"List" Questions

You will occasionally encounter EXCEPT questions that simply ask you to identify a list within the passage, then eliminate four choices that appear in that list and select the choice that does not. These questions are also straightforward fact questions and thus usually extremely quick and easy because they do not require any inferences, and oftentimes the list appears within a single sentence or within a few sentences. Consider LSAT PrepTest 49, Section 3, Question #6. The "list" appears within Lines 7 to 25 -- the second half of the first paragraph. Choices (A), (B), (C), and (D) are clearly within the list whereas (E) is not. These list questions will generally take one minute or less to complete. And, also beneficial, if you encounter a passage that you have difficulty understanding, or, if you only have one or two minutes left, you can still do list questions because knowledge of the passage's main content is unlikely needed.

 

"Answers" and "Helps to Answer" the Question

The LSAT occasionally includes questions that contain answer choices that pose questions. Read carefully because the phrasing will likely ask for a choice that the passage will "most clearly provide an answer", as in LSAT PrepTest 50, Section 1, Question 4. As such, treat it as you would explicit information questions -- seek information that is explicitly stated in the passage and that will definitively answer one of the questions posed in the choices. Do not try to read between the lines in an attempt to draw an inference. As an additional example see LSAT PrepTest 48, Question 2. As an example with an EXCEPT, for which you must find four choices that are explicitly answered, and one that is not, see LSAT PrepTest 50, Section 1, Question 15.

 

"Logically appended" Questions

These often ask for what sentence would logically fit at the end of the final paragraph. The temptation with these questions is to focus on good writing organization, but the question doesn't ask about the author's writing style and/or organization, and thus, by you may end up trying to guess as to what the author's next paragraph may be, which will lead you to guessing, not inferring, such as (C) and (D) on LSAT PrepTest 50, Passage 2, Question 11.

Instead, treat these as must be true inference questions -- seek a choice that must be true based on the passage information (not just the specific paragraph), even if that sentence doesn't seem to fit well at the end of the paragraph, as is the case with (B) on LSAT PrepTest 50, Passage 2, Question 11.