For countless numbers of graduate school applicants, preparing and sitting for the GRE, GMAT, LSAT or MCAT can be extremely stressful.  If you are considering working with a test prep organization, you will most definitely want to follow this blog series.  MyGuru offers excellent test prep services for grad school applicants. They offer GMAT tutoring, GRE tutoring, LSAT tutoring, and more. Perhaps more importantly, has the outcomes to prove that their strategies and individualized approach with students works.

We are delighted to offer this interview series, which will feature a new interview question every two to four weeks.

Below is our seventh question for MyGuru.

What does the LSAT primarily focus on?

Stefan Maisnier, Director of Online Tutoring:  The Law School Admission Test or LSAT, administered by the Law School Admission Council or LSAC, is often promoted by the LSAC as “the single best predictor of first year law school performance”. In this article we’ll explore the two major focuses of the LSAT and how the skills you cultivate to succeed in its three sections—Analytical Reasoning (Logic Games), Logical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension—can be used to good effect in future legal studies.

Argumentation

One of the foundational concepts of the law is argumentation, building evidence to support a position or “conclusion”, and evaluating arguments is fundamental to both the Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension sections of the exam. All arguments are predicated on what is often known as the Argumentation Equation whereby Premises + Assumptions = Conclusion, as defined:

• Premises are objective facts that are accepted as true in the context of the argument and that cannot be denied. If an argument states that 90% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, then it must be accepted as so.
• Conclusions are subjective opinions that are predicated upon the premises provided in their support. For instance, based on the statement that 90% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, one might conclude that drinkable water shortages are unlikely on Earth.
• Assumptions are unstated facts that must be true to reasonably believe the conclusion provided. For instance, to believe the conclusion that drinkable water shortages are unlikely on Earth, simply because 90% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, assumes that the vast majority of that water is not undrinkable.

Approximately 80% of the questions in LSAT Logical Reasoning sections ask test takers to evaluate the premises, conclusions, and assumptions of provided arguments by accomplishing a multitude of possible question tasks. You might be asked to strengthen or weaken an argument. You might also be asked to determine assumptions or flaws of an argument. You may even be asked to find a similar or “parallel” argument. Ultimately, the goal will be to address the logic linking the premises to the conclusion as presented by the information in the argument given and this is intended to help build and test your ability to evaluate and present arguments in law school or possibly even in court.

Argumentation is also a major aspect of the Reading Comprehension section. Each passage excerpted by the LSAT will indubitably present an explicit or implicit argument regarding a legal, societal, artistic, or scientific topic and many, if not all, of the accompanying questions will relate to your understanding of the argument(s) presented and the author’s position on that information or argument. This is intended to test your ability to research and evaluate positions and precedents quickly, as well as effectively. The best legal minds are able to quickly evaluate a multitude of information about a case, so most LSAT Reading Comprehension questions ask about the evidence provided and the positions taken, while requiring you make selections quickly addressing those issues while understandably lacking full surrounding context.

Deduction

The other aspect of legal reasoning that the LSAT tests in all three of its sections is deduction, sometimes known as conditional logic, which allows you to determine “what must be” based on the facts presented. Basic deductive logic can be summed up most simply through the mathematic transitive property: If a = b and b = c, then a = c. This conditional chain logic is very important in applying the law, so the LSAT tests it in several different ways in all three of its sections.

Conditional deduction is most directly tested in the Analytical Reasoning or Logic Games section. Through the construct of linear, grouping, matching, hybrid, and even sometimes unconventional chain logic games the exam tests your ability to make logical inferences and deductions to determine “what must be” based on statements of fact. These games are for most LSAT test takers the most abstract and seemingly arbitrary section to begin, but to the LSAC they are the most clinical way to evaluate a law school candidate’s conditional logic skills.

In the Logical Reasoning section, approximately 20% of the section involves deductive reasoning in the form of identifying logical inferences. Some of the most difficult questions can involve such reasoning because often, only visually diagramming the facts as provided allows you to literally see “what must be”. Once again though, this level of reasoning is highly valued in the construct of evaluating statutes and precedents.

Deduction is also found in the Reading Comprehension section in the form of “inference” questions which ask “what must be”, but is unsaid in the passage. These too are often some of the hardest questions for a passage because they require you to apply reason to determine a fact that is left unsaid, but must be true based on the facts provided by the excerpt.

Ultimately, the LSAT tests your ability to reason, and because of that, as you become better at evaluating arguments and making deductions as part of your LSAT prep, you will also be preparing yourself to be a better law school student!

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