Study guide
The Reading Comprehension section presents dense passages, typically drawn from law, humanities, social science, or natural science topics, followed by questions on main point, structure, inference, and authorial attitude. Some administrations also include a comparative passage set, which presents two shorter related passages and asks about their relationship; under the current format, each Reading Comprehension section contains either one or no comparative sets, so they are not guaranteed to appear on your test but remain worth preparing for. This chapter builds the close-reading habits that let you answer both formats efficiently under time pressure.
Reading for Structure, Not Just Content
The most common mistake on Reading Comprehension is reading for detail retention, as if studying for a content quiz, rather than reading for structure, which is what most questions actually test. As you read, track the function each paragraph plays: does it introduce a phenomenon, present a scholar's view, raise an objection, offer the author's own assessment, or provide supporting evidence? Rather than trying to memorize every fact, jot a four- or five-word label for what each paragraph is doing. Consider a passage that opens by describing a puzzling finding in coral reef ecology, then presents one researcher's explanation, then presents a competing explanation, then closes with the author's own qualified endorsement of the second view. A structural reader would label these four moves as puzzle, theory one, theory two, author's view, and would be well positioned to answer both a main point question and a paragraph function question without rereading. Passages built around a debate between two positions are extremely common on the LSAT, and the most frequently tested detail is which position, if either, the author ultimately favors, and how strongly. Watch for hedging language such as perhaps, it may be that, or largely, since these words signal that the author's endorsement is qualified rather than absolute, a distinction that answer choices exploit constantly.
Main Point and Paragraph Function Questions
Main point questions ask you to state the primary purpose or central claim of the passage as a whole, and the most common wrong answers are either too narrow, capturing only one paragraph's content instead of the whole passage, or too broad, extending the passage's actual claim into a stronger, more universal statement than the author made. A passage that carefully argues for reconsidering one particular regulation is not the same as a passage arguing that regulation in general should be reconsidered, and the LSAT reliably offers the overbroad version as an attractive wrong answer. Paragraph function questions ask what role a specific paragraph plays in the passage's overall structure, phrased as the second paragraph primarily serves to. These questions are answered correctly using the structural labels you built while reading; a paragraph that presents a competing scholar's view in order to later challenge it should be described as introducing a view the author goes on to question, not simply as explaining a theory, since the latter omits the paragraph's argumentative role within the larger passage. When in doubt, reread only the first and last sentence of the paragraph in question, since topic and transition sentences typically state the paragraph's function explicitly, saving time you would otherwise spend rereading the entire paragraph.
Inference and Author's Attitude Questions
Inference questions in Reading Comprehension work the same way they do in Logical Reasoning: the correct answer must be supported by the passage's actual statements, not by outside knowledge or by what seems generally reasonable about the topic. Because passages are long, the temptation to answer from memory of the passage's gist, rather than its precise wording, is strong; always locate the specific line or lines an answer choice depends on before selecting it. Author's attitude questions ask you to characterize how the author feels about a claim, a scholar's theory, or a phenomenon described in the passage, using words like skeptical, cautiously supportive, or dismissive. These questions hinge on tone words scattered through the passage, including adjectives applied to a viewpoint, adverbs qualifying a claim, and evaluative verbs such as concedes, insists, or merely asserts. An author who writes that a theory is not without some merit, though the evidence remains thin is expressing cautious, qualified skepticism, not outright rejection and not enthusiasm; answer choices at either extreme should be eliminated. A useful discipline is distinguishing the author's voice from the voice of any scholar or position described within the passage; a common wrong answer attributes to the author an attitude that the passage actually attributes to someone the author is describing or criticizing.
Comparative Passage Sets
Comparative passage sets present two shorter passages, typically labeled Passage A and Passage B, on a related topic, followed by questions asking about their relationship in addition to ordinary single-passage questions on each. Note that under the current format a Reading Comprehension section includes either one or no comparative sets, so you may not encounter one on your particular administration, but they remain part of the test's design and should still be practiced. The first task with any comparative set is to identify what the two passages share, meaning the topic or question both authors are addressing, and then to identify where their treatments diverge, whether in conclusion, emphasis, method, or underlying assumption. A frequent question type asks with which of the following statements would the authors of both passages agree, and the correct answer is usually a modest, carefully hedged claim that both passages actually support, often narrower than what either passage argues on its own; broader statements that only one author would endorse are common wrong answers. Another frequent type asks about a shared assumption, meaning an unstated premise both authors appear to accept even though they may reach different conclusions from it; identifying this requires reading each passage's argument core separately, exactly as in Logical Reasoning, and then comparing the two cores for overlap. A third type asks how the author of one passage would likely respond to a specific claim in the other, which requires tracking each author's stated commitments closely enough to extend their reasoning, without inventing a view neither passage actually supports. Treat each passage's argument independently first, then build the comparison; trying to read both passages simultaneously for their relationship usually causes both to blur.
Key terms
- Structural reading
- — Tracking the function each paragraph plays in a passage's overall argument, rather than memorizing isolated details.
- Main point question
- — A question asking for the passage's central claim or primary purpose as a whole, distinct from any single paragraph's content.
- Paragraph function question
- — A question asking what structural role a specific paragraph plays within the passage's overall argument.
- Author's attitude question
- — A question asking how the author feels toward a claim, theory, or phenomenon discussed in the passage, based on tone and qualifying language.
- Hedging language
- — Qualifying words such as perhaps, largely, or it may be that, signaling a qualified rather than absolute endorsement.
- Comparative passage set
- — A Reading Comprehension format presenting two related shorter passages, followed by questions on each individually and on their relationship.
- Shared assumption
- — An unstated premise that the authors of two comparative passages both appear to accept, even if their conclusions differ.
- Agreement question
- — A comparative passage question asking which statement both authors would accept, typically answered by a modest, carefully hedged claim.
- Overbroad answer choice
- — A common wrong answer that extends the passage's actual claim into a stronger or more universal statement than the author made.
Exam tips
- Label each paragraph's function in a few words as you read; most main point and paragraph function questions can be answered from these labels without rereading.
- Locate the exact line an inference answer choice depends on before selecting it; a plausible-sounding choice unsupported by specific wording is not correct.
- Distinguish the author's own voice from any scholar or position the author describes; attitude questions frequently test this distinction directly.
- On comparative sets, extract each passage's argument core separately before comparing them; do not try to read both passages for their relationship on a single pass.
- Prefer modest, hedged answer choices on agreement and shared-assumption questions; the correct answer is usually narrower than either passage's boldest claim.