Seek an author's opinion, not "feelings"

The LSAT often asks for the author's "attitude" or "tone". In conversation, these two terms are often used to describe someone's feelings, moods, emotions. However, the LSAT does not ask you to perform literary analysis; LSAT passages will not contain authors who are "wistful", "nostalgic", "lonesome", or "heartbroken", and thus you do not need to try to "feel" or "get in touch" with the author's inner soul. Simply ask yourself: Does the author support or oppose the material discussed? That's usually about it. The author's opinion will appear explicitly in the passage and so you should seek out specific words or phrases that key off the author's opinion. You might find it useful to cross out "attitude" or "tone" and replace it with "opinion" to help yourself remember what you're looking for.

 

One word can make the difference

An author might seem neutral but a single word can reveal the author's opinion, and getting good at recognizing words can help you with author opinion questions. For examples of single words that reveal an author's opinion see "Curiously" in the first passage of LSAT PrepTest 48, Section 3, line 23; "clearly" in the third passage of LSAT PrepTest 49, Section 3, line 38; "Unfortunately" in the fourth passage of LSAT PrepTest 49, Section 3, line 30; "richness" in the first passage of LSAT PrepTest 50, line 41.