- Wed Oct 02, 2013 3:54 pm
#11656
Challenging vocabulary can be a real, well challenge. When I teach the SAT, I advise my students to use context, to try discerning the meaning by looking at root words, suffixes and prefixes, etc., and those strategies can also be used on the LSAT. That may not always be necessary, though - remember, you should always first prephrase your answer and then sort the answer choices into losers and contenders. If there is an answer choice that you don't understand, it is AUTOMATICALLY a contender, because you cannot definitively rule it out. So, if you rule out four losers and you are left with one answer that you don't understand, pick it, because it's the right one.
What about being left with two contenders, one of which you don't understand? Focus your analysis on the other answer - does it do what the stem wants you to do? Does it justify, weaken, parallel, resolve, etc.? Importantly, does it match your prephrase? If not, you can rule it out and pick the mystery answer. If it does, then pick it.
In the long run, this should not happen very often. When it does, roll with it - you can't take time getting hung up on one question and lose the opportunity to answer others later on down the line. When all else fails, guess and move on. This test is often about picking your battles wisely, and getting into a war of words with someone speaking in an unfamiliar language is not very wise. As my Uncle Bill likes to say, I don't understand the fenacinerity of that.
Best of luck!
Adam M. Tyson
PowerScore LSAT, GRE, ACT and SAT Instructor
Follow me on Twitter at
https://twitter.com/LSATadam
