The LSAT Reading Comprehension Section

LSAT Reading Comprehension Outline

Reading Comprehension questions are a standard feature of the LSAT, and these important questions assess your ability to analyze and understand lengthy and complex passages of text. Every LSAT includes at least one Reading Comprehension section, and there may be a total of two RC sections, depending on whether the unscored, experimental section features Reading Comprehension or Logical Reasoning questions. 

Each Reading Comprehension section features anywhere between 26-28 multiple-choice questions that must be completed in 35 minutes. LSAT score reports give only the total scaled score, with raw Reading Comprehension section scores only available to students who end up taking a version of the exam that is later disclosed. Test takers don't know before registering for an LSAT whether their test will eventually be disclosed, but reviewing disclosed exams is primarily for study purposes as law programs only focus on scaled scores and are not interested in raw scores.

LSAT Reading Comprehension Passages

Reading Comprehension passages are taken from the social sciences, the physical sciences, the arts, the humanities, and the law. These passages are meant to test the ability to derive and infer information exclusively from what is contained in the text, and specialized knowledge of any subject is therefore unnecessary. Sometimes specialized knowledge can actually lead a test taker to select the wrong answer because they depend on their own knowledge of the subject, rather than focusing exclusively on the information provided in the question. It is imperative to focus only on the information you have been given, even if you are an expert on a particular topic or have first-hand experience with a similar scenario.

According to LSAC, Reading Comprehension passages are densely written, contain high-level vocabulary words, and use a complex argument or sophisticated rhetorical structure. Reading Comprehension sections include four sets of passages. Three of the sets feature single passages approximately 450 words long, while the fourth set (Comparative Reading) contains a pair of shorter passages with a slightly larger collective word count. There is no set position for the paired passage, which may appear at any point in the section. After reading a passage or passages, test takers are asked approximately 5-8 questions about what they just read. All Reading Comprehension texts feature numbers every five lines, which helps test takers more easily recall the location of information referenced in the questions.

LSAT Reading Comprehension Question Types

LSAT Reading Comprehension questions are all one sentence long, with 5-8 questions per reading passage. Each question has five answer options. Test takers can expect to encounter several broad types of questions: 

• Global questions: these involve the central idea of the passage or passages as well as primary purpose questions
• Detail questions: these involve specific recall questions and refer back to explicit statements in the passage or passages
• Inference questions: these involve making inferences based on information provided in the passage or passages
• Logic function questions: these involve specific function questions, such as figuring out why the author used certain information to illustrate or prove a specific point
• Logic reasoning questions: these questions ask test takers to figure out how the author structured his or her argument
• Author agreement questions: these questions require the test taker to get inside the mind of the author in order to select a hypothetical option the author would most likely agree with

It is important to understand the types of Reading Comprehension questions you will see. Once you identify the type of question you are being asked, you can efficiently and accurately choose the best strategy to answer that question. 

At the same time, it is important to remember that test prep materials provide general guidelines for identifying question types. Different test prep professionals may call similar questions by different names, lump several question types into a single category, or break down question types into more than a dozen categories. As you study for the LSAT, it is important to notice the question types you see most frequently and focus on those. The more frequently you encounter specific types of questions on prep materials or disclosed LSATs, the greater the likelihood you will see them again on the day of your exam. 

Below, we have included more specific question types you can expect to face on the LSAT:

1. Questions About the Passage as a Whole (Main Point or Primary Purpose)
2. Questions About What the Passage Says or Implies (Recognition and Inference)
3. Questions That Require Using Context to Refine Meaning (Clarifying Meaning)
4. Questions About How Things the Author Says Function in Context (Organizing Information and Purpose of Reference)
5. Questions That Require the Recognition of Analogous Patterns or Principles in Different Settings (Applying Information in Passage to New Contexts and Parallel Reasoning)
6. Questions About the Author (Inferences about Views, Information, and Attitude)
7. Questions About the Significance of Additional Information (Additional Evidence to Strengthen or Weaken Argument). 

Questions on paired passages (Comparative Reading) may refer to only one of the texts or both.

Important LSAT Reading Comprehension Skills

Almost all LSAT Reading Comprehension passages are organized around a main point, and the ability to quickly discern this main point and read the passage with this idea in mind is probably the most essential skill for achieving high scores on this section. 

Many test prep experts suggest taking the first 30-60 seconds at the beginning of a Reading Comprehension section to flip through the passages and decide in what order you wish to complete them. Passages don't need to be read in the order they are presented, and you should start with the passage you feel most confident about, while also taking the ease and clarity of the language used into consideration. Do not assume that simply because a passage is about natural history or a scientific topic that it will be the most challenging passage—any passage may be the most difficult of the section, which is why skimming them choosing the order in which you complete them may be the most effective strategy for this part of the LSAT.

Similarly, while you can answer questions in the order they occur following a passage, you do not have to employ this strategy. Many test prep professionals recommend starting with global (Main Point or Primary Purpose) questions first, then answering any questions with specific line references. You may wish to save vague inference questions until you have answered all the other questions, ensuring you have a strong grasp of the information in the passage.

Do not attempt to answer questions with reference lines solely from your memory. This is a trap that even strong test takers frequently fall into, and there is nothing worse than choosing the wrong answer when you could have simply gone back and found the correct answer in the passage's text. 

Because time management is crucial on the LSAT, test takers should focus on reading efficiently without dwelling too much on the details included in the passages. Focusing intently on the first sentence of each paragraph is generally (though not always) a sound strategy, and keeping track of passage structure (which is helped by the included line numbers) is typically wise. In order to finish all the given passages in 35 minutes, aim to complete each passage in 8 minutes or less. This will allow you a few minutes to review your answers or spend a few seconds more on any especially challenging questions after you have completed the rest of the section.

LSAT Reading Comprehension Validity

The coefficient for correlation between LSAT Reading Comprehension scores and first-year law school grades is 0.404. This is generally regarded as medium correlation, and the Reading Comprehension section has the second-highest validity correlation of the LSAT's multiple-choice sections (behind Logical Reasoning). Reading Comprehension's correlation coefficients with Logical Reasoning is 0.736, which represent a very strong correlation.

A Comparison of LSAT Reading Comprehension and LSAT Logical Reasoning

The Reading Comprehension and Logical Reasoning sections involve many of the same skills. In both sections, test takers must be able to understand what an author is trying to say. This takes the form of "main points" in the former and "arguments" in the latter, but there is often not much difference between the two, and both sections are essentially about comprehension of written texts. The time management challenges are similar with respect to the average amount allotted per question. Test takers have approximately 75-81 seconds per question on Reading Comprehension (26-28 questions) and 81-87 seconds per question on Logical Reasoning (24-26 questions). 

The primary difference between the two sections lies in how the comprehension of points/arguments is assessed. Logical Reasoning features shorter texts with one question each, while Reading Comprehension includes longer passages that are the subject of multiple questions. Although there is plenty of overlap in terms of academic skills, it is important for test takers to practice the exercises for each section individually in order to gain familiarity with these sections and fluency in them.