Stimulus Topics

The spectrum of topics covered by Logical Reasoning stimuli is quite broad.
Previous stimuli topics have ranged from art to economics to medicine and
science. According to the makers of the test, “the arguments are contained in
short passages taken from a variety of sources, including letters to the editor,
speeches, advertisements, newspaper articles and editorials, informal
discussions and conversations, as well as articles in the humanities, the social
sciences, and the natural sciences.” Further, LSAT question topics “reflect a
broad range of academic disciplines and are intended to give no advantage to
candidates from a particular background.”
Despite the previous statement, many LSAT students come from a humanities
background and these test takers often worry about stimuli containing
scientific or medical topics. Remember, the topic of a stimulus does not affect
the underlying logical relationship of the argument parts. And, the LSAT will
not assume that you know anything about advanced technical or scientific
ideas. For example, while the LSAT may discuss mathematicians or the
existence of a difficult problem in math, you will not be asked to make
calculations nor will you be assumed to understand esoteric terminology. Any
element beyond the domain of general public knowledge will be explained for
you, as in the following example from the December 2003 LSAT:
Scientist: Isaac Newton’s Principia, the seventeenth-century work that served as the
cornerstone of physics for over two centuries, could at first be understood by
only a handful of people, but a basic understanding of Newton’s ideas
eventually spread throughout the world. This shows that the barriers to
communication between scientists...
The stimulus above, although reproduced only in part, is a good example of
how the test makers will supply information they feel is essential to
understanding the question. In this case, the reader is not expected to
understand either the content or historical importance of Principia, and so the
test makers conveniently furnish that information. Thus, although on occasion Some
specific topics do recur, and we will note those in future chapters.
you will see a stimulus that references an ominous looking word or idea
(recent examples include superheated plasma and toxaphene), you will not
need to know or be assumed to know anything more about those elements than
what you are told by the test makers. When you read a science-based stimulus,
focus on understanding the relationship of the ideas and do not be intimidated
by the terminology used by the author. As we will ultimately find, reading an
LSAT stimulus is about seeing past the topic to analyze the structural
relationships present in the stimulus. Once you are able to see these
relationships, the topic will become less important.