things like:

Naturally, she would ask, "Do you remember anybody growing rice?"

and

Here is another discussion that I wish the author had placed in the text

You'll never see language that simple in these books:

What does this mean for you?
If you haven't read anything longer than a "tweet" or the back of a cereal box in the past few years, RC passages might be too difficult for you to start on. However, if you actually know how to read, it's probably best to stick with RC passages. With over 60 LSAT PrepTests, there's probably no need to use non-LSAT material for practice.

Photo by clotho98 / CC BY-NC 2.0

New LSAT Reading Comprehension Tips

Seems like everyone wants more help on LSAT Reading Comprehension these days, so here are some loosely-related thoughts on how to approach Reading Comp.

What to focus on
I like to think of Reading Comprehension passages as big "point at issue" questions like the ones you find in Logical Reasoning.

Comparative reading passages are the most explicit examples of this. You want to be aware of the opinions each passage expresses. Most importantly, look for areas where there's overlap between the two.

In the non-comparative (regular) reading comp passages, look carefully for any opinions expressed by individuals. If you see an opinion without an "advocate," it's the passage author's opinion.

Again, focus on the viewpoints and speakers, not the details (evidence). The LSAT isn't expecting you to remember everything, and it certainly isn't expecting you to memorize what a Koch curve is or how it's created (June 09 LSAT - PrepTest 57, RC Passage #4). It's simply expecting you to remember where in the passage you can find that info if you need to return to it.

In law school, you'll have to get through hundreds of pages a week on boring topics. This is why LSAT passages tend to be on obscure and mostly-uninteresting topics. Your job is to convince yourself that it's interesting and that you care about whatever point at issue or difference of opinion is expressed in the passage.


Identifying viewpoints
Although reading comprehension's grown more unpredictable on recent exams, there are some common RC structures you might see. This is especially true for natural science and social science passages.

Here's one common RC structure (although there are many others):

"In the past, a discussion has generally been limited to one thing, but new research, evidence, or studies have sparked new debate over the issue of X."

Alternatively, the same structure might look like this:

"People used to think things were one way, but new evidence suggests things are actually another way."

The old way of discussing, viewing, or theorizing about something is viewpoint 1.

The new way of thinking about this issue is viewpoint 2.

PrepTest 29, Section 2, Questions 16-21 (page 28 in The Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests)
Natural Sciences Example

Old way: Bohringer's finding (Lines 18-20) - Viewpoint 1
New way: Scheich's studies (Lines 4-8, 29-41 and 54-56) - Viewpoint 2


PrepTest 29, Section 2, Questions 22-27 (p30 in Next 10) -
Social Sciences Example

Old way: Most scholars' lack of interest in how medieval law actually affected women (Lines 11-14) - Viewpoint 1
New way: Interest in how the law actually affected women, and what's necessary to study that (Lines 16-28, but especially 25-28) - Viewpoint 2


Summarizing viewpoints
One way I stay engaged and keep track of viewpoints is to reduce them to a core word or phrase. Why?

Because sometimes they'll say, "Some scholars believe X, while other scholars believe Y."

I'd call them the X-ists and the Y-ists.

Example: PrepTest 22, Section 1, Passage 4, Questions 22-26 (p124 in 10 More Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests)

Lines 18-24 of this passage give us the core of the argument:

The debate centers around whether language corresponds in some essential way to objects and behaviors...or...whether the relationship between language and things is purely a matter of agreed-upon conventions, making knowledge tenuous, relative, and inexact.

I'd mark "V1" and "V2" in the margin (to the left) of the words "essential" and "convention," respectively.

One group believes language has an essential meaning, and the other group believes its meaning is conventional/relative.

Throughout the passage, I'd mentally call the viewpoints "essentialist" and "conventionalist," and I'd mentally call the groups in the debate the "essentialists" and the "conventionalists."

This concise summary of the viewpoints allows us to place just about every piece of information in this passage into one of these two groups.


PrepTest 31, Section 4, Passage 4, Questions 21-28 (p102 in Next 10)

In this one, the passage even gives us names for the groups in lines 37-38 - "subjectivists and objectivists." Use these names to make the reading easier for you. You'll now be able to go back and note in the margins where evidence for each viewpoint appears.


Red herrings
Most passages start by jumping into the main topic they're actually about. However, a few begin with a topic that is unrelated to the topic that the passage is actually about. I suspect LSAC does this with the goal of tricking those who want to save their least-favorite topic or type (natural science, social science, law, and humanities) for last. Don't be fooled!

Examples:

The essentialist/conventionalist passage in PrepTest 22 starts with a paragraph about math.

PrepTest 35, Section 2, Passage 3, Questions 15-20 (p332 in Next 10) starts with a paragraph about "philosophers of science" while the passage itself is more concerned with biologists.

Photo by prawnwarp / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

(FYI, that photo depicts our friend de Saussure.)

5 Hardest LSAT Reading Comprehension Passages

I've already listed the 10 Hardest Logic Games, but a list of the 5 Hardest Reading Comprehension Passages is long overdue.

This list is focused on exams published 2000-2010. (See the list of every LSAT PrepTest.)

These make for great bathroom/beach reading. Enjoy!

***

1. PrepTest 35 (October 2001), Passage 4 - Ronald Dworkin and Legal Positivism vs. Moralism (p234 in Next 10)

2. PrepTest 49 (June 2006), Passage 4 - Maize

3. PrepTest 50 (October 2006), Passage 4 - Riddled Basins of Attraction

4. PrepTest 55 (October 2008), Passage 3 - Maxine Kingston and the Chinese talk-story

5. PrepTest 59 (December 2009), Passage 3 - Isamu Noguchi and Sculpture

Also, here are some Difficult LSAT Logical Reasoning Questions.

Photo by dalvenjah

LSAT Reading Comprehension Passages: Easy As Harry Potter

LSAT Reading Comprehension doesn't have to put you to sleep.

"Yeah, right," you say.

"I read Harry Potter on the beach a few summers ago. But LSAT Reading Comp? That's like reading Nietzsche or Derrida - even in translation, they don't make sense!"


That's what they WANT you to think.

LSAC wants you to see the passages and say to yourself:

But, actually, Reading Comp passages are more like Harry Potter or See Spot Run than like either philosopher's books.

You probably think I'm full of it. I know where you're coming from.

LSAT Reading Comp consists of 3 long passages and 2 short ones.

Topics cover a broad range:

* humanities
* science
* social science
* law/politics

LSAC figures you're bound to hate one of these areas.

Even worse, you might have a tough time in the areas you do like. Why? Because your real-world (outside) knowledge of the topic can help and hurt you.

Outside knowledge helps because it gives you familiarity with the passage's subject. This can prevent you from falling asleep and can help you distinguish between the viewpoints.

Outside knowledge hurts because you can't use it to answer the questions. Don't let it distract you!

Read quickly, but don't skim.

What do I mean by this?

When most people think of skimming, they think of reading on a superficial level. They try some silly strategy like reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Hey, if it worked for grammar school textbooks and the SAT, it'll work here, right?

Wrong.

This isn't grammar school. The LSAT's not going to bake you cookies or read you a bedtime story.

LSAT Reading Comp passages are organized differently than textbooks (or SAT passages), and they have a different focus.

You want to read quickly, but you don't want to skip the middle of a paragraph just because it's the middle. The LSAT often includes important nuggets in the middle of passages because people tend to gloss over them.

Read slightly slower than a typical skim, but faster than a thorough read.

You're not reading for content or facts. Instead, you're reading for argumentative structure and for the positions and viewpoints presented.

The bottom line: don't try to absorb all the content.

If you know the structure, you'll know where to find each nugget of info in the passage when the questions ask for it.


How to Look for a Passage's Structure

As you're quickly reading each passage, look for the following (and consider marking the passage next to where each appears with my suggested notations below):

Viewpoint 1 = V1
Viewpoint 2 = V2

Evidence for V1 = E1
Evidence for V2 = E2

Advocates of V1 = A1
Advocates of V2 = A2

These are the only things worth marking on the passage.

Not every passage will contain all of these. Some passages will not describe the advocates of each viewpoint, but passages generally contain the other parts of the structure.

Note: Some passages have more than 2 viewpoints.


How to Stay Engaged as You Read

If you don't care what happens to Harry Potter at the end of each book (or where Spot ends up after we see him run), getting through each book would probably take forever.

I haven't actually read Harry Potter in years, but here's an incredibly oversimplified version of the story. I'll ignore all the details and treat it like an LSAT Reading Comprehension passage (and brace myself for the emails from rabid Harry Potter fans).

Viewpoint 1 = Forces of good should win.
Viewpoint 2 = Forces of evil should win.

Evidence for V1 = Everyone would be miserable if forces of evil won. Things are good as they are.
Evidence for V2 = Humans are soft, and wizards would be better off if used powers for evil.

Advocates of V1 = Harry Potter and his friends
Advocates of V2 = Voldemort

If you remained engaged as you read Harry Potter, it's probably because you cared about which viewpoint ultimately wins out.

Pretend the LSAT's reading comprehension passages are just as fun. Convince yourself you want to read these passages and you care about which viewpoint has more support.

Law school reading can be just as boring as Reading Comprehension passages, if not more so. It's important to start convincing yourself you like this stuff now.

***

Want more Reading Comp tips? Check out these posts:

10 Strategies for LSAT Reading Comprehension

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the LSAT (Part 3 of 3)

How to Ace Reading Comprehension | 7 Habits

This is the 3rd part of a 3-part series detailing the 7 habits of highly effective law school applicants on each LSAT section. I already covered Logic Games and Logical Reasoning.

1. Recognize the passage's main point / opinion.
Find the overarching theme of the passage.

2. Keep track of various opinions presented by individuals or groups.
Understand the role that each paragraph plays in advancing each point of view.

3. Have a consistent and effective note-taking strategy.
Read my LSAT Reading Comp note-taking advice so that you won't have to re-read the whole passage to answer questions. You need to be able to find relevant info quickly.

4. Stay within the information provided in the passage.
Be able to support each inference you make with a specific line or paragraph.

5. As in Logical Reasoning, focus on structure, not content.
Break apart each paragraph as if it were a Logical Reasoning stimulus.

6. Get a sense of where questions will come from as you read the passage.
Mark off important areas and recognize extra / filler details for what they are. A note-taking strategy helps with this.

7. Learn to stop worrying and love LSAT Reading Comprehension.
Do enough Reading Comprehension passages that you can treat it as an exercise.

LSAT Reading Comprehension Tips and Tricks

or...How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the LSAT (Part 3 of 3)

Who do you think does better on the day of the LSAT - the person who enjoys reading or the person who hates it?

Part 1 of this series covered Logic Games, and Part 2 dealt with Logical Reasoning. This is Part 3.

I covered some passage-specific Reading Comprehension tips in 10 Strategies for LSAT Reading Comprehension. In this article, I share long-term reading comprehension strategies AND additional passage-specific techniques.

How to Improve Reading Comprehension and Concentration

Prevent "spacing out" by reading long analytical articles of the type found in NYTimes Magazine, the Atlantic, the Economist, Harper's, The Smithsonian, New Scientist, Scientific American, New Yorker, NY Review of Books, etc. You can generally subscribe to them via email and RSS.

The LSAT has no video section, so you'll have to increase your attention span by reading more. Daily newspapers aren't sufficient for this purpose. Instead of burying key information throughout the article as LSAT passages do, daily newspapers put important info at the beginning. They're catering to the public's short attention span.

Read about subjects that wouldn't normally interest you. You don't need to be an expert on the intricacies of nuclear fission, but it wouldn't hurt to skim a few science journals to see how scientists write. The same goes for philosophy and the humanities in general. The passage on Ronald Dworkin in PrepTest 35 is much easier if you already know something about legal positivism.


Comparison with Logical Reasoning

Much of what I've said about Logical Reasoning in previous posts applies to Reading Comprehension as well. Nearly every Logical Reasoning question has a parallel type in Reading Comprehension. Fortunately, the strategies for those questions apply to Reading Comp as well.

Of course, Reading Comp contains a few types of questions you won't see in Logical Reasoning such as "what is the author's attitude?" The "must be true" questions are often trickier as well.


Make a List of Reading Comprehension Vocabulary Words

More important than these minor differences is the vocabulary used in Reading Comprehension. The authors use language in a very precise manner, and you'll pick up on their nuances as you complete more passages. Maintain a list of RC words you don't use in everyday speech or see in everyday writing ("eschew" comes to mind). You may not know less common meanings of words like "qualify," and you might find you don't know the exact meanings of "ambiguity" and "ambivalence."


Read for the Passage's Structure, not its Content

I've said this in other posts, but it's worth repeating: the content of a LR stimulus or a RC passage is less important than its structure / argument. Always look identify the relevant portions of the argument (evidence or conclusion). "Speed-reading" techniques won't work because you're not reading for informational purposes.

You probably don't care about the regulatory, acclimatory, and developmental adaptive responses of overwintering macropterous/micropterous waterbugs (PrepTest 2). If you do, entomology's probably a more promising career path. If you insist on law, save your interest in the waterbugs for another time. The LSAT only requires you know these adaptive responses exist (after reading the passage) and where you can find them in the passage.

As you read, look for:

-the main points (conclusions)

-underlying facts (evidence)

-main players (supporters and critics)

-players' motivations / interests (if any)

Reading comprehension is a mechanical process, so treat it like a fact-finding mission. Search the passage for each of the things I've just listed.

Of course, it would be too easy if the answer to a main point (conclusion) question were worded exactly as written in the stimulus. For this reason, you need to be able to quickly find and identify each of these things so you have more time to recognize how they've been reworded in the answer choices. It helps if you're familiar with commonly-used terms in RC and their synonyms (covered in my previous RC post - linked above).


How to Read More Quickly

Don't pronounce words in your head as you read, and don't move your lips as you read. You can think faster than you speak, so if you cut off the connection between reading and speaking, you'll retain information even as you increase your speed.


How to Find the Main Point

First of all, it's the author's conclusion. Approach main point questions just as you would approach Logical Reasoning main point / conclusion questions. The main point is NOT the summary. It's simply what the author's trying to convince you is true. This will most closely resemble an opinion, rather than background info or undeniable facts. It can be at the beginning, middle, or end.

Depending upon the type of passage, the main point will take different forms.

If the passage is about a:

-problem, the main point is the solution.
-mystery (cause / effect), the main point should be the explanation the author advocates.
-person the author likes / dislikes, the main point is that the person is great / not great. Evidence will be reasons for opinion.
-study / experiment, the main point is that the study / experiment is good / bad. Evidence will strengthen / weaken study's validity by attacking study / people conducting it.

10 Strategies for LSAT Reading Comprehension

UPDATE: I've put together a GINORMOUS list of free LSAT Reading Comprehension advice and strategies. The below tips are a good start, but click that link for much, much, more, including How I Learned to Love LSAT Reading Comp and LSAT Reading Comprehension Passages: Easy As Harry Potter.

***

10 Strategies for LSAT Reading Comprehension:

Many people believe LSAT Reading Comprehension can't be taught. Luckily, they're mistaken.

Consider this post your blueprint for Reading Comp. It even includes tips to help you deal with those newfangled Comparative Reading passages.

1. Look for the key words that indicate degree of certainty.

Watch out for words like some, most, all, never, and always, and the difference between singular and plural.


2. Keep an eye out for the passage's main idea.

Bracket or underline whenever the author summarizes a point of view: "Although some scholars propose..."

Look for bits of evidence used to support each point of view.

Figure out whether or not the author agrees with each point of view.


3. Look at the relationship between the evidence and conclusion in each paragraph.

Questions to ask yourself:

What evidence is given in each paragraph?

Does the conclusion follow from this evidence?

Does the author promote any guiding principles?

Does the passage contain sub-conclusions?

Does the author mention any counter-arguments? What evidence strengthens or weakens them?

Does the author agree or disagree with any counter-arguments?

What is the author's tone? How does it change over the course of the passage?

Look at each example and determine its role in the argument.

Connect the paragraphs and consider:

What is the passage's argument / goal?


4. Question types in Reading Comprehension

In increasing order of difficulty:
-Main point / main idea
You'll usually see one of these as the first questions. Consider doing them first since they're the easiest. Solving it will also help you articulate the passage's overall argument for yourself.

-Specific / "according to"
The most straightforward question-type you'll see. These tend to follow the passage's structure and ask about part of the author's argument.

-Inferences
Ask you to make a prediction based upon the argument: "The author would agree with which one of the following statements?"

Examine the structure of the passage and note the various points of view within. Go back to areas where you summarized the tone and argument.

Whenever the question refers to a certain piece of evidence or particular line, analyze its role in the argument. Look a couple of lines above and below it.

---
As you'll see, RC is predictable just like Logical Reasoning and Logic Games.


5. How to deal with Comparative Reading passages

LSAC started including these in the Reading Comprehension section in June 2007, so instead of having 4 long passages, you'll only have 3. The 4th is replaced by 2 shorter ones on a related topic.

Now that you know this, you already have an advantage over everyone studying the older exams who doesn't know this.

In Comparative Reading, a couple of questions will be like the ones I described in #4 (above). However, most of them will compare the short passages. Although the passages won't explicitly refer to each other, they'll be on similar topics. The authors will probably agree on some issues and disagree on others. Sometimes, one passage will go into detail on a particular topic and the other will discuss it in more general terms.

How to approach:

Start with the questions that focus on only one of the two passages - it's easier to locate the relevant information.

When you start doing questions that focus on the 2nd passage, analyze it with an eye towards how this passage is different from the first. Look for variations in the topics, areas where the authors agree / disagree, and contrast their tones and styles.


6. Question types in Comparative Reading
In increasing order of difficulty:

*Common issue / central idea (similar to "main point" / "main idea" in longer passages):"Which one of the following issues is central to both passages?"

*Agree / disagree (similar to "according to" / "specific" in longer passages): "It can be inferred from the passage that both authors agree / disagree on which one of the following ideas?"

*Method of reasoning / style (similar to "inference" in longer passages): "Which one of the following best describes the style of (or relationship between) the passages?"

*Analogy (similar to Parallel Reasoning in Logical Reasoning): "The relationship between the passages is most similar to that of which one of the following?"


7. How to avoid those tempting incorrect answer choices

Just as in Logical Reasoning, incorrect answers in Reading Comp are wrong for the same couple of reasons. Wrong answers usually contain one of the following.

-extreme statements not supported by evidence (correct answers tend to use more reasonable and moderate terms)

-irrelevant info outside the scope of discussion

-the exact opposite of the passage's argument

-minor changes to info supported by the passage

-illogical or random combinations of the passage's arguments

-false attributions of individuals' points of view


8. How to take notes in Reading Comp

Although taking notes can keep you focused, the fewer notes you take, the better. Why? Because it costs time, just like making overly-complicated diagrams on Logic Games does.

Consider pausing while you read to write a short 3-4 word summary every now and again. However, you're better off making symbols in the margins whenever appropriate. You might jot down an "!" wherever the author expresses his/her opinion.

Instead of focusing on content, try to comprehend the passage's flow / structure as well as the author's intent. The details aren't as important as the main idea. It's more important to know where in the passage to find the details and unfamiliar terms than it is to know what they actually are.

Try not to spend too much time circling and underlining key words - this will likely slow you down and interrupt your concentration. However, it's useful for you to mark for people or groups mentioned in the passage because there are often questions about them.

You'll develop your note-taking technique as you complete more passages and learn to recognize the most important details of each passage.

Refine your approach to underlining and note-taking over time. As you practice, you will be able to decrease your dependence upon this method as you learn which pieces of info are most important.

Another tip:

When you come across a passage with only a few big paragraphs, break them apart by using brackets. The longest paragraph usually contains several ideas or subtopics.

By breaking it into smaller chunks, you will see where the passage's topic changes. There are often questions about the information at these transition points.


9. Words to look out for

Here are some words to box or underline:

advocates, critics, opponents, others, proponents, supporters

artists, engineers, politicians, scholars, scientists, writers

all, always, every, most, never, some

first, second, third

according to, but, despite, for example, for this reason, furthermore, however, in addition, in contrast, namely, nevertheless, on the contrary, on the other hand

argue, claim, criticize, oppose, support, reject


10. If you just know you won't be able to do every passage...

Begin with the passage associated with the greatest number of questions and save the passage with the fewest questions for last.

***

For more Reading Comp tips, please see these posts:

How I Learned to Love LSAT Reading Comp

LSAT Reading Comprehension Passages: Easy As Harry Potter

All my articles about LSAT Reading Comprehension


Photo by brianbutko