The LSAT, like any other standardized test, is a pattern-based exam. Despite the fact that each passage may seem to have completely different topics and ideas, there are readily identifiable patterns the LSAT recycles each test. Since there are patterns in the passages and questions, it stands to reason that there may be patterns within your mistakes as well. Identifying these patterns beyond just from a question type perspective will help you understand what you need to prioritize in your LSAT prep, which will ensure you do not waste countless hours on concepts you already understand. Here are the various patterns the LSAT contains.
Pattern 1: Skills
Despite the fact that there are 11-15 question types in Logical Reasoning depending on what curriculum you use, there are only three main skills the LSAT tests: inferences, structure, and assumptions.
Inferences
Inference questions test your ability to identify what is likely or certain to be true based on the information presented in the passage. Typically, the LSAT is testing your ability to identify relationships between statements to arrive at a conclusion rather than deriving what must be true from a single statement. Inference questions include:
Must be True/Inference
Most Strongly Supported
Must be False
Structure
Structure questions test your ability to identify the core components of an argument and understand their relationships. Success in this skill requires an understanding of how to identify the premise, conclusion, and background information. Structure question types include:
Main Conclusion
Argument Part/Role of Statement
Method of Reasoning
Parallel Reasoning
Assumptions
Assumption questions test your understanding of why the conclusion does not necessarily need to be true despite the premises. In other words, they are testing our ability to understand why the argument is flawed. These question types include:
Weaken
Strengthen
Necessary Assumption
Sufficient Assumption/Pseudo-Sufficient Assumption/Justify
Flaw
Evaluate
Parallel Flaw
A problem many students encounter when looking at things purely from a question type perspective is they overlook the fact that several question types fall under the same skill set. As a result, they overlook the similarities that many of these question types have, making it difficult to categorize their mistakes.
For example, if you are struggling with Weaken questions, you may also occasionally miss Necessary Assumption questions because they both test your ability to identify the assumption. Rather than just counting up the number of questions you got wrong to identify patterns, make sure to also factor in what skill they fall under. The issue may be that you are struggling with identifying the assumption, not that you are specifically having issues with Weaken questions.
Pattern 2: Concepts
There are several concepts that can affect your performance in various question types. Here are the main concepts and the question types they will often fall under:
Conditional Reasoning
Conditional reasoning tests your ability to understand the implications of conditional statements and how the varying conditions relate to one another. This concept is frequently tested in the following question types:
Must be True/Inference
Must be False
Sufficient Assumption
Necessary Assumption
Flaw
Parallel Reasoning
Quantifiers
Quantifier terms are words like "some" and "most" that don't necessarily give us an exact number but will often provide a general sense of how frequently something has occurred. This concept is frequently tested in the following question types:
Must be True/Inference
Sufficient Assumption
Flaw
Parallel Reasoning
Cause & Effect
Causal statements are referring to statements that pertain to one event influencing another. The LSAT frequently tests our understanding of what we can logically derive from causal statements in the following question types:
Most Strongly Supported
Strengthen
Weaken
Necessary Assumption
Flaw
Evaluate
Numbers, Percentages, and Averages
The LSAT often tests our ability to understand the distinction between numbers, percentages, and averages. In particular, the following question types will typically test us on the relationships between these ideas:
Weaken
Strengthen
Necessary Assumption
Flaw
If you consistently miss questions that fall under these concepts, it is worth examining them to determine whether any of these underlying concepts is the source of the problem. For example, you may find that it’s not Must Be True questions in general that give you difficulty, but specifically the conditional ones.
Pattern 3: Passage Structure
This pattern generally falls under the structure and assumption question types rather than the inference ones. Passage structure pertains to how the argument is laid out in the passage. Understanding structural patterns can help with identifying the conclusion and with understanding the flaw of the argument.
For instance, suppose we had the following argument:
We should vote for John to be the new CEO. He plans on increasing our salaries.
Some people may have difficulty identifying the premise and conclusion of this argument because there are no indicator terms that make the structure obvious. However, this is a very common structure on the LSAT and is identifiable from the fact that there is an opinionated claim "We should vote for John to be the new CEO".
How would you try to support a "should" statement like this one in everyday life? You would probably try to show how John would be beneficial for the company in some way. Sure enough, the second sentence seems to show a benefit of voting for John. This confirms the first sentence is the conclusion and the second is the premise.
Identifying this structure can help with understanding the assumption as well. When the author is trying to draw a conclusion about what should be done based on a supposed benefit, there are three primary things being assumed:
The supposed benefit is actually a benefit: How do we know that increasing the salaries is a good thing? What if it hurts the overall business in some way?
The supposed benefit is not outweighed by a disadvantage: Even if we were to grant that increasing salaries is a good thing, what if John is a horrible CEO and will make the entire company go bankrupt?
There is no better alternative: What if another person, James, is a better fit for CEO?
Notice how it does not matter what topic they use. They can talk about whether students should pay more attention in class, or whether we should have a better legal system. If we can just identify the pattern that the author is drawing an opinion about what should be done from supposed benefits, we can recognize the structure and underlying assumptions.
If you are specifically having difficulty with assumption questions, make sure to check for patterns within the conclusion because that can help you understand what types of structures are giving you issues and you can target those specifically.
Pattern 4: Trap Answers
The LSAT has consistent ways of trying to trick you. When you are evaluating whether an answer is right or wrong, try to categorize which trap answer each incorrect answer falls under. This will help you more quickly and confidently eliminate answers. Examples of trap answer patterns include, but are not limited to:
Irrelevant Concept - The answer introduces an idea that does not pertain to the question. Keep in mind that does not necessarily mean that just because it was never mentioned in the passage it is incorrect.
Too strong/Too weak
Opposite
Vague- This answer could potentially be correct, but only if we interpreted it in a specific way
Reversal- This answer reverses the relationship between the premise and conclusion and makes it look as if the conclusion is supporting the premise, not the other way around
As you can see from the points above, there are several identifiable patterns the LSAT uses that go beyond question types alone. Actively searching for these patterns will help you realize that the questions are more similar than initially meets the eye, which will help you feel more confident and can even help you anticipate what the passages or answer choices will say as you are reading. Study more efficiently by using these patterns to your advantage!
I hope you found this post helpful. Subscribe for more blog posts
Comments