Logical Reasoning on the LSAT: Strategies From A Perfect Scorer

Do the words “Logical Reasoning” trigger LSAT butterflies in your stomach? Make you bust out in a cold sweat? Find anything you can do to procrastinate, even… cleaning your room?!

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Logical Reasoning is one of the most worried about LSAT sections. I’d say it’s due in part to the overwhelming number of Logical Reasoning question types, and the dozens of hyper-specific LSAT strategies that most instructors out there convince students that they need. Not to mention, formal logic is brand new to most students taking the test. 

When students try to master all these new strategies, and process really intimidating logic at the same time, it can end up a Logical Reasoning LSAT-astrophe. 

But hear me out: the Logical Reasoning section does not have to be as complex as everyone makes it out to be. With a little determination (which you already have if you’re reading this blog) and consistent practice, you can reach your goals for Logical Reasoning, and the LSAT in general. 

When I was studying on my way to a 180, there were a few observations I made that really helped me out. Here are six major tips that helped me ace Logical Reasoning on the LSAT: 

If you are looking for Logical Reasoning LSAT sample questions, I suggest you check out LSAC’s Lawhub, an online database that contains all the disclosed LSATs ever offered. As a bonus, Lawhub contains all its questions using the official online format you’ll see on test day.

The Tips that Helped Me Ace the Logical Reasoning Section of the LSAT:

• Identify Argument-based questions, and then highlight their conclusion. Always. If a question stem (the fancy phrase for “question”) refers to “reasoning,” a “conclusion,” or an “argument,” (that one’s pretty simple), you are dealing with an argument-based stimulus. Arguments always have a final point, called the conclusion. The conclusion is an action or opinion that the arguer wants to convince you to adopt. Find this phrase and highlight it. Focus on it. Work really hard to understand it. This will help you better focus on the answer choices that are relevant to the question at hand. As a bonus, it’ll save you time and effort on your review round, so you don’t have to re-solve the stimulus and can therefore move on to second-level problem solving.

• Know your conclusion’s specific subject matter and tense: If we’re in a battle between chocolate and vanilla ice cream, we shouldn’t care what people have to say about cookie dough–even if it is the best. That’s because cookie dough has nothing to do with chocolate vs. vanilla. 

  Know the tense of your conclusion: Is an answer choice dealing with the future when our conclusion is concerned with the past? Often when down to two answer choices, most students try to process as much of the stimulus information as they can. Instead, we should be narrowing down. 
  Focus on the nuanced word choice in the conclusion to help you figure out which answer you’re leaning towards, and pick it. Trust your “gut.” After all that work, it’s less random than you expect. Usually, we lean towards an answer for a reason (and there aren’t as many traps as you think).
  
  

• Pay more attention to answer choices—read them fully. A lot of mistakes come from reading everything else in detail, and skimming answer choices. Practice the alternative. 

  Learn to drive from the answer choices. Find words that rub you the wrong way and require investigation. Ultimately, it’s easier to look carefully through a ten word answer choice than a seventy-five word stimulus. 

  Also, find a way to adopt a 1st pass – 2nd pass strategy. What this means: spend your first pass focused on the big picture more than the details. Go through your questions, eliminate down to two, pick what you’re leaning towards, and don’t linger! Chances are, if you are getting nine out of the first ten Logical Reasoning questions in 13 minutes, you can do it in 10. 
  
  

• Try to create a pace where you end with anywhere from 5-10 minutes for review.

  That second round of review, free from the stress of unsolved questions up ahead, is really, really, really helpful, especially in Logical Reasoning, because it removes all that LSAT stress that comes from knowing you still have more unsolved questions left to discover. The fear of an unknown, super-tough question ahead can be paralyzing.  

  
  Having a fresh set of eyes, combined with the fact that you’re “warmed up,” will make previously difficult-seeming questions look much more clear cut upon review. 
  
  

  Most people, when they hear this tip, say something to the effect of “well that’d be nice, but I can’t do that.” TBH, doing ten in ten is just something you have to make yourself do. It’s a classic “chicken and the egg” dilemma–if you don’t force it, it won’t happen. It’s rare to just gradually get there. Try it out on your next Logical Reasoning LSAT drill set!
  
  

• Think about those middle school grammar lessons: tense, subject, verb. A conclusion about the future probably isn’t going to be answered by an answer choice about the past. 

  Similarly, a conclusion about what’s not true isn’t going to be answered by an answer choice about what is true. Think of the difference between “I live in South Dakota” versus “I don’t live in Nevada”... those are two very different pieces of information. 

• Lastly, trust Your Well-Studied Gut. Weirdly, the longer we spend on a question, the more we try to argue for the answer we don’t like. In other words, we try to prove ourselves wrong by creating a big thought-out argument for the answer we don’t like, and forgetting to argue for the one we do like. 

  By the time you’re down to two answer choices, you’ve used a considerable amount of brain power and have probably started to get to that phase where the stimulus is fuzzy. Go with the answer you’re leaning towards and leave the other one open. Use the little flag tool, bank 30 seconds that you’d otherwise spend staring at the screen, and come back later if you have time.

Deciding your next steps? I suggest you check out “The Loophole” by Ellen Cassidy for a great introduction to Logical Reasoning for the LSAT.  Ready to get started with some 1:1 tutoring for the LSAT? Click here to set up an initial consultation.

Keep in mind: self-study resources are typically designed to help the most people possible. That means they’re designed for those who have never seen the LSAT, or those who start with average diagnostic scores (in the 130s-140s). Therefore, the “max score” of self-study resources tends to cap out at 155-160.   

If you’re looking for help surpassing these scores, and moving into the top 10%, you will have to push your understanding beyond what mainstream self-study methods have to offer. Many students can push into the 170s via careful self-study. If you think you’d like a guide along the way, take a look at how I can help you.