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LSAT Logical Reasoning: Individual Question Difficulty

How does the difficulty of LSAT Logical Reasoning questions change as the section progresses?

In our courses and books we delve into this point in some detail, and in this article, we’ll give a brief overview of how difficulty changes throughout the section.

When you examine the difficulty rating for individual questions and sections, you can make several useful inferences:

  • The first question is always easy or relatively easy (seven of the eight sections under discussion began with a level 1 (easy) question; the other section began with a level 2 (relatively easy) question. In other words, the first question will not be hard. The same is true for the second question.
  • Individual question difficulty statistics for questions #1 through #10:
  • The earliest appearance of the first level 4 (difficult) question: question #3
  • The earliest appearance of the first level 5 (very difficult) question: question #8
  • The latest appearance of the first level 4 or 5 question: question #13
  • Minimum number of level 4 (difficult) questions in the first ten: 0
  • Maximum number of level 4 (difficult) questions in the first ten: 4
  • Minimum number of level 5 (very difficult) questions in the first ten: 0
  • Maximum number of level 5 (very difficult) questions in the first ten: 1
  • Minimum combined number of level 4 and 5 questions in the first ten: 0
  • Maximum combined number of level 4 and 5 questions in the first ten: 4 (the first ten questions of this particular test contained no level 5 questions and four level 1 questions)

The one section notwithstanding, you will probably see one or two level 4 questions in the first ten, and zero or one level 5 questions in the first ten. Compare that to the statistics for questions #16 through #25:

  • Minimum number of level 4 (difficult) questions: 1 (this section contained only 24 Questions)
  • Maximum number of level 4 (difficult) questions: 4
  • Minimum number of level 5 (very difficult) questions: 2
  • Maximum number of level 5 (very difficult) questions: 5
  • Minimum combined number of level 4 and 5 questions: 4
  • Maximum combined number of level 4 and 5 questions: 9 (yes, nine of the ten questions in questions #16 though 25 of this particular section were relatively difficult or difficult)

The point of this information is not to try to predict the exact difficulty of each question you will face. Instead, use this information to understand how difficulty changes throughout the section, and consider how you can use that information to your advantage.

A note about the statistics we use: Occasionally we are asked how we derive our information, and how accurate that information is. First, years of experience working with LSAT problems and LSAT students has given us great insight into which questions are difficult and why they are difficult. Second, we have detailed statistical information on thousands of LSAT questions from using them as practice tests in our courses. Third, we use information available from LSAC to confirm that our information is correct. For example, LSAC has released explanations to four separate LSATs (February 1996, February 1997, February 1999, and February 2000) and in these explanations they have included an evaluation of question difficulty on a 1 (easy) to 5 (very difficult) scale. We used this last set of information for this discussion.