LSAT cheat sheet

Sufficient assumption: the correct answer, added to the premises, makes the conclusion logically follow; ask whether premises plus answer guarantee the conclusion.

Necessary assumption: the argument fails if the answer is false; negate the answer and check whether the reasoning collapses.

Strengthen and weaken answers typically affect the inference from evidence to conclusion, not merely the truth of a background fact.

Conditional diagramming: 'if' introduces a sufficient condition, 'only if' introduces a necessary condition, and 'unless' means 'if not.'

Flaw questions require naming the specific reasoning error, such as treating correlation as causation or using an unrepresentative sample.

Must-be-true answers follow from the stimulus alone; eliminate choices that require extra assumptions or exceed the stated scope.

Parallel reasoning requires matching logical structure, including conditional direction, quantifiers, and conclusion type, not topic or wording.

Resolve-the-paradox answers must explain both apparently conflicting facts; an answer that explains only one side is insufficient.

Point-at-issue answers state a proposition one speaker affirms and the other denies; a shared topic without dispute is not enough.

Main-point answers capture the passage's overall thesis, not a subsidiary detail or an inference beyond the text.

Primary-purpose answers describe what the author is doing, such as explaining, evaluating, or challenging, rather than merely naming the topic.

Detail answers paraphrase explicitly stated information and must not add new scope or outside knowledge.

Inference answers require only minimal logical entailment from the passage; they cannot depend on speculation or external facts.

Author-attitude answers must match both the direction and the degree of the passage's tone words, such as qualified, skeptical, or enthusiastic.

Comparative-passage questions require identifying whether the passages agree, disagree, or one qualifies the other before evaluating answer choices.

Analogy and application questions require mapping the passage's underlying principle or relationship onto a new situation, not surface similarity.

EXCEPT questions have four supported answers and one answer that is contradicted or unsupported by the passage.

Scope traps include answers that are too broad, too narrow, or too extreme, often signaled by words such as all, never, or proves.