How to Make Predictions on LSAT Logical Reasoning Questions

Predicting answer choices is one of the most powerful and underutilized tools that LSAT test takers have at their disposal. It can serve several useful purposes. For one, it provides a roadmap to move through the answer choices quickly and confidently. Additionally, it serves as a check that you properly understood the passage you just read.

The first step to formulating predictions is to properly read the passage. To do this, make sure you go through each sentence as slowly as necessary, prioritizing understanding over speed. Properly reading the passage goes beyond just comprehending the words on the page. You also need to think critically about what you read and how each sentence connects with one another. If the author provides an unsupported opinion, you should be skeptical. If the author commits a flaw, you should pick up on that flaw as you read the passage, not when reading the question stem or answer choices.

For many question types, your prediction should flow naturally from reading the passage. On flaw questions, you should have picked up on and dissected the flaw, or perhaps multiple flaws, during your reading of the passage. After reading the passage you should also have a clear idea of what the main conclusion is, if there is one, and what role each sentence plays. Sufficient assumption questions should also flow very naturally from your understanding of the passage. In a sufficient assumption question, something is needed to close the gap in the argument and allow the conclusion to follow, and it should be relatively clear to you what is missing as you read the argument.

On a more open-ended question, such as strengthen or weaken, you may have to extend your thought process one step further. The strengthener or weakener often unfolds naturally from a flaw or missing piece in the argument, and if you read the passage properly, you should have identified this missing link. Think through possible strengtheners or weakeners before diving into the answer choices. Even though it may be difficult to correctly predict this answer, it is a helpful exercise to crystallize your understanding of the argument.

 

 

 

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Argument: “Students who go to office hours tend to receive, on average, higher scores on official exams than students who do not go to office hours. Therefore, office hours improve students’ exam grades.”
How I make a prediction: The critical step in making a successful prediction on this question rests on identifying the flaw in the argument as you read it. As soon as I see the conclusion that “office hours improve students’ exam grades,” alarm bells start ringing in my head. My first thought was: Well, that is not necessarily true. It could be true that the smarter students are the ones who go to office hours in the first place and that they are already inclined to get better grades regardless of whether they attended office hours or not. I would need more information to properly draw this conclusion. After identifying the flaw on a commonsense level, I would take the next step and characterize the flaw as a correlation/causation flaw.

Just from reading and digesting the passage, I have already essentially made a prediction on the main conclusion, the role of each sentence in the argument, the flaw, and even a few possible weakeners. If I were to receive a strengthen question, for example, I would have to take my reasoning one step further to make my prediction, building off the flaw I already identified. It would strengthen the argument if we received information that indicated some level of causation. For example, if it were true that going to office hours allowed students to receive hints as to what questions may be on the test, then this would strengthen the claim that office hours improve students’ exam grades. Another possible strengthener would be if it were true that going to office hours taught students to study more effectively at home. Notice how this strengthener prediction builds off the main conclusion and the central flaw, which we already identified in the passage. 

 

 

 

 

Make sure to use your prediction as a filter rather than a steadfast commitment. The correct answer choice may be worded differently than your prediction, and in the case of more open-ended questions the content may be different as well. You must still read each answer choice carefully and critically. The prediction is simply a helpful roadmap for reading the answer choices and a check that you understand the passage.