Once or twice in a passage the LSAT will ask you something about a particular detail. The important thing to remember is that the LSAT is an open book test. We call these detail questions.
This is the first of a series of articles about Reading Comprehension Questions on the LSAT test. The series includes the following articles:
Reading Comp Detail Questions
Everything you need to know to answer a detail question is right there in front of you. There are one or two questions about details per passage and literally tens or hundreds of details. Ignore the details as you read and instead focus on the main idea of each paragraph so you’ll know where to look for the details later.
The following are examples of detail question stems:
The following is an example of a detail question:
5. According to the author, technological improvements in agriculture
(A) have resulted in increased competition for resources.
(B) have not created new agricultural opportunities.
(C) are the result of educational campaigns.
(D) include new irrigation methods and disease-resistant genetic clones.
(E) are the cause of new global water shortages.
Answer this question before reading our analysis.
Technological improvements, sounds like paragraph two. Remember our paraphrase:
There have been technological improvements, but the need for food keeps growing and there is competition for land and resources.
Sure enough, starting on line 25 we even underlined “Technological improvements,” as we read. In that line come the words for answer choice (D), “new irrigation,” and “genetic clones.” The right answer to a detail question is right out of the passage in front of you. It’s easy if you know where to look thanks to your outline.
Let’s look at the other answer choices.
(A) have resulted in increased competition for resources.
This is a distortion. It grabs the next detail and incorrectly ties it to the detail in the question stem.
(B) have not created new agricultural opportunities.
This actually contradicts the passage. The sentence we’re referred to says just the opposite.
(C) are the result of educational campaigns.
Again, ties to another detail, not the one we’re looking at. And of course, the tie is distorted. Educational campaigns didn’t result in technological improvements, at least we can’t tell that they did from this passage.
(E) are the cause of new global water shortages.
This is totally bizarre in that it ties to a detail from the last paragraph. Out of scope, distorted and so wacky we hope you weren’t too tempted by it.
LSAT Tips for Reading Comp Detail Questions
Only a point or two. Remember, it’s more important to know where to look for a detail than to memorize all the many details in a passage.
Use the question stem. The question stem will point you to the paragraph and usually a specific line in the passage.
Eliminate the wrong answers. Typically, the wrong answers to a detail question will have one or more of the following characteristics:
Now that you’ve learned how to deal with reading comp detail questions, let’s learn about Reading Comp Why and How Questions.