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Read arguments like a lawyer · Lesson 3 of 14

Prephrasing: predict the answer before you look

After this lesson, you can preview a question stem, extract the argument's purpose, and prephrase your own answer in under 30 seconds, before you read a single choice.

9 min video, plus notes and 1 practice question below

In this lesson

• Preview the question stem first, in about 5 seconds, so you already know whether you are hunting for a flaw, a necessary assumption, a strengthener, or an inference before you touch the stimulus
• Extract the argument's purpose in about 10 seconds: decide if the author is arguing a conclusion or just listing facts, spot conclusion indicator words like thus, therefore, hence and so, and note the tone
• Prephrase your own answer in about 15 seconds by naming the gap the argument leaves open, so you know what a correct answer has to do before you read the choices
• Use that prephrase to eliminate choices that repeat stimulus language, sound smart, or drift off the actual gap, instead of testing all 5 choices cold
• Drill one question type at a time and time your 3 steps separately (5, 10, 15 seconds) so you can see exactly which step is slowing you down

Preview the stem before you read the stimulus

An earlier lesson had you make a rough prediction as one step inside a 3-part process. This lesson slows that single step down and builds it into its own repeatable method, called preview, purpose, predict. The first step, preview, takes about 5 seconds. Read the question stem before you touch the stimulus. You are checking what task you are about to do: are you hunting for a flaw, a necessary assumption, a strengthener, or an inference? Once you know what the question wants, you can filter the stimulus with that goal already set. Say the stem reads, which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument. You now know instantly that you need to find the gap the logic cannot survive without, before you have read a single word of the argument itself.

Skipping this step is what makes students reread stimuli 3 or 4 times. Read the stimulus cold and you absorb it with no target, then you have to reread it once you finally see what the question is asking. Preview first and you read the stimulus once, with a target already in mind, and you zero in on the part of the argument that actually matters for that question type.

Find the argument's purpose in 10 seconds

Once you know the task, move to the stimulus for step 2, purpose, which takes about 10 seconds. Ask yourself whether the author is trying to persuade you of something, which makes it an argument, or whether this is just a fact set with no conclusion at all. If it is an argument, look for conclusion indicator words like thus, therefore, hence, and so, then identify the key pieces of support backing that conclusion.

Also check the tone. Does the author state a strong viewpoint or a more tentative one? Tone gives you insight into where the argument's assumptions or weaknesses are likely sitting. You are not analyzing deeply yet in this step, just getting the gist of the main claim and how the author is backing it up. That gist is the foundation for the next step, because once you see the structure, you know how to attack it or support it depending on what the question is asking for.

Predict your answer by naming the gap

The final step, predict, takes about 15 seconds. Now that you know the question type and the argument's structure, form your own expected answer before you read a single choice. Every argument leaves a gap open, whether you are reviewing it for an assumption question or hunting for a weakness on a flaw question. On a strengthen question, ask yourself what kind of evidence would close that gap. On a flaw question, ask what specific logical error the author is making to create it.

You do not need a polished sentence, just a mental template. If you can form a rough idea of what the correct answer has to do, an answer choice that sounds tempting but never actually touches the gap will not pull you off course.

Why a prediction beats reading the choices blind

Without a prediction, every answer choice looks like a live option. The LSAT's wrong answers are built to catch you this way: some sound logical but do not actually match what the question asked, and others repeat part of the stimulus's own language without solving the argument's real problem. Once you have a prediction, you read each choice looking for a specific match instead of evaluating all 5 choices cold.

This is also where the time savings come from. A prediction gives you immediate focus, so you are not reading the stimulus with no direction. It also means you read the stimulus once instead of several times, since you already know what you are looking for. And because you know roughly what the right answer needs to say, you eliminate choices that do not fit far faster than if you tested each one from scratch.

Drill the 3 steps until they run on their own

Build this into muscle memory with targeted drills. Pick a single question type, like flaw or necessary assumption, and apply only these 3 steps to a small set of questions. Judge yourself on the quality of your preview, purpose, and predict, not just on whether you got the question right.

Time each step on its own at first: about 5 seconds for preview, 10 for purpose, 15 for predict. You will run slower than that at the start, and that is fine. After each question, review in depth. Did you correctly identify the conclusion, and did your prediction actually line up with the correct answer, or were you off? That review is what turns the 3 steps into something automatic instead of something you have to consciously run through on test day.

The short version

• On your next timed set, before you look at any answer choice, state your prediction in one phrase, out loud or in the margin. If you cannot state it, go back and name the gap first.
• After every practice question, ask yourself 2 things before you move on: did you name the conclusion right, and did your prediction match the correct answer. That gap between the 2 is exactly what you drill next.
• If you catch yourself rereading a stimulus, that's your signal you skipped preview. Go back, read the stem first, then read the stimulus once with your target already set.

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