Predict Early and Often

Strong LSAT students react to what they're reading from the very first sentence.

Those reactions help them understand the argument, identify weaknesses, and predict the correct answer. Here’s how that works with a Strengthen question.

React as You Read

Every sentence in a Logical Reasoning passage gives you something to think about. Don't just read the words. Consider what they're telling you.

Suppose a researcher describes a new drug that successfully treated an infection in laboratory mice.

What's your reaction?

The drug worked in mice. Great. Will it work in humans?

You don't need to know the conclusion or the question to recognize that potential problem. You can identify it as soon as the evidence appears.

Now suppose the researcher says the mice experienced mild, temporary side effects.

That raises another question: Will the side effects also be mild in humans?

You've already identified two potential weaknesses in an argument that hasn't even reached its conclusion.

Reactions Create Understanding

You might wonder why you’d spend time thinking about these objections before you know the question. What if it’s about something else entirely?

By reacting to the passage as you read, you develop a clearer picture of what the argument establishes and what it leaves unanswered.

You can’t explore every possibility. But even one or two thoughtful reactions can help you make sense of the argument. That will help you answer the question correctly, regardless of whether your reactions anticipate the question (though they often will). 

Find the Disconnect Between the Evidence and Conclusion

When you encounter an argument, identify its main conclusion and the premises supporting it.

Premises are the evidence the author wants you to accept. You need to determine whether that evidence proves the conclusion.

In our example about lab mice, the researcher concludes that the drug's benefits outweigh its drawbacks for humans with the infection.

But the evidence concerns mice.

The study establishes that the drug worked well in mice and produced limited side effects in mice. That doesn't establish that the drug will have the same benefits or drawbacks in humans.

Notice that you don't need to dispute the study's findings. Accept the premises as true. The problem is the unsupported jump from those premises to the conclusion.

Switch Sides to Strengthen the Argument

Here's another way your reactions are useful.

When you identify a weakness in an argument, you're effectively arguing against its conclusion. You're pointing out what the author’s evidence doesn’t prove.

But you can also switch sides.

Think of yourself as an attorney preparing to argue the opposing side of a case. A good attorney understands the other side's objections because those are precisely the objections they'll need to answer.

Strengthen questions work the same way. Once you've identified where an argument is vulnerable, you know what needs defending.

Defend Weaknesses

Return to our researcher. You've already raised two objections:

• We don't know whether the drug will work in humans.

• We don't know whether its side effects will be mild in humans.

Now switch sides. What evidence would help defend the researcher's conclusion?

Evidence that the drug works similarly in mice and humans would address the first objection. Evidence that humans experience fewer or less severe side effects than mice would address the second.

Either would strengthen the argument by defending against a weakness you identified.

You don't have to predict the exact wording of the correct answer. And you don't have to eliminate every weakness. A Strengthen answer can improve an argument by addressing just one problem, even if others remain. And a correct answer doesn’t have to prove the conclusion, though sometimes it does. 

On tough questions, there may be multiple answers that strengthen the argument. You need to pick the one that strengthens it the most. 

The objections you raised against the argument become your tools to defend it.

Reactions Lead to Predictions 

Don’t wait for the answer choices to start thinking critically about the passage.

React as you read. Question what each sentence establishes, consider what might follow, and notice what’s uncertain.

You won’t predict every answer in advance, and you don’t need to. The goal is to understand what the passage does and doesn’t establish before you consider the answer choices.

The more you practice reacting to what you read, the more naturally those reactions will develop into useful predictions.

Try this LR question and see if you can react to each sentence as you read. (Sign up free if you don’t have an account to do the question.)

 

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