Reading Comp Inference Questions

Inference questions ask you to find the inferences and assumptions made in the passage. The main goal of the entire test is to assess your ability to go beyond what is on the page. It’s not unusual to face two or more inference questions in each passage.

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 Inference Questions

The following are some examples of inference questions:

The author suggests which of the following…
It can be inferred from the passage that…
The author assumes that…

The passage suggests which one of the following…

For the passage in this lesson, you might get a couple of inference questions like the following.

3. The author infers which of the following about food security?

(A)       Much of the world faces threats from a lack of food security today despite technological advances in food production.
(B)       Food security is the main cause of child malnutrition.
(C)       Food security is among the top goals of international agencies seeking to increase food production and distribution.
(D)       The issue of food security is greater in the tropics and subtropics than in other parts of the world.
(E)       Food security is a greater risk to the world population than is water scarcity.
4. The passage suggests which one of the following about the use of land?

(A)       The majority of available land in the world is used for purposes other than agriculture and grazing.
(B) The poorest nations have less land to use for agriculture and grazing.
(C) If population trends continue, there will be no land left for agricultural use in 50 years.
(D) Genetic engineering will result in a more efficient use of land in agriculture.
(E) Farmers use a smaller percentage of available land for agriculture today than was used 10,000 years ago.

Answer these questions on your own before reading the following analysis.

The answers to both of these questions was (A).

3. The author infers which of the following about food security?

When you read this question, scan the passage for “food security” and you’ll know you’re dealing with inferences made in the second paragraph. Recall that we wrote something like the following in the test booklet as our paraphrase of the second paragraph:

There have been technological improvements, but the need for food keeps growing and there is competition for land and resources.

So the thrust of any inference from this paragraph must somehow support the paradox that technology keeps advancing but we still face food issues.

(A) Much of the world faces threats from a lack of food security today despite technological advances in food production.

This seems very reasonable, fits our paraphrase and in fact is the correct answer. Unlike the Logical Reasoning section which really makes you work for your inferences, Reading Comprehension inferences are often just this simple. You don’t need to stretch too far to find them. You’re just looking for answer choices that fit the author’s overall point of view.

(B) Food security is the main cause of child malnutrition.

This is a distortion that connects two details from the passage in a way that the author didn’t intend. Food security and child malnutrition are simply offered as examples of the main idea of the second paragraph – technology has advanced but we still have problems.

(C) Food security is among the top goals of international agencies seeking to increase food production and distribution.

Another distortion. The paragraph mentions the IFPRI, but we don’t know that it is an international agency and we don’t know any connection it has to increasing food production and distribution. We only know that they conducted some research that indicates food security will remain a risk despite technological advances.

(D) The issue of food security is greater in the tropics and subtropics than in other parts of the world.

This may be tempting because the passage tells us that these areas have suffered a decline in per capita food distribution rates. But we don’t know that the decline is the result of food security, especially relative to the issue of food security in the rest of the world.

(E) Food security is a greater risk to the world population than is water scarcity.

Again a distortion. The author talks about food security before discussing water scarcity, but no ranking is implied.

4. The passage suggests which one of the following about the use of land?

The first paragraph is where we read about the overuse of land, so this question will most likely not stray very far from the first paragraph (except for the wrong answer choices, of course).

(A) The majority of available land in the world is used for purposes other than agriculture and grazing.

This comes from a detail in the first paragraph used in support of the author’s discussion of land use: “Over 38 percent of the available land across the globe is utilized for agriculture or grazing.” That means that 62 percent – the majority – is used for other purposes. Thus, (A) is correct.

(B) The poorest nations have less land to use for agriculture and grazing.

The passage states that “The crisis is the worst in many of the most overpopulated areas that already face security and health issues as well as intractable poverty.” The passage doesn’t tell us the percentage of land used in these areas or how that percentage differs from the rest of the world, so we cannot make this assumption.

(C) If population trends continue, there will be no land left for agricultural use in 50 years.

You can easily rule this choice out for it’s extreme language. The author talks about an impending crisis, but falls far short of arguing that there will be NO land left.

(D) Genetic engineering will result in a more efficient use of land in agriculture.

Again the LSAT test picks up on the strange detail of the final paragraph hoping that you will confuse it for a main idea. This is mostly to penalize lazy readers who didn’t underline key phrases and make their own paraphrases of each paragraph. There is no connection anywhere in the passage between genetic engineering and use of land.

(E) Farmers use a smaller percentage of available land for agriculture today than was used 10,000 years ago.

This seems tempting because we’re facing a greater crisis today than we did 10,000 years ago; however, the passage states that “Some 10,000 years ago, the percentage of land used by the world’s first farmers was insignificant.” That means they used less than we do today.

LSAT Tips for Reading Comp Inference Questions

Inferences are easy. Inference questions in Reading Comprehension are typically very reasonable. You don’t need to stretch too far to find them. In fact, the majority are simply ways to restate the author’s main idea.

Prephrase and use your outline. Your paraphrases and outline will help you find details and remember what is in line with the author’s reasoning.

Eliminate the wrong answers. Typically, the wrong answers to an inference question will have one or more of the following characteristics:

Distortion of a detail (tying two details together in a way the author didn’t intend)
Making an inference that is the opposite of what is stated in the passage
Making an inference that is out of the scope of the paragraph or the entire passage
Using extreme language (since most inferences are reasonable and easy, you’ll rarely find words like “never,” or “always,” in the correct answer choice

Now that you’ve learned about reading comp inference questions, let’s look at Reading Comp Detail Questions.

Reading Comprehension Questions

Finding Conclusions on the LSAT Test | Advanced Techniques

LSAT Logic Games Types