What can you expect to find in the Reading Comprehension section?
This section of the exam tests your ability to read and understand a text.
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 your ability to derive and infer information exclusively from what is contained in the text, and specialized knowledge of any subject is therefore unnecessary. For example, if you are reading a comprehension passage about Louis Pasteur, you do not need to be a chemistry expert to get all of the questions right.
If the subject of a passage does happen to be an area you know a lot about, be careful! It can be helpful to have some familiarity, but, if you find yourself relying on facts and concepts beyond what is included in the question, you are going too far. Everything that you need to answer the question correctly is right there for you.
Like the other sections of the LSAT, the Reading Comprehension section has a time limit of 35 minutes. This means you will have to use your time wisely in order to do well and answer every question. While this section of the exam is fairly cut and dry, you still do not want to use too much of your time on one passage and end up having to rush to finish the rest.
While the passages on this section are short, they will not be an easy read. They will be packed with a very significant amount of information which you will be expected to understand and be able to consider for the important details that are included in the section. The questions on this part of the test will ask you for the usual elements: the organization of the passage, the central themes being communicated through the text, any conclusions that can be drawn based on the evidence supplied to you and going back through the passage to directly reference information from it.
What is the structure of the Reading Comprehension Section?
Each Reading Comprehension section of the LSAT includes between 26 and 28 multiple-choice questions that must be completed in 35 minutes. All LSATs include at least one Reading Comprehension section, and there may be a total of two (depending on the content of the unscored experimental section).
All Reading Comprehension texts feature numbers every five lines, which will help you more easily recall the location of information referenced in the questions.
LSAT Reading Comprehension questions are all one sentence in length, with 6-8 questions per reading passage. Each question has five answer options.
There are two different types of reading passages in this section.
The first type is a single passage of approximately 460 words with question that will generally ask you (a) for the main idea of the passage, (b) to draw an inference based on information in the passage, or (c) find specific information in the passage. For a single passage, you are being tested on your comprehension, so understanding the passage's main idea is critical.
There are seven types of Reading Comprehension questions:
1. Questions About the Passage as a Whole,
2. Questions About What the Passage Says or Implies,
3. Questions That Require Using Context to Refine Meaning,
4. Questions About How Things the Author Says Function in Context,
5. Questions That Require the Recognition of Analogous Patterns or Features in Different Factual Settings,
6. Questions About the Author’s Attitude, and
7. Questions About the Significance of Additional Information.
Examples of the questions you can expect to be asked in relation to a single passage of the first type of single passage are:
• Which of the following most accurately expresses the main idea of the passage?
• Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
• Which of the following is operative in the author's argument?
• What are the central themes of the passage?
• Which declaration most closely aligns with the author’s stance?
• What is the definition of (an underlined word) based on the passage’s context clues?
• Use information from the passage to contemplate multiple perspectives, if there happens to be more than one group of characters (and, as a result, more than one point of view).
The second type of passage you will get in the reading comprehension section is comparative reading. It consists of two smaller passages, totalling 460 words together.
Questions for this category of the exam will relate to how the two passages interact with one another. You will likely have to consider the reading with respect to their separate meanings and information; what the authors’ stances are on the particular issue both passages discuss; and how both passages differ and/or connect with one another.
Examples of questions you can expect from a comparative reading text are:
• Which of the following is a topic that is central in both passages?
• The authors would be most likely to agree about which of the following?
How you can approach the Reading Comprehension Section and some strategies for success.
1. Read each passage carefully.
2. Most questions will ask about the author's point of view or the main point of the passage, so try and identify that right away.
3. Take note of contrasting points of view and be sure not to mix them up.
4. Try to think beyond the passage and use reasoning to decide what the passage means.
5. Take notes on this section to make sure you pick up on any and all relevant information featured on the exam.
6. Highlight any portions that seem to contain crucial information so you can easily have to refer to any of these sentences you find in an accompanying question.
7. Underline any sections of the passage you think may be important as you’ll more easily be able to go back to those sections you’ve marked rather than having to search back through the reading to find the information you need.
8. Before you begin to read the actual passages, glance at the questions that are asked about the passage first to give you some idea of how to approach each passage in terms of which bits of information will be the most relevant. You should try out this strategy during your study time to make sure it aligns with your testing style.
9. Remember that while the text selections will cover a wide range of subjects, you will only be expected to rely on the information provided to you within the passage. As a result, any pre-existing knowledge you have about the subject may be misleading in terms of figuring out the answer and will be irrelevant to doing well on the exam.
10. The test is not about the accuracy of the statements, but your accuracy in being able to read a text and then identify certain aspects about what you have read. Focus on the objective of the question you’re answering and decide on an answer that only corresponds to that objective.
11. The information that usually comes up in questions relates to the author’s opinions or tone, others’ opinions, key people or concepts, and important dates or events. When you read the passage the first time, you should underline this information as you come across it. Thus, when you have to refer back for a specific question, you can guide yourself because the underlined words and phrases you left for your benefit will alert you to whether you are close to finding the information you need.
Ultimately, there is no wrong way to approach this part of the test, so long as you remain efficient with your time and are able to arrive at the correct answers.
As long as you study the passage closely and keep track of the information provided within each of them, you will have succeeded in a major part of the Reading Comprehension section’s assessment goals.
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