LSAT Study Aid

Day 1: Map the argument

Read one argument slowly. Identify its conclusion, its evidence, and the job each sentence does.

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Explain this argument as if you were teaching it to a classmate. Name the conclusion, the evidence, and the job each sentence does. Then state one detail you would need to check before trusting the conclusion.

Day 2: Find the assumption

Return to the same argument and look for the bridge it needs in order to reach its conclusion.

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What must be true for the evidence to support the conclusion? Write one assumption, then imagine a new fact that would weaken that assumption without changing the facts already stated.

Day 3: Test the choices

Before choosing an answer, predict the kind of statement the question is asking you to find.

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Predict the answer category before reading the choices. For each choice, write one sentence explaining whether it does the requested job, and cross out the choices that answer a different question.

Day 4: Explain a miss

Use one missed question as a small writing exercise instead of moving on immediately.

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Explain your first choice, the credited choice, and the exact sentence where the two paths split. Name the reading habit that led you away from the credited choice and one adjustment you will test next time.

Day 5: Add a timer last

Repeat the loop with a modest time limit only after your untimed explanation is clear.

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Solve the question once under the time limit, then explain it again without the timer. Compare the two explanations and identify whether speed changed your structure, your evidence tracking, or your answer-choice review.

Explain the gap

Separate the conclusion from the evidence, then describe the gap between them in one sentence. What additional fact would make the conclusion easier to accept, and what fact would make it harder to accept?

Try the strongest objection

Write the strongest fair objection to the argument you can. Then answer your objection using only information the passage gives you or a clearly stated assumption.

Review a tempting choice

Pick the answer choice that tempted you most. Explain the job it appears to do, the job the question actually asks for, and the smallest difference between those two jobs.

A final check

Before you finish, say the argument's conclusion, the support it relies on, and the reason the credited answer does the requested job. Then choose the next question while the lesson is still clear.