Randall

LSAT Reading Comprehension Question Types

The reading comprehension section on the LSAT does not test your ability to read and understand the law. Legal passages are occasionally used,  but the test makers mostly want to see how well you can read stupendously dense, boring material. It’s a skill most lawyers have in excess. Lucky for you, I’m going to outline each of the question types, so you’ll at least know what you’re looking for when you start studying.

Type #1: Central Idea and Primary Purpose Questions

These questions are the most common and the most straightforward. All you need to do is pick out the central idea or primary purpose of the passage. That’s easier said than done in many cases.

Type #2: Method and Structure Questions

With these questions, you’re going to need to get into the author’s head a little bit. The questions will ask you to figure out how authors structured their argument.

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Type #3: Specific Recall Questions

These questions are reading comprehension at its most basic level. You’ll be asked to remember exactly what the author wrote at various points in the article.

Type #4: Specific Function Questions

These questions are similar to the method and structure questions, but more confusing. Instead of figuring out the structure of an argument, you’ll need to figure out why the author used certain facts to illustrate or prove certain points.

Type #5: Inference Questions

These are the old “read between the lines” questions. On an inference question, you’ll be asked to infer a certain fact or argument that would logically follow from the facts presented in the article.

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Type #6: Author Agreement Questions

Finally, there are the author agreement questions. With these, you will need to get into the head of the author, or whomever the author was describing or arguing with. You’ll be presented with a series of potential answers, and you’ll need to decide which one the author would most likely agree with.

Author

  • Randall

    Randall earned his JD from the University of Denver in 2013. He received his BA in Communications and Social Science from the University of Washington in 2010. Randall took the LSAT twice, and managed to improve his score by 14 points the second time around. He paid the price of learning to score high on the LSAT and hopes to help other potential law students avoid similar pain.

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