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LSAT Argumentative Writing

The unscored essay that gates your score: 15 minutes of prewriting, 35 minutes to take a position on a debatable issue and answer a rival perspective.

12 topics · 51 questions

Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.

The 50-Minute Format: 15 Minutes Prewriting, 35 Minutes Writing

  1. How it worksHow does the 50-minute clock split into a 15-minute prewriting stage and a 35-minute writing stage?
  2. How it worksWalk me through what changes on screen the moment you advance from prewriting into the 35-minute draft.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to your remaining time when you skip past prewriting at the 5-minute mark?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't the 15 minutes of prewriting time you can bank and spend on writing later?
Your turneasy1 of 3
LSAT Argumentative Writing runs 50 minutes in total. A test taker has spent 12 minutes so far, all of it in the prewriting stage. Which one of the following is accurate about the format?

Unscored but Required: The Essay That Gates Your Score

  1. How it worksHow does a completed writing sample act as a gate on the path from your test to a school's file?
  2. How it worksWalk me through the path a finished writing sample takes from your screen to every law school you apply to.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't an unscored essay the same thing as an essay nobody reads?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to a score report when the writing sample is submitted but not yet approved?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A candidate is applying to 15 law schools. The LSAT writing sample carries no score. What does it nonetheless determine?

The Prompt: A Debatable Issue and Three or Four Perspectives

  1. How it worksHow do three or four short perspectives lay out competing ideologies around one debatable issue?
  2. How it worksWalk me through reading a perspective for the system of beliefs underneath the few sentences it occupies.
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through mapping the perspectives on a prompt asking whether a city should replace street parking with bike lanes.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't one of the perspectives secretly the right answer the readers want you to pick?
  5. Going furtherWhat changes about your plan when the prompt gives four perspectives instead of three?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The prompt sets out a debatable issue and 4 perspectives on it. Each perspective is best understood as

Using the Prewriting Tool

  1. How it worksHow does the prewriting tool turn scattered reactions into a position you can defend for 35 minutes?
  2. How it worksWalk me through filling the prewriting notes so every box you write feeds a paragraph of the draft.
  3. Worked exampleShow me a filled prewriting plan for a prompt on whether a town should fund a stadium or a hospital wing.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't prewriting a place to draft finished sentences you plan to paste into the essay?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
In the prewriting stage a candidate has about 13 minutes of notes to make. A note is most useful when it

Building a Viewpoint Inventory of the Perspectives

  1. How it worksHow do you turn four perspectives into a grid of claims, values, and the evidence each one leans on?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through inventorying three perspectives on whether employers should be allowed to monitor remote workers.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to the inventory when two perspectives agree on the conclusion but for opposite reasons?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Naming the value behind each of the 4 perspectives is more useful than summarising what each one says, because

Choosing a Position, Including One That Differs From All of Them

  1. How it worksHow do you place your own position on a map of three perspectives instead of standing on top of one?
  2. How it worksWalk me through building a position that partly agrees with two perspectives and rejects the third.
  3. Worked exampleShow me three legal positions on a prompt about whether museums should return artifacts to their countries of origin.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a position that disagrees with every perspective automatically a wrong answer?
  5. Going furtherWhat changes in your essay when you choose the position that is easiest to defend rather than the one you believe?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Placing a position on a map of the 4 perspectives, rather than standing on one of them,

Engaging a Rival Perspective Instead of Ignoring It

  1. How it worksHow does the task requirement force at least one arrow from your position to a rival perspective?
  2. How it worksWalk me through choosing which rival perspective to engage when three of them disagree with you.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't naming a rival perspective in one sentence the same as addressing its argument?
  4. Ties togetherHow does engaging a rival perspective in the essay use the same move as weakening an argument in Logical Reasoning?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
The task asks a candidate to take a position while addressing at least one other perspective among the 4 given. That requirement means the essay must contain

Concession and Rebuttal

  1. How it worksHow does a concession followed by a rebuttal change the shape of a paragraph on screen?
  2. How it worksWalk me through the four moves of concede, limit, rebut, and return to your own claim.
  3. Worked exampleShow me a concession and rebuttal paragraph answering the claim that remote work destroys mentorship.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't every concession safe, and how does one end up swallowing the thesis it was meant to protect?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
In a body paragraph of about 122 words, the four moves of concession and rebuttal run in which order?

What Evidentiary Sources Mean When the Perspectives Are the Only Sources

  1. How it worksHow do the perspectives themselves work as evidence you quote, weigh, and turn against each other?
  2. How it worksWalk me through using your own experience as evidence without turning the essay into a diary entry.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to your credibility when you invent a statistic the prompt never gave you?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't restating a perspective in your own words the same as using it as evidence?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
With only the prompt's 4 short perspectives available as sources, evidence in the essay consists of

Structuring an Argumentative Essay in 35 Minutes

  1. How it worksHow does a thesis act as a spine that every body paragraph has to attach to?
  2. How it worksWalk me through a four-paragraph plan that fits a position, a rival, a rebuttal, and a close into 35 minutes.
  3. Worked exampleShow me the paragraph skeleton for a 35-minute essay arguing that cities should cap short-term rentals.
  4. Common mistakeWhy doesn't a paragraph that attaches to no part of your thesis earn anything, even when it is well written?
  5. Going furtherWhat changes in the structure when 12 minutes remain and only two paragraphs are written?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
A four-paragraph essay of about 609 words has to fit the 35-minute writing stage. It is best laid out as

Rhetorical Techniques and Evidentiary Strategies

  1. How it worksHow do credibility, logic, and emotional appeal act as three load-bearing parts of one argument?
  2. How it worksWalk me through ordering your strongest and weakest reasons so the essay does not sag in the middle.
  3. Worked exampleShow me the same claim about banning gas stoves argued once from principle and once from consequences.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to an argument that leans entirely on emotional appeal once the logic is stripped out?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Credibility, logic and emotional appeal are described as three load-bearing parts of one argument. In an essay of about 609 words that means

Common Failure Modes: Summarizing, Ignoring Rivals, Running Out of Time

  1. How it worksHow does a summary essay look different from an argument essay when you draw both as diagrams?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't a balanced essay that refuses to pick a side a safe choice on this task?
  3. Worked exampleShow me a summary-style opening paragraph rewritten into one that takes a position in its first sentence.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to your essay when the 35-minute clock ends in the middle of a paragraph?
  5. Ties togetherHow does running out of time on the essay mirror the timing squeeze in a 35-minute Logical Reasoning section?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Given a prompt with 4 perspectives, the commonest weak essay on this task is one that

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