Because text analysis is vital to a lawyer’s profession, reading comprehension is a major component of the LSAT. This section contains four long and dense passages on humanities, social, biological or physical sciences and the law. Several multiple-choice questions test your understanding of the material. In addition, one essay is included. You may be assessed on your abilities to determine the main idea, make inferences, understand analogies, interpret tone and analyze new information. Three of the four sub-tests allow 25 minutes or longer; one must be completed in 10 minutes.
In this section you are faced with a series of statements, and, based upon this information, you must decide which of the four answers is possible. The settings of the questions are not law-related, but the skills needed to be successful are. Lawyers must create documents and develop arguments given a specific set of circumstances. To do well on this sub-test you will need to recognize relationships, make inferences, modify your conclusions based on new information, use if-then reasoning to make decisions and identify similar statements. You have a 35-minute time limit for 25 questions.
Making arguments and undermining those of your opponent are important skills for a lawyer. The logical reasoning questions measure your ability to identify related concepts within arguments, find patterns, draw conclusions based on facts, use analogies, determine the impact of additional evidence and spot misunderstandings, assumptions, disagreements, explanations and flaws. During the test you read real-life scenarios that present problems, puzzles or disputes. You then analyze the information and draw conclusions. Two sub-tests are presented, and you have 35 minutes to complete each.
You must prepare an essay during the LSAT, but it is not scored. It will, however, be sent to your prospective law schools. Most of these institutions examine the quality of this writing sample when considering applications. Lawyers must be able to communicate in writing with clients, adversaries and the courts. For the essay, you are confronted with a real-world scenario that presents a personal, business or societal problem. You determine a solution and support your decision in your essay. The time limit for this section is 35 minutes.