Amy Hackney Blackwell

Many cultures create a mythology to help explain the workings of the world. Western civilization is most familiar with the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology, who have comparable powers, but different names. And mythology is created often in response to human history, so a historical timeline can be a good reference to have.

The reading comprehension section of the LSAT may present you with reading passages of different lengths, but the passages will all require that you be a critical reader and have good comprehension abilities.The questions in this article refer to the following passage.“Power” is a generic term that must be distinguished from the more specific term “authority.

The reading comprehension section of the LSAT contains different types of questions. One you should be prepared for is the big picture question. Main idea questions and those that ask you to identify a passage's primary purpose regard the whole passage. Almost every passage has at least one question that asks you to see the big picture, and often it's the first question you answer for a particular reading passage.

Reading inference questions on the LSAT ask you about information that's implied by the passage rather than directly stated. These questions test your ability to draw conclusions using evidence that appears in the passage. For inference questions, you're normally required to do one of these four things: Identify a logical consequence of a statement or of two statements taken together Infer the intended meaning of a word that's used figuratively in the passage Determine the author's attitude toward the passage's topic or subtopics Infer from attitudes portrayed in the passage how the author or others feel about different theories or events For instance, suppose you read a passage that compares the rapidity of wing beats between houseflies and horseflies.

The reading comprehension section of the LSAT includes a passage about a different kind of science: social science. This passage type includes topics like philosophy, history, political science, archaeology, sociology, and psychology. The good news about social science passages is that their topics tend to crop up more in the news and in daily conversation than does, for example, physics!

Every reading comprehension section on the LSAT includes a passage that deals with an aspect of law. You may read an interpretation of a public policy, an opinion on the significance of a court decision, an explanation of the effect a new law may have on the lawyer-client relationship, and so on. Law passages may be persuasive or more descriptive, such as this sample excerpt:In personam actions are said to be either local or transitory.

Some LSAT reading questions ask you about specific statements from the passage. These questions are potentially the easiest type of reading question because the information you need to answer them is stated in the passage, and the correct answer is a paraphrase. You just need to find it. This information may be quantitative, such as years, figures, or numbers, or it may be qualitative, like ideas, emotions, or thoughts.

Physical and biological sciences play a big role in a host of legal issues and is important for the LSAT. Some attorneys specialize in negotiating water and mineral rights. Patent attorneys often begin as engineers. Even product liability and personal injury cases require a general understanding of the way the physical world works.