How to Prepare Efficiently for the LSAT

Once upon a time, you thought that you’d be putting aside months—hey, even years!—to prepare for the LSAT. After all, it is one of the most important factors in law school admissions.

Yet, somehow test day creeps closer and you’re running out of time for all that long-term preparation. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. And we’re here to tell you which part of the LSAT are the most important –so you can make the most of the study time you have left.

Oddly enough, it isn’t Logic Games. While the Analytical Reasoning (or Logic Games) is perhaps the most notorious aspect of the test, it does not have the greatest impact on your score. The section has gained its big-shot status largely because it is relatively unique: Few other exams attempt to quantify this particular skill, so LG gets a lot of time in the spotlight. When push comes to shove, though, it’s Logical Reasoning that has the biggest impact on your score. The explanation for this is refreshingly simple: The test has more questions dedicated to LR. Each LSAT contains to LR sections as compared to one Reading Comprehension and one LG section.

Naturally, this doesn’t mean that RC and LG are inconsequential—they are extremely important parts of the test. But if you find yourself with a limited amount of study time, you should probably concentrate on getting Logical Reasoning down pat. Our official policy is to recommend giving yourself three months for LSAT preparation, ample time to make significant progress on all three sections. But if you find yourself with just a few weeks to study before the test, focus your efforts on LR.

But you can get even more specific here. Remember, not all LR questions are created equal: Certain varieties appear with much more frequency than others. So, if you’ve just got a week until test day, concentrate your study efforts on inference questions—these are the ones that ask you to choose an answer that “is mostly supported by,” “can be properly inferred,” or “must be true” based on the statements in the prompt. Almost 20% of LR questions are inference questions; these alone account for nearly 10% of your LSAT score.

And that’s not the only places inferences will help you! These questions appear all over the place on the Reading Comp section—and still require a similar set of skills. Nearly 40% of RC questions ask explicitly about inferences, so focusing on this question type will boost your score on that section too.
To learn more about Inference Questions on the LSAT, take a look at:

Inference Questions 1

Inference Questions 2

This guest post is authored by Emily Holleman, a Content Developer at Knewton, where she helps students rock the LSAT. Law School Podcaster listeners can use a promo code to receive a discount on the Knewton LSAT course.

For more information about the LSAT, check out our podcasts “The LSAT: Everything You Need to Know About the Test,” and “Comparing LSAT Test Prep Companies“.