- Anatomy of a Logical Reasoning Question
- Plan of Attack for a Logical Reasoning Section
- Plan of Attack for Logical Reasoning Questions
- Logical Reasoning Question Types
- Practice Logical Reasoning Questions
- Answers and Explanations
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Plan of Attack for a Logical Reasoning Section
In order to use your time and energy most wisely, you should be familiar with the various question types that the LSAT employs on the Logical Reasoning sections. Through practice testing, you will find that some types are naturally easier for you and some will take practice to master. Ideally, you will have plenty of time to prepare, and you will become proficient with all the question types. However, the reality for most LSAT takers is that some question types simply consume more time than they are worth, or are simply too difficult to consistently tackle.
So, the plan of attack for test day is to make a first pass through the section and try to deal with about half of the questions quickly, marking the ones that you skip so that you can come back to them later. Then, make a second pass and do the easiest half of the remaining questions. The truth is that many of our students report that most, but not all, of the easiest questions are in the first half of each Logical Reasoning section.
However, you are not a statistic. You are an individual with specific personal strengths and weaknesses. And, you’ll be taking the test on a specific day of your life when some things might not “click” for you right away. So, be flexible in your approach and simply skip any question that gives you trouble. You can always come back to it later if you manage your time effectively.
If you are like most LSAT takers, you will decide that certain question types are simply not worth attacking at all. Hopefully, these will be types that do not appear very frequently on the test. Remember that if you skip a question completely—that is, you’re making a random guess—you should still fill in an answer on your answer sheet.
As stated in Chapter 2, “LSAT Testing Strategies,” you should mark your answers in the test booklet and only transfer them to the answer sheet in groups when you need a pause in the action to catch your breath and get refocused to attack more questions.