You're losing Reading Comprehension points to an opinion you never looked for

Every passage argues

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A lawyer in disguise

Every passage argues for something. Even a calm science summary carries a point of view in its word choice, so read it like opposing counsel.

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• A lawyer in disguise is always selling the author's opinion
• A lawyer in disguise turns every passage into one big argument

The author's opinion

Where the author stands on the subject, and how firmly. It drives the main idea, tone, and purpose questions, even when the author never states it outright.

Play Tone Check, a free author's attitude game

• The author's opinion is the one to find among the 3 voices

The main idea (Main point)

The single idea the author wants to leave you with. Write it in a line of your own before you read a question.

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• The main idea is built around the author's opinion

Why it was written (Primary purpose)

To argue for a view, to correct an old one, or to explain a puzzle. Think of it as the main idea turned into a verb.

Watch the free lesson: main point and primary purpose

• Why it was written follows from the author's opinion
• Why it was written is the verb form of the main idea

One big argument

A passage is a Logical Reasoning argument stretched out. Each paragraph has a viewpoint and its support, and the whole thing builds to a conclusion.

Play Role Call, a free argument structure game

• One big argument ends in a conclusion, and that's the main idea

The 3 things to read for

The main idea, the structure, and the author's opinion. Names, dates, and numbers can wait until a question asks for them.

Watch the free lesson: active reading

• The 3 things to read for include the author's opinion
• The 3 things to read for include the main idea
• The 3 things to read for include a structure, which becomes the passage skeleton

Who's talking

Track who believes what

The 3 voices

Most passages run 3 voices. Scholar A, Scholar B, and the author. Your job is knowing who said what.

Play Skeleton, a free passage structure game

Other people's views

Critics, earlier scholars, "the traditional view." The author brings them in to agree, to argue, or to split the difference.

Watch the free lesson: viewpoints, tone, main point

• Other people's views get judged by the author's opinion
• Other people's views are the target in author vs. someone else

Advocates

Anyone in the passage who's actively pushing a position. Their stance often drives the passage, so they're worth a mark.

Watch the free lesson: what to mark

• Advocates are the people behind other people's views

Who believes what

Keep a short list in your head with each name and a few words on their position. A whole debate shrinks to something you can scan in 10 seconds.

Play Skeleton, a free passage structure game

• Who believes what keeps track of the 3 voices
• Who believes what keeps you from falling for the wrong person's view

The quiet author

Some authors never say "I think." The opinion is still in there. Look at which view gets the last word and which one gets the kind adjectives.

Play Tone Check, a free author's attitude game

• The quiet author hides an opinion in tone words
• The quiet author often picks a side in the wrap-up line

How the opinion shows

Small words give it away

Tone words

Troubling, elegant, unfortunately, promising. A single one of these can flip your read of a whole paragraph.

"A promising theory, though the evidence is thin."

Play Tone Check, a free author's attitude game

• Tone words give away the author's opinion

Pivot words

However, yet, in contrast. They tell you the direction is about to change. Pause there and predict what comes next.

Watch the free lesson: author attitude and pivot words

• Pivot words often come right before the author's opinion
• Pivot words mark the turn away from other people's views

A 1-word stance

After each paragraph, name the author's stance in 1 word: supportive, skeptical, or neutral. If you can't, you aren't done with that paragraph.

Watch the free lesson: author attitude

• A 1-word stance is a quick tag for the author's opinion
• A 1-word stance runs on tone words

How far the author goes

Passages are measured. Authors lean, doubt, and approve with a reservation, and the size of that lean gets tested as much as its direction.

Play Tone Check, a free author's attitude game

• How far the author goes is half of the author's opinion

The thesis

The sentence that carries the author's real claim. It's worth a mark, and it often follows a therefore or a thus.

Play Order Up, a free passage structure game

• The thesis states the author's opinion
• The thesis often holds the main idea

The wrap-up line

The last line or 2 often tells you why the passage exists. Read it as a closing argument.

Play Order Up, a free passage structure game

• The wrap-up line often repeats the author's opinion

How a passage is built

Read the blueprint first

The passage skeleton

4 or 5 words per paragraph, tagging its job. Background, old theory, new theory, author's take. Build it while you read.

Play Skeleton, a free passage structure game

• The passage skeleton shows you where to find the author's opinion
• The passage skeleton answers organization questions
• The passage skeleton often comes out as old idea vs. new idea

Setup, conflict, resolution

Setup gives the background. Conflict brings in a debate or a turn. Resolution is where the author lands.

Play Skeleton, a free passage structure game

• Setup, conflict, resolution end on the author's opinion
• Setup, conflict, resolution are the labels on the passage skeleton

Pause after each paragraph

After each paragraph, stop and say what it was for. Don't let your eyes slide into the next one until you can.

Play Order Up, a free passage structure game

• Pause after each paragraph and you fill in the passage skeleton

The topic

Watch the opening lines for nouns that repeat. People get lost in details all the time, and the topic is what pulls you back.

Watch the free lesson: finding the main point

• The topic is the first line of the passage skeleton

Evidence

Examples, studies, dates, and numbers are tools on a shelf. Note where they sit and which claim they back. Pick them up when a question sends you there.

Play Receipts, a free find the proof game

• Evidence supports a claim, the way it does in one big argument

Shapes you'll see again

Same skeletons, new topics

Old idea vs. new idea

An accepted view, then a challenger. The passage exists because of the new one, so watch how far the author goes with it.

Play Skeleton, a free passage structure game

• Old idea vs. new idea gets settled by the author's opinion

Author vs. someone else

The author sets up a view in order to push back on it. The pushback is the point of the passage.

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• Author vs. someone else is the loudest form of the author's opinion

2 sides, no winner

Sometimes the author lays out both views and picks neither. That's a position too, and any answer that crowns a winner is wrong.

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• 2 sides, no winner still counts as the author's opinion

Problem and solutions

A problem, then one or more fixes. Track what the author thinks of each fix.

Play Skeleton, a free passage structure game

• Problem and solutions ends in a verdict, and that's the author's opinion

A mystery explained

Something odd needs explaining. The author weighs the explanations and backs one, or says none of them work yet.

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• A mystery explained works a lot like problem and solutions

Big idea, case studies

One claim, then examples that fill it in. The examples are there for the claim, so none of them is the main idea.

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• Big idea, case studies sets you up for the too-narrow answer

2 passages in conversation (Comparative reading)

When you get a pair, treat it as 2 authors talking to each other. Skim the questions first. If one asks about a single passage, you can answer it after reading just that one.

Watch the free lesson: comparative passages

• 2 passages in conversation each come with a version of the author's opinion

What the questions ask

Fewer kinds than it looks

Main point questions

Which answer says what the author most wants you to accept. Your own line should already be written. Match it.

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• Main point questions ask for the main idea
• Main point questions punish answers that leave out the author's opinion
• Main point questions are where you predict first, one of 3 ways into a question

Primary purpose questions

Why the author wrote the passage. Check each answer's first verb. Describe, criticize, and defend are 3 different jobs.

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• Primary purpose questions ask why it was written

Attitude questions (Author's attitude)

How the author feels about something in the passage. Match which way the author leans and how far.

Play Tone Check, a free author's attitude game

• Attitude questions ask straight out for the author's opinion
• Attitude questions test how far the author goes

Agree questions (Author would agree)

You get a new statement and decide if the author would sign it. There's no line to look up, so you have to know where the author stands.

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• Agree questions make you apply the author's opinion
• Agree questions count as inference questions

Organization questions

What the passage does first, next, and last. If you built a skeleton, you've already written the answer in shorter words.

Play Skeleton, a free passage structure game

Function questions

Why the author brought up one example, phrase, or paragraph. Ask which claim it serves.

Play Order Up, a free passage structure game

• Function questions ask the same thing as your pause after each paragraph

Detail questions

What the passage says at an exact spot. Go back and reread, about 2 lines above and 2 lines below. Your memory of it is unreliable.

Play Point Back, a free close reading game

• Detail questions send you back to evidence
• Detail questions are where you research first, one of 3 ways into a question

Inference questions

What the passage implies without saying it. Stay close to the text. If an answer feels like a big leap, it's wrong.

Play Receipts, a free inference game

• Inference questions often ask what follows from the author's opinion
• Inference questions go last under global first

Strengthen and weaken

Same job as in Logical Reasoning, aimed at a claim inside the passage. Name the exact claim being tested before you look at the answers.

Watch the free lesson: strengthen and weaken in Reading Comprehension

• Strengthen and weaken starts with who believes what

Word in context (Meaning in context)

What a word or phrase means in this passage. The everyday meaning is often the trap, so reread the lines around it.

Play Context Clues, a free word in context game

• Word in context rewards sandpaper reading

How wrong answers get built

Each one bends the passage

Stronger than the author (Extreme language)

The author called it promising. The answer says it's proven. Watch for always, never, only, and completely.

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• Stronger than the author overstates the author's opinion
• Stronger than the author overshoots how far the author goes

The wrong person's view

A view that really is in the passage, pinned on the wrong speaker. Most often a critic's view gets handed to the author.

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• The wrong person's view gets passed off as the author's opinion

The opposite answer

On big-picture questions, a lot of wrong answers say the opposite of what the author thinks. Know the stance and they're out before you check a line.

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• The opposite answer contradicts the author's opinion

True in real life

It sounds right from what you already know, and the passage never said it. If the text doesn't support it, it's wrong.

Watch the free lesson: detail and inference

• True in real life swaps your view in for the author's opinion

The too-narrow answer

Accurate, and far too small. It takes something the passage used as support and offers it as the whole point.

Watch the free lesson: main point traps

• The too-narrow answer poses as the main idea

The dropped comparison

The passage compares 2 things. The answer keeps one of them and drops the comparison.

"Caesar was bolder than Pompey" turns into "Caesar was bold."

Play Too Far, a free wrong answer game

Right answers

Paraphrased, never copied. Hedged with words like some, may, and often. A right answer usually sounds a little boring.

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• Right answers stay inside the author's opinion
• Right answers match how far the author goes

While you read

Do less, on purpose

No highlighting

Highlighting feels productive, and half the marks end up on things no question asks about. If you mark anything, mark 3 things: viewpoints, evidence, and advocates.

Watch the free lesson: stop highlighting

• No highlighting leaves room to mark advocates
• No highlighting leaves room to mark evidence

First and last sentences

Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph in full. In the middle, scan for the shift words.

Watch the free lesson: Reading Comprehension timing

• First and last sentences give you most of the passage skeleton
• First and last sentences leave the middle for pivot words

The 3-question loop

What's the point, who disagrees, and how does the author resolve it. If you can answer all 3 at any moment, you aren't lost.

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• The 3-question loop ends on the author's opinion

Microscope and telescope

2 reading modes. Zoom in word by word on a dense sentence. Zoom out for structure, tone, and what the author is up to.

Try a free Reading Comprehension drill

• Microscope and telescope zooms in with sandpaper reading

Sandpaper reading

For a dense sentence, find the subject and the verb first. Then take the rest a few words at a time, and put each chunk in your own words.

Play Point Back, a free close reading game

• Sandpaper reading slows you down enough to see micro words

Micro words

Some, most, unless, only if. Skim past one of them and the sentence means something else.

Play Too Far, a free wrong answer game

• Micro words catch an answer that's stronger than the author
• Micro words catch the dropped comparison

Questions and review

Where the points come from

Global first

Answer the big-picture questions right after you read, while the passage is fresh. Then the detail questions. Inference goes last, and every question is worth the same.

Watch the free lesson: which questions to answer first

• Global first starts with main point questions
• Global first makes quick work of the opposite answer

3 ways into a question

With a line reference, go back and research first. On a big-picture question, predict first. When the question is vague, go to the answers.

Try a free Reading Comprehension drill

Real passages

Skip the magazine articles people recommend. LSAT passages are written to test structure and tone, and no outside article is. Use older ones for slow drills and save the newest for timed work.

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• Real passages keep coming back to old idea vs. new idea

The summary drill

Read a passage. Write the main idea, the author's opinion, and the purpose. Then answer only the big-picture questions from your summary, with no rereading.

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• The summary drill trains you to find the author's opinion
• The summary drill runs best on older real passages

Socratic review (The Socratic Review Method)

Find where the miss started: the passage, the question, or the answers. 2 patterns come up a lot. You skipped a qualifying word, or you assumed the author agreed with a view they were only describing.

Watch the free lesson: the Socratic Review Method

• Socratic review often finds you misread the author's opinion
• Socratic review often traces a miss back to micro words

A second set of eyes

If your Reading Comprehension score won't move, it helps to have someone watch how you read a passage. Steve Schwartz has been coaching the LSAT since 2005, and he teaches every free lesson himself.

• A second set of eyes is for when you keep missing the author's opinion

Reading Comprehension is a third of your score. For the rest of the test, start with the free LSAT cheat sheet kit.

How do I get better at LSAT Reading Comprehension?

Read for 3 things: the main idea, the structure, and the author's opinion. Details can wait until a question asks for them. Practice on real LSAT passages, and review each miss until you can say where it started.

How do I find the author's opinion in an LSAT passage?

Look for tone words like promising or troubling, and for what comes after pivot words like however and yet. If the author never states a view outright, check which view gets the last word.

What order should I answer Reading Comprehension questions in?

Big-picture questions first, like main point and primary purpose, because you can answer them from your first read. Then the detail questions. Save the inference questions for last. Every question is worth the same.

Should I highlight LSAT Reading Comprehension passages?

Very little. If you mark anything, mark 3 things: viewpoints, evidence, and advocates. Heavy highlighting costs time, and most of the marks end up on things no question asks about.

Should I read the questions before the passage?

Not for a single passage. For a pair of passages, skim the questions first. If one asks about only one of the 2 passages, you can answer it after reading just that one.