Master LSAT Reading Comprehension Main Idea Questions Using Official Lawhub Highlighting tools

With the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) retiring the Analytical Reasoning (Logic Games) section following the June 2024 official LSAT administration, the Reading Comprehension section has gained significance for all law school candidates, since it is now one of only two sections on the test. At the same time, most LSAT preppers have often spent the least amount of time focusing on Reading Comprehension believing that it is the section with the fewest techniques to learn. Unless you are used to reading and highlighting paragraphs digitally that couldn't be further from the truth.

Always Read LSAT Passages Up Front First

Reading for the LSAT is very different than doing so as part of any other standardized test. The texts are always rather dense and often quite obscure. You will never be expected to have expert outside knowledge of any topic, but it shouldn't be necessary either. Instead, your job in LSAT Reading Comprehension is similar to what it would be as a lawyer - understand the main idea and identify specifically relevant details when asked.

The first question of most (but not all) Reading Comprehension passages will be to summarize the primary purpose or main idea of the passage and to effectively do so, you'll need to read the passage up front. Regardless of what the first question task is specifically, always go straight to the passage and read it in full. One way to expedite this effort is to select the Passage Only View at the top of the screen.

 

Once you have chosen the Passage Only View, select the highlighter color of your preference before following the below process to encourage engagement and understanding of the passage you are reading:

1. Deliberately read the first paragraph in full taking the time to process the information and understand the main idea that the author is trying to convey
2. Use the highlight tool to select the single full sentence that best captures that main idea of the paragraph
3. Consider whether any additional sentence should be highlighted to provide appropriate and necessary context for that already highlighted sentence
4. Limit yourself to a maximum of two fully highlighted sentences for any single paragraph
5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for each of the remaining paragraphs understanding that the highlighted sentence(s) of one paragraph should create a coherent narrative when read sequentially with the highlighted sentence(s) of the following paragraph(s)
6. Read all of your highlighted sentences at the end of the passage to confirm that you have effectively captured the overall primary narrative of the full passage

After completing your upfront highlighting, you'll have a de facto prediction of what the main idea / primary purpose of the passage is that you can use to inform selection and elimination of the answer choices. Furthermore, you'll have a better understanding of the information and know where details are likely to be located once you are asked to address specific term or location references. For more Reading Comprehension tips, check out our free YouTube playlist and of course if you are considering expert LSAT tutoring, please visit our LSAT Tutoring page to sign up for a free introductory session!