SAMPLE QUESTIONS FROM AN LSAT

Sample Reading Comprehension Section

Directions: Each passage in this section is followed by a group of questions to be answered on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage. For some of the questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However, you are to choose the best answer; that is, the response that most accurately and completely answers the question, and blacken the corresponding space on your answer sheet.

For the poet Phillis Wheatley, who was brought to colonial New England as a slave in 1761, the formal literary code of eighteenth-century English was thrice removed: by the initial barrier of the unfamiliar English language, by the discrepancy between spoken and literary forms of English, and by the African tradition of oral rather than written verbal art. Wheatley transcended these barriers - she learned the English language and English literary forms so quickly and well that she was composing good poetry in English within a few years of her arrival in New England.

Wheatley's experience exemplifies the meeting of oral and written literary cultures. The aesthetic principles of the African oral tradition were preserved in America by folk artist in work songs, dancing, field hollers, religious music, the use of the drum, and, after the drum was forbidden, in the perpetuation of drum effects in song. African languages and the functions of language in African societies not only contributed to the emergence of a distinctive Black English but also exerted demonstrable effects on the manner in which other Americans spoke English. Given her African heritage and her facility with English and the conventions of English poetry, Wheatley's work had the potential to apply the ideas of a written literature to an oral literary tradition in the creation of an African American literary language.

But this was a potential that her poetry unfortunately did not exploit. The standards of eighteenth-century English poetry, which itself reflected little of the American language, led Wheatley to develop a notion of poetry as a closed system, derived from imitation of earlier written works. No place existed for the rough-and -ready Americanized English she heard in the streets, for the English spoken by Black people, or for Africanisms. The conventions of eighteenth-century neoclassical poetry ruled out casual talk; her voice and feelings had to be generalized according to rules of poetic diction and characterization; the particulars of her African past, if they were to be dealt with at all, had to be subordinated to the reigning conventions. African poetry did not count as poetry in her new situation, and African aesthetic canons were irrelevant to the new context because no linguistic or social framework existed to reinforce them. Wheatley adopted a foreign language and a foreign literary tradition; they were not extensions of her past experience, but replacements.

Thus limited by the eighteenth-century English literary code, Wheatley's poetry contributed little to the development of a distinctive African American literary language. Yet by the standards of the literary conventions in which she chose to work, Wheatley's poetry is undeniably accomplished, and she is justly celebrated as the first Black American poet.

1. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

2. According to the passage, African languages had a notable influence on 3. According to the passage, the standards of eighteenth-century English poetry permitted Wheatley to include which of the following in her poetry? 4. Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the author's argument concerning the role that Wheatley played in the evolution of an African American literary language? 5. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would most probably have praised Phillis Wheatley's poetry more if it had 6. Which one of the following most accurately characterizes the author's attitude with respect to Phillis Wheatley's literary accomplishments?

SAMPLE ANALYTICAL REASONING SECTION

Directions: Each group of questions in this section is based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may be useful to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question and blacken the corresponding space on your answer sheet.

Exactly six trade representatives negotiate a treaty: Klosnik, Londi, Manley, Neri, Osata, Poirier. There are exactly six chairs evenly spaced around a circular table. The chairs are numbered 1 through 6, with successively numbered chairs next to each other and chair number 1 next to chair number 6. Each chair is occupied by exactly one of the representatives. The following conditions apply:

Poirier sits immediately next to Neri.
Londi sits immediately next to Manley, Neri, or both.
Klosnik does not sit immediately next to Manley.
If Osata sits immediately next to Poirier, Osata does not sit immediately next to Manley.

1. Which one of the following seating arrangements of the six representative in chairs 1 through 6 would NOT violate the stated conditions?

2. If Londi sits immediately next to Poirier, which one of the following is a pair of representatives who must sit immediately next to each other? ( 3. If Klosnik sits directly between Londi and Poirier, then Manley must sit directly between 4. If Neri sits immediately next to Manley, the Klosnik can sit directly between ( 5. If Londi sits immediately next to Neri, which one of the following statement must be false? 6. If Klosnik sits immediately next to Osata, then Londi CANNOT sit directly between

SAMPLE LOGICAL REASONING SECTION

Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statement or passages. For some questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However, you are to choose the best answer; that is, the response that most accurately and completely answers the question. You should not make assumptions that are by commonsense standards implausible, superfluous, or incompatible with the passage. After you have chosen the best answer, black the corresponding space on your answer sheet.

1. It is difficult to keep deep wounds free of bacteria. Even strong antibiotics fail to kill the bacteria that live in such wounds. However, many physicians have succeeded in eliminating bacteria from deep wounds by packing the wound with a sweet substance like sugar.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain why treating deep wounds with sugar as described above is successful?

2. Fines levied against those responsible for certain environmentally damaging accidents are now so high that it costs a company responsible for such an accident more to pay the fine that it would have cost to adopt measures that would have prevented the accident. Therefore, since businesses value their profits, those that might have such accidents will now install adequate environmental safeguards.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

3. The formation of hurricanes that threaten the United States mainland is triggered by high atmospheric winds off the western coast of Africa. When abundant rain falls in sub-Saharan Africa, hurricanes afterward hit the United States mainland with particular frequency. Therefore, the abundant rains must somehow promote the ability of the winds to form hurricanes.

Which one of the following arguments contains a flaw that is most similar to one in the argument above?