Time Management and Guessing Strategy Help Area

The Answer Choices and Answer Transferring Theories

LSAT Guessing Strategy and Probability Tables

The Importance of Using a Timer

Guessing Strategy and Probability Tables

Do not guess randomly!

Because the LSAT does not assess a scoring penalty for incorrect answer choices, you should always guess on every question that you cannot complete during the allotted time. However, because some answer choices are historically more likely to occur than others, you should not guess randomly. The following tables summarize which answer choices have occurred most frequently over the years.

LSAT Answer Choice Probabilities
		A#	A%		B#	B%		C#	C%		D#	D%		E#	E%		Total #
LR		608	18.6%		673	20.5%		668	20.4%		708	21.6%		619	18.9%		3276
RC		345	19.7%		348	19.9%		351	20.1%		381	21.8%		324	18.5%		1749
LG		293	19.3%		312	20.5%		302	19.8%		306	20.1%		309	20.3%		1522
Total		1246	19.0%		1333	20.4%		1321	20.2%		1395	21.3%		1252	19.1%		6547
All Answer Choices June 1991 - June 2010*

The table above documents the frequency with which each answer choice appeared as a percentage of all LSAT answer choices between June 1991 and June 2010 inclusive. If history holds, you would be best served on the test as a whole by always guessing answer choice (D). Do not choose random answer choices; do not put in a pattern such as A-B-C-D-E etcetera. Although guessing answer choice (D) does not guarantee you will get the questions correct, statistically speaking guessing answer choice (D) gives you a better chance of answering correctly than guessing randomly.

Last Five Answer Choices Per Section June 1991 - June 2010*
		A#	A%		B#	B%		C#	C%		D#	D%		E#	E%		Total#
LR		98	15.1%		127	19.5%		129	19.8%		145	22.3%		151	23.2%		650
RC		58	17.8%		70	21.5%		61	18.8%		74	22.8%		62	19.1%		325
LG		72	22.2%		67	20.6%		57	17.5%		66	20.3%		63	19.4%		325
Total		228	17.5%		264	20.3%		247	19.0%		285	21.9%		276	21.2%		1300
“*These statistics do not include the unreleased February 1998 and February 2001-2011 LSAT administrations.

As the second table indicates, if you cannot finish the final questions in a section, in the Logical Reasoning section you should always guess answer choice (E). In the Reading Comprehension section you should always guess answer choice (D), and in the Logic Games section you should guess (A).

Please keep in mind that the strategies discussed above hold only for pure guessing. If you are attempting to choose between two answer choices, do not choose solely on the basis of statistics alone!

On a related note, if you are a strong test taker who correctly answers most questions but occasionally does not finish a section, quickly review the answer choices you have previously selected and use the answer that appears least as your guessing answer choice. For example, if you have completed twenty questions in a section, and your answer sheet contains a majority of (A)’s, (B)’s, (C)’s, and (E)’s, guess answer choice (D) for all of the remaining questions to get the percentage of each response as close to 20% as possible.