3 Crucial Tips To Tackle LSAT Logical Reasoning Questions

LSAT Logical Reasoning questions make up half of the points available on the exam. Thus, they should be a key area of review! Although many students stress out most about Logic Games, Logical Reasoning is more key to your success. To illustrate this point, if you answered half of the LSAT Logical Reasoning questions wrong on test day, you could score no higher than around a 162 or 163. And that’s assuming you answer every other question on the test correctly!

We are almost a month out from the September 2017 LSAT. If you are still struggling with Logical Reasoning, here are our top tips to help your review!

1. Review your answers to practice questions, and see if there are any patterns.

Depending on how you classify LSAT Logical Reasoning questions, there are between 10 and 15 different types. From Resolving the Paradox to Pointing Out Flaws, you’ll be asked to complete a variety of tasks on test day. However, you probably won’t be equally at ease with every type of question. You might struggle with, say, assumption questions, and need to focus on them more than something you implicitly understand. How, though, will you really be able to evaluate what type of questions you struggle with?

All of LSAC’s PrepTests, which should be the foundation of your prep for the LSAT, include an answer key at the back. After completing questions, go back and categorize all the ones you completed for that day. Then, analyze the questions and see if there are any patterns that develop. If you consistently get a certain type of question correct, you do not need to focus on it as much moving forward. However, if you consistently get a particular type of question wrong, you need to spend more time with on it.

This will speed up your LSAT Logical Reasoning questions review because you won’t waste time going over concepts you already understand. As a result, you will focus more attention on areas where you can improve, which will only help your score down the line.

2. Time yourself during your preparation, from your very first session!

This is a consistent theme of our LSAT blog. Timing is such a crucial part of the LSAT. It should be part of your review from day one. LSAT Logical Reasoning questions make up the bulk of the scored portions of the test. If you struggle with timing because you did not practice under timed conditions, you will not get through these sections on test day. Generally, students find themselves slower on test day due to the stress of the occasion. If you have not pounded timing into your brain, you most likely will not perform well on the test.

It is never too late to incorporate timing into your study, even if you haven’t done so thus far. It is really as simple as starting a timer, and making sure you stay on track. For LSAT Logical Reasoning questions, you have, on average, about a minute and twenty seconds per question. So, use that information to pace yourself. You need to complete about 4 questions every 5 minutes. Work at that pace, and you will finish comfortably.

If you find yourself struggling with a particular question, skip it and come back if you have time. You want to see every question asked on the exam. If you spend 5 minutes on question number 10 in a section, you might miss out on answering a relatively easier question down the line.

3. Consistently take full sets of practice questions before test day.

The analogy most used to describe the LSAT is a marathon. The test is a grueling test of your mental strength and focus. Just like with an endurance race, you should not jump into the LSAT unprepared. During your review, work up to taking full sections of LSAT Logical Reasoning questions until you are completing full sections regularly.

This approach has two advantages. The first is that it allows you to gradually stretch yourself out. Much like training for a race, it is best to work up to full sections by taking smaller batches of questions first. Start off timing yourself with 5, and work up from there. You’ll find that you work through the inevitable mental fatigue better if you do not jump into full sections right away. If you get over your head too soon, and try to complete too many questions, you most likely won’t take much away from those study sessions because your brain will be exhausted.

Secondly, if you gradually build up to full sections, you will get a more thorough review of the material. Instead of dragging your mind through a section it is not prepared for, you’ll instead stay more engaged with the material. This method inevitably helps students take more away from their study sessions. Cramming might work with other subjects, but it generally does not with the LSAT.

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