The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) is probably unlike any other exam you have ever faced. You may have aced your essay exams, or multiple choice tests that demanded you memorize reams of facts. The LSAT, however, is different. Whether you need LSAT tutoring in Atlanta, LSAT tutoring in Houston, or LSAT tutoring in San Francisco, working one-on-one with an expert may be just the boost your studies need. The LSAT demands that you critically analyze, interpret, and reflect upon provided material. You can’t cram your way to success on the LSAT. Think of your preparation as a gradual cultivation of the skills of critical analysis.

Perhaps the most challenging part of the LSAT is the LSAT Logical Reasoning test. This section of your LSAT demands that you read a short passage, and then answer a series of questions. Consider the following passage, similar to what you might see on your LSAT Logical Reasoning section:

Mark: The death penalty is an important deterrent to serious crimes. Without the death penalty, we would open the door to far more rampant crime. The systems are in place to ensure that we can be very confident in our convictions, thus reducing substantially the rate of execution for innocent persons. More innocent lives will be saved from the deterrent offered by capital punishment than will be lost to erroneous executions.

Molly: The death penalty has demonstrated that it is incompatible with our criminal justice system. There are too many mistakes made, and the execution of even one innocent person is not worth the dubious assertion that the death penalty is a valuable deterrent to crime.

You may then be asked to determine upon which point Mark and Molly disagree. Implicit in Mark’s argument is that the deterrent of crime is worth the possibility of errors in the criminal justice system, whereas Molly explicitly states that risking such errors is not tolerable.

Taking complex questions and passages and attempting to distill them down to answer multiple choice questions is probably at odds with your academic experience. There may be a part of you that wants to write an essay exploring the subtleties of each above argument. The LSAT encourages you instead to think quickly, and choose one correct answer with little gray area. 

To get really confident with these kinds of questions, you have to practice. By working through hundreds of practice questions, you can develop the acumen and intuition necessary for working through these problems efficiently. This investment of your time now offers you the opportunity to develop these skills early. The ability to read a text quickly and develop an intuition about the arguments that unfold in it is critical for success as an attorney. Proper preparation for the LSAT Logical Reasoning test is therefore the beginning of your legal thought process. Mastering the skill now will pay off for years to come. Varsity Tutors also offers resources like free LSAT Logical Reasoning Practice Tests to help with your self-paced study, or you may want to consider an LSAT Logical Reasoning tutor.

More proximally, success on LSAT is a major portion of your law school application. Studying efficiently by thoroughly understanding exactly what is expected on test day is a major step toward a top performance. It can help you maximize your precious time and continue to succeed in your classes and with extracurricular activities. The legal job market is not an easy one in which to succeed. You need the best scores at the best school possible to be competitive in applying for the positions you want. Succeeding on the LSAT is one of your best bets to realize your goals. In addition to the LSAT Logical Reasoning Question of the Day and LSAT Logical Reasoning tutoring, you may also want to consider using some of our LSAT Logical Reasoning Diagnostic Tests.