My 5 biggest LSAT Reading Comp Strategies

And we’re back! We’re continuing our series on LSAT Reading Comprehension with a little list action. I’ve been all over the internet lately, and man, do people love lists. The 10 Smartest Dogs You’ve Ever Seen, 15 Embarrassing Celebrity Photos, The 6 Best Foods For Memory…it’s all lists! Let’s get to it!

1. Look for the key words that indicate a degree of certainty. These include words like some, most, all, always, never and the difference between singular and plural. There’s a big difference between "I binge-watched some of Game of Thrones and I binge-watched ALL of Game of Thrones.” 2. Keep an eye out for the passage’s main idea Make a note whenever the author summarizes a point of view: “Although some scholars propose…” Identify any bits of evidence used to support a point of view Figure out whether or not the author agrees with each point of view. This one can be the trickiest. Basically, if a point is made with no proponent, then its the author’s opinion. 3. Look at the relationship between the evidence and conclusion in each paragraph. Here’s a few questions you can ask yourself: What is the evidence for the 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 is the passage’s argument or goal? This isn’t a comprehensive list, but is a good indicator of the things you should be thinking about reading these. 4. How to spot tempting incorrect answers Much like Logical Reasoning, Reading Comp questions are usually wrong for the same handful of reasons:         - extreme statements not supported by evidence          - irrelevant info outside scope of discussion           -the exact opposite of the passages argument           - minor changes to info supported by the passage           - illogical or random combination of passage’s arguments           - false attributions of individual’s points of view 5. Know the different types of Reading Comprehension questions Main point / Main idea These tend to be the easiest, I’d recommend knocking these out first to both to build your confidence and save some time. Specific / “according to” The most straightforward question type. These usually follow the passage’s structure and ask about part of the author’s argument. Inferences These tend to be toughest because they as you to make a prediction based on the argument such as “The author would agree with which one of the following statements?” Next time, I'll dive a little deeper on question types, since I really don’t feel like a quick blurb on a list does them justice. Til next time! Steve “Comprehension Champion” Schwartz P.S.Here are some strategies for RC questions in the meantime ---> Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Reading Comprehension Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. LSAT Vocabulary Builder A handbook that guides you through confusing LSAT language, but not by forcing you to memorize hundreds of words. Instead, this comprehensive guide focuses on the LSAT's most commonly-used words and phrases and gives you their meanings on the LSAT.

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LSAT Reading Comp lemons - how to make lemonade

Hello again! We’re about to dive into a whole series on Reading Comp, and judging by the feedback I've been getting lately, the timing couldn’t be better. The problem with LSAT Reading Comp sections is that they are so, so boring. Why can’t they be interesting? Well the honesty truth is they’re boring on purpose. When you become a hotshot lawyer, you’re going to have to read through hundreds of pages of technical documents. Being able to understand, and recall, this information is really important. So, my first - and most important - tip for doing Reading Comp is that when the LSAT gives you lemons, you make that lemonade. You have to convince yourself that you’re all about what you’re reading and become invested in the subject matter. I don’t care if it’s voting practices from the 1930s or scientists studying poisonous frogs in the rainforest, you have to look at every passage like it matters to you. Another thing you need to be able to do is identify viewpoints. There are a few different ways you might see things phrased, and knowing the structure can help. For example: People used to think X, but now they think Y The old thought it replaced with a new one In question form, that might read: My friends used to think sushi was gross, but after actually trying it, they think it’s awesome. Another option is opposing viewpoints: One group believes X, while another believes Y. Here’s another one of my patented ridiculous examples: One group of people believe that burritos are the superior Mexican food, while other believe tacos to be the best. Viewpoint 1 - Burrito Believers Viewpoint 2 - Taco Truthers Any arguments someone made for the burrito i.e. size and ability to be smothered in salsa, I would label “pro burrito” and any arguments that were made for the taco (like portability and variety of toppings), I would call “pro taco.” It’s silly, but breaking down the passage into its core components really helps. I go into a little more detail on this here ---> You can also check out the comments section, which almost always has some great nuggets of wisdom from by bright and engaging readers (that’s you!). We’re going to get into all kinds of aspects of Reading Comprehension over the next few weeks, so if you have any specific questions, reach out to me and I’ll try to cover them in the future. Talk soon! Steve “Professor LSAT” Schwartz Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Reading Comprehension Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. LSAT Vocabulary Builder A handbook that guides you through confusing LSAT language, but not by forcing you to memorize hundreds of words. Instead, this comprehensive guide focuses on the LSAT's most commonly-used words and phrases and gives you their meanings on the LSAT.

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My 6 shortest LSAT Logical Reasoning tips

Hello again! We’ve been digging into specifics on LSAT Logical Reasoning like Sufficient V=vs Necessary Assumptions and Conditions, Vocabulary, Topics and more. Today, I’m gonna take a more macro view and give you some good quick tips for conquering the Logical Reasoning section. If you only have a minute right now, just scan the bolded headings. Otherwise, go deeper to get all the (juicy) details). Let’s get to it!

1. Use the order of difficulty to your advantage The first 10 questions are the easiest, so don’t use valuable time double or triple checking your answers. For every minute you save on these easier questions that’s a minute you can spend working through the more difficult ones on the end. 2. Thoroughly read through the stimulus Unlike Reading Comp, which uses terminology you might not necessarily need to know on the initial read, every word of Logical Reading questions is important. Way too many mistakes are made just by going too fast and missing important details. 3. The topic of the stimulus doesn’t matter It’s easy to get confused when the subject matter is obtuse. Things like science-based topics can throw a lot of hard-to-understand vocabulary and concepts at you. They are there precisely to confuse you. When this happens, identify the only two things that really mater: the evidence and the conclusion. The rest of it is just distracting fluff. 4. Eliminate all words that are irrelevant to the argument This piggy-backs off of my last point. If it’s not evidence and it’s not conclusion then you don’t need to worry about it. Once you identify the parts of the argument you need to focus on you can begin to move much quicker. 5. Study smarter When you study, keep track of how confident you are on certain questions. This helps a ton when you go back and look at old tests because you’ll start to see patterns emerge for the types of questions you struggle with most. One of my favorite techniques is mark the questions you answered where you weren’t 100% certain. If you have the answers narrowed down, use a “/“ to indicate which ones you were deciding between. For instance, were trying to decide between B and C, then write down “B/C” by the question. If you liked one answer better than the other, put that one first. 6. Don’t diagram Logical Reasoning questions too often There are certainly times to diagram a Logical Reasoning question. Namely, when there are stimuli involving multiple conditional statements that can be linked in some way. You’ll see that in Sufficient Assumption questions, Must Be True Questions and Parallel Reasoning questions. Outside of these, save yourself the time and skip the diagram. Some of the above questions can even be answered reliably without a diagram with enough practice. This buys you time which, when taking the LSAT, is invaluable.  Did those help? Well guess what? There’s a whole lot more where that came from.  Because I am obsessed with helping you own the LSAT, I have compiled a huge list of LR articles for you to review. You can read them all right here.  And that wraps up this series on Logical Reasoning! I hope you learned, laughed and then learned some more. What’s coming next? Who knows! If you’re struggling with anything in particular, let me know and I’ll try and work it into the next series. You’ve got this! Steve “LSAT Black Belt” Schwartz P.S. If you haven’t been to my site in a while, check it out again. I’ve complied all kinds of great resources over there: books, courses, and a whole lot of free advice. These articles are great because I bring the knowledge straight to you, but if you need some more study resources, those links have exactly what you need. Go check 'em out and let me know what you think!

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How to solve LSAT Necessary Assumption Questions like a boss

We’re back at it again! Today we’re going to put a very useful tool in your tool belt. I’d like to introduce you to The Negation Test and it’s ability to help you master Necessary Assumption Questions. As the name implies, the test works by having you negate each of the answer choices you’re given. The correct answer choice is the one that when negated, renders the argument invalid. In other words, the argument can’t be valid if the necessary assumption isn’t true.

Practically speaking, how do we put this to tool to good use? When reading each answer choices, ask yourself “Does this need to be true for the evidence to require the conclusion?” If the answer could not be true, but the conclusion still works, then this IS NOT the answer. If when the answer isn’t true, then the conclusion can’t be true either, and you’ve got your answer. Again, the correct answer HAS to be true in order for the argument to work. Now, when you’re doing this, there is a very easy trap to fall into: polar opposites vs. logical opposites. Polar Opposites are things like taking the opposite of “all people are standing” to be “no people are standing.” This is the extreme opposite case and is not what we want. Logical Opposites are things like taking the opposite of “all people are standing” to be “not all people are standing.” A logical opposite is simply what it would take to make the first statement untrue. In this case, all we need is one person to not be standing for the first statement to be false. If you get those down, then you are on the right track! And if you’re ready for something harder, try out negating conditional statements in answer choices. That’s one of the hardest LSAT things there is. Keep it up! Steve “LSAT Decoder” Schwartz P.S. Next time, we’re going to get into some nice, bite-sized material about some easy, yet effective tips and tricks for tackling Logical Reasoning. Specifically, lists. Because who doesn’t love lists? Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Logical Reasoning Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. Logical Reasoning Cheat Sheet Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

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How to tell between LSAT Necessary vs Sufficient Assumption Qs

Today let's review some of the most feared question types in the LSAT world: Necessary & Sufficient Assumptions. *Thunder Crash* Don’t worry though, it doesn’t have to be so scary. If you’ve been following along, we recently talked about Sufficient vs. Necessary Conditions. If you don’t remember, here’s a quick refresher.

Today, we’re going to focus on the difference between Sufficient & Necessary Assumptions. While both of these questions have the word “assumption” in the question stem, they are actually asking for two completely different things. It’s misleading and confusing to refer to both under the catch-all term of “assumption” questions. Thanks, big prep companies, for once again making things more difficult then they need to be. Some people use the word “justify” when referring to assumption questions, but that can cause problems too. A lot of test-takers mistakenly believe the question must contain the word “justify” to be a “Justify”, a.k.a. sufficient assumption question. Actually, you’ll rarely see the word “justify” used in a sufficient assumption question. Even more confusing, people think if they see the word “justify” in the question stem then it has to be a justify question. This doesn’t work either. You’ll see it in a lot of “Strengthen” and “Strengthen Principle” questions. Like I said, confusing. So how can you tell the difference between different types of “Assumption” questions? Well, sometimes, it’s a lot easier to show than tell. I have a ton of examples in this article I wrote - it goes through a range of questions you’re likely to see. I could go through it all again here, but honestly, that would turn this into a book. So, go ahead and check out that article. Next time, we’ll hit this topic a littler harder and get into some techniques for “Assumption” questions. Study like a pro! Steve “The LSAT Destroyer” Schwartz P.S. Need more help? Let me know! I’m here for you and I want every single piece of information I send to you to be useful. Let me know what you’re struggling with at the moment. I read every message myself. Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT CoursesThe best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Logical Reasoning Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. Logical Reasoning Cheat Sheet Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

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LSAT Most Strongly Supported Questions - what you need to know

Would you believe that big prep companies, the ones who get paid to help you ace the LSAT, make mistakes in some of their material?! Actually, you’re probably not that surprised, which I guess says something. So what’s one of the most common mistakes I see in LSAT prep material? Failing to distinguish between Most Strongly Supported and Must Be True questions. For example, you might see them place “Most Supported” / “Most Strongly Supported” Logical Reasoning questions under the category of “ Must Be True” questions. *cue gameshow buzzer* I can see why. After all, the answer to a Most Strongly Supported question sometimes is something that Must Be True.

If an answer is 100% supported by the stimulus it must be true and is also the most strongly supported because you obviously can’t support something more than 100%. BUT just because something is the most strongly supported doesn’t necessarily mean it is true. This is an imperfect example, but imagine you just got superpowers (hurray! But use them for good). Of the five government scientists that examine you, four of them say that you definitely got your powers from that radioactive sludge you fell into. It also did wonders for you skin, which is a nice bonus. One of the scientists disagrees and says the comet that crashed into your house is actually the source. The most strongly supported answer (the most likely) is the sludge, but it doesn’t quite mean it must be true that you got your powers from it. Again, not a perfect example but you get the idea. If you want some more realistic examples of what you’re likely to see on the test you can find some here ----> I take two examples from The Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT PrepTests as well as an example from a more recent LSAT PrepTest and go through them. I hope that helps, and keep up the good study habits whether your LSAT is a week or a year away! Sincerely, Steve “The LSAT Machine” Schwartz P.S. If you’re enjoying these articles, there’s a LOT more where that came from. If there is something in particular you’re having trouble with, chances are I’ve already covered it in my Free Stuff section. That’s right, FREE! Why? Because I genuinely enjoy helping people kick the LSAT’s butt. Maybe that’s MY superpower? Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Logical Reasoning Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. Logical Reasoning Cheat Sheet Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

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Law School Applications and Scholarships

I want everything to go "back to normal" as much as anyone else.

But I'm not convinced we're there.

If things were "back to normal," colleges wouldn't be asking students to sign COVID-19 liability waivers. There wouldn't be mask requirements and social distancing in the classroom.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't start law school this fall (there are costs to waiting), but do your homework. Make sure it's the right decision for you to go now, and it's at the right price. Consider online and hybrid programs.

And - no matter what -

Get the highest LSAT score possible. Why not aim for 180? 

Strengthen your application and get those scholarships.

When you make an LSAT assumption…

The people have spoken! Y'all really don’t like sufficient assumption questions. Like, at all. I get it - they can be confusing. So today we’ll tackle these questions head on. How are we going to do that? Well, I’ve found the best way to make something you don’t like better is by adding in something you do like. In this case, I like pizza. And I’m willing to bet you do too! Now, I do not want to get into the whole “pineapple on pizza” debate, so we’re going to focus on the most popular topping of them all: pepperoni.

If you had an argument containing: Evidence: A—> B Conclusion C —> B A sufficient assumption that could close that gap is C —> A This is because if all C’s are A’s, (As we suggested) and all A’s are B’s , then all C’s must be B’s which is the conclusion from the evidence. Letters can be confusing, so let’s go back to the pizza. A lot of people want to know why A—> C doesn’t work, because it looks like it should. IF that were true we’d have A —> B (from the original evidence) A —> C (from our proposed answer) And they don’t combine to prove that C -> B! They just say that if something’s A, then it could be both B and C. Let’s use a real example: And let’s say A is “pepperoni”, B is “pizza topping” and C is “Food.” If it’s pepperoni, then it’s a pizza topping, or A —> B (evidence) And we want to prove any food could be a pizza topping or C -> B (conclusion) If we learned that all food is pepperoni, or C —> A, that sufficient assumption would prove the conclusion true after combining it with the evidence statement. (C -> A -> B) Obviously not true in real life, but we have to suspend real-world knowledge for the LSAT. Remember? And we’re lucky that’s not really true, because even tasty things like pepperoni might get a bit boring (and salty) after a while! -LSAT Steve P.S. Want some extra practice? You can follow along with some actual PrepTest questions I broke down here ------> P.P.S. Any particular LR topics you want me to cover in the future? Reach out and let me know! Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Logical Reasoning Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. Logical Reasoning Cheat Sheet Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

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How to dissect LSAT formal vs. informal logic

Just like there is a big difference between what you can wear to McDonald’s and Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant, there’s a big difference between the kinds of logic you’ll encounter on the LSAT. Ok, so the metaphor was a bit of a stretch, but I’m doing my best here. As you might have guessed from that awkward metaphor, we’re gonna be talking about formal vs. informal logic today.

This is a huge part of the Logical Reasoning section, so making sure you understand these concepts is important. Formal logic is easy enough. This is logic that is straightforward and relatively simple. Think Data from Star Trek or Spock…also from Star Trek. For example: Everyone who lives on Earth lives in the Solar System. Everyone who lives in the Solar System lives in the Milky Way Galaxy. Therefore, everyone who lives on Earth lives in the Milky Way Galaxy. I don’t know why I’m on a space kick today, but hey, space is cool. While most formal logic on the LSAT is in the Logic Games section, you will see a bit of it in the Logical Reasoning section, too. Usually these have something to do with morality or climate change. My article about frequent LSAT Logical Reasoning topics covered that. Ok, let’s move on to what you’ll see way more often: informal logic questions. Informal logic arguments tend to be more complex and contain unstated assumptions. These are tough to spot immediately because…well, because they don’t state them directly. And they can’t really be diagrammed. For example: Some people on Earth are aliens in disguise. John has a fascination with UFOs, secretively tinkers with machines in his garage and allegedly abducted a cow once. Therefore, John’s an alien in disguise. John may very well be an alien in disguise, but this messy argument doesn’t prove it. You may even see filler sentences in there as well that don’t contribute to the argument at all but are just there to trip you up: Some people on Earth are aliens in disguise. This is a fact that was unearthed by the CIA in 1947 at Roswell and carefully covered up. John, your reclusive neighbor, has a fascination with UFOs, secretively tinkers with machines in his garage and allegedly abducted a cow once. Therefore, John is an alien in disguise. (The underlined sentence is an example of background / filler.) This is a ridiculous example, but you get the point. And that’s the basic gist of it. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to me. Sincerely, Steve “The LSAT Czar” Schwartz P.S. Click this link to check your "answers" to the free worksheet I shared the other day. (File --> Download As PDF) (Btw, at that link, I'll talk more about why I keep weirdly putting "answers" in quotes.) P.P.S. Missed the worksheet? Didn't do it? I get it, we're all busy sometimes. Here's the link to give it another shot. Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT CoursesThe best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Logical Reasoning Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. Logical Reasoning Cheat Sheet Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

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