- Fri Jun 11, 2021 5:55 pm
#87838
All you can do when dealing with challenging vocabulary, Alex, is use some context, maybe keep the answer as a contender, and see if another answer in any way seems better. Between two answers, if I have one that is clearly wrong and one that is confusing, I will pick the confusing one, even if the vocab is the source of my confusion. But between a clearly good answer and a confusing one, I'll take the good one every time! And then I jot that word down and look it up later, as you did, to be better prepared in case it comes up again.
I see this problem all the time with students for whom English is not their first language, and pretty often even for those for whom it is, and it is a real challenge. Some LSAT vocab is tough! I encourage my students to keep a running list of challenging words they encounter, both in their practice and outside it, and look those words up daily.
If on the day of the test you encounter an unfamiliar word, just do your best with the context and root words, suffixes and prefixes. Remember that we are tasked with selecting the best answer, so if another answer is great, go with that instead.
Adam M. Tyson
PowerScore LSAT, GRE, ACT and SAT Instructor
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https://twitter.com/LSATadam