Analyzing the Stimulus

As you read the stimulus, initially focus on making a quick analysis of the
topic under discussion. What area has the author chosen to write about? You
will be more familiar with some topics than with others, but do not assume
that everything you know “outside” of the stimulus regarding the topic is true
and applies to the stimulus. For example, say you work in a real estate office
and you come across an LSAT question about property sales. You can use your
work experience and knowledge of real estate to help you better understand
what the author is discussing, but do not assume that things will operate in the
stimulus exactly as they do at your workplace. Perhaps property transactions
in your state are different than those in other states, or perhaps protocols
followed in your office differ from those elsewhere. In an LSAT question, look
carefully at what the author says about the topic at hand; statements presented
as facts on the LSAT can and do vary from what occurs in the “real world.”
This discrepancy between the “LSAT world” and the “real world” is one you
must always be aware of: although the two worlds overlap, things in the LSAT
world are often very different from what you expect. From our earlier
discussion of commonsense assumptions we know that you can assume that
basic, widely-held facts will hold true in the LSAT world, but by the same
token, you cannot assume that specialized information that you have learned in
the real world will hold true on the LSAT. We will discuss “outside
information” in more detail when we discuss LSAT question types.
Next, make sure to read the entire stimulus very carefully. The makers of the
LSAT have extraordinarily high expectations about the level of detail you
should retain when you read a stimulus. Many questions will test your
knowledge of small, seemingly nitpicky variations in phrasing, and reading
carelessly is LSAT suicide. In many respects, the requirement forced upon you
11 Chapter Two: The Basics of Logical Reasoning
to read carefully is what makes the time constraint so difficult to handle. Every
test taker is placed at the nexus of two competing elements: the need for speed
(caused by the timed element) and the need for patience (caused by the
detailed reading requirement). How well you manage these two elements
strongly determines how well you perform. Later in this chapter we will
discuss how to practice using time elements, and near the end of the book we
will discuss section management techniques.
Finally, analyze the structure of the stimulus: what pieces are present and how
do those pieces relate to each other? In short, you are tasked with knowing as
much as possible about the statements made by the author, and in order to do
so, you must understand how the makers create LSAT arguments. We will
discuss argumentation in more detail in a moment.