LSAT Self Prep

Identify the Conclusion

By the end of this chapter, you will finally be solving your first set of real LSAT questions, yay! We will be tackling "identify the conclusion" questions.

But we need a short detour. Before solving anything, we have to understand what an argument actually is in the context of an LR section.

Anatomy of an Argument

Recall that about 76% of LR stimuli are arguments. But what exactly is an argument here?

An argument is a set of sentences containing a premise and a conclusion.

A premise is a statement we assume to be true. It does not matter how nonsensical it is — for the sake of the argument, we accept it. You can identify a premise because it has no support and is stated as a given fact. Premises serve as evidence or support for the conclusion.

A conclusion is a statement that is not used to prove anything else, but is instead supported by the other statements. The conclusion is the crux of the argument. If someone asks you to summarize the argument in one line, you give them the conclusion.

Let's make this concrete with an example:

All people who play League of Legends are cool kids, and Ali plays League of Legends. Therefore, Ali is a cool kid.

The first sentence is the premise: "All people who play League of Legends are cool kids, and Ali plays League of Legends." Is there any evidence given to prove that League of Legends players are cool kids? No. Is there any evidence that Ali actually plays League of Legends? Also no. We simply assume both are true.

The second sentence is the conclusion: "Ali is a cool kid." It is supported by the premise, and it is not used to support anything else. If someone asked us to explain what the argument is saying in one line, you would say: the argument claims Ali is a cool kid.

(For you uncool kids out there, League of Legends is a video game. I don't care how lame you think playing League of Legends is. For the sake of the argument, you accept the premises as true and move on.)

Background Information

Sometimes the argument is not immediately obvious, because not every sentence in the stimulus is a premise or conclusion. Consider this example:

I used to love playing Overwatch. But Overwatch 2 is not a fun game. A fun game needs to allow people to play whatever they want, and Overwatch 2 has a lot of restrictions.

Let's go sentence by sentence.

"I used to love playing Overwatch." Is this a conclusion? No, there is no support for it. Is it a premise? It looks like one at first, but ask yourself: is it actually used to support anything else in the argument? No, it never comes up again. This is background information — filler that provides context but plays no logical role in the argument.

"Overwatch 2 is not a fun game." Is this a premise? No, because the next sentence actually provides support for it. A statement with support cannot be a premise. This is the conclusion. It is what the author is trying to establish, and everything else in the argument is building toward it.

"A fun game needs to allow people to play whatever they want, and Overwatch 2 has a lot of restrictions." This is the premise. There is no evidence given for either claim — we just assume both are true. And this sentence directly supports the conclusion, which is exactly what a premise does.

Intermediate Conclusions

One more concept before we start solving real questions.

Rohaan is amazing at shooter games. Everyone who is amazing at shooter games is good at Call of Duty. Therefore, Rohaan is good at Call of Duty. It is also important to remember that everyone who is good at Call of Duty is good at Counter-Strike. Thus, Rohaan has to be good at Counter-Strike.

Let's break this down:

"Rohaan is amazing at shooter games" and "Everyone who is amazing at shooter games is good at Call of Duty" are both premises. No support is given for either, and both are used to support the next statement.

"Therefore, Rohaan is good at Call of Duty." This is supported by the two premises above, so it looks like a conclusion. But it is also used to support the final statement. A statement that is supported by premises and in turn supports another statement is called an intermediate conclusion. This is not the main conclusion. If you pick this in the answer choices, you would be wrong. All arguments in LR questions only have one main conclusion. In this case, this is not it.

"Everyone who is good at Call of Duty is good at Counter-Strike" is a premise. No support given, and it feeds directly into the final statement.

"Thus, Rohaan has to be good at Counter-Strike." This is the main conclusion. It is not used to support anything else, and all the preceding statements support it in one way or another.

Why This Matters

About 76% of LR stimuli are arguments. The various question stems that come with argument stimuli will all ask you to do different things. But across all of them, identifying the conclusion is the most important skill. If you cannot find the conclusion, the rest of the strategies fall apart.

That is why we are starting here. If you struggle with these questions, it is a signal to review this material until it clicks. And from this chapter onward, all the drills use real LSAT questions from past tests.

How to Solve Identify the Conclusion Questions

Step 1: Read the question stem first. Do this before even looking at the stimulus. The question stem tells you what type of question you are dealing with.

For identify the conclusion questions, the stems typically look like this:

  • Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of ______'s argument?
  • Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the argument?
  • The main point of the argument is that...
  • Which one of the following most accurately expresses the overall conclusion of the argument?

As soon as you see one of these, you know the stimulus is an argument and your job is to find the conclusion.

Step 2: Read the stimulus and identify the conclusion. Pay attention to the role each sentence is playing — is it a premise, a conclusion, background information, or an intermediate conclusion? Once you have read the whole thing, you should know what the main conclusion is. Highlight it.

Step 3: Find the answer choice that paraphrases your highlighted conclusion. You already know what the answer should say. Your job now is just to match it.

That's it. It really is that straightforward.

A Note on Conclusion Keywords

Most prep books give you a list of words that signal a conclusion. Here are the common ones:

Therefore, hence, thus, so, evidently, consequently, so it must be the case, this indicates that, this suggests that, this shows that.

These can be useful as a reference, but do not rely on them blindly. Look at what happened in the Rohaan example above: "therefore" introduced an intermediate conclusion, not the main one. Students who chase keywords without understanding argument structure get these questions wrong.

Here is another example:

James is an awesome friend. James always says yes whenever invited to play League of Legends. This suggests that James is a homie. And we all know that anyone who is a homie is an awesome friend.

If you chase keywords, you might land on "James is a homie" as the conclusion because of "this suggests that." But the actual main conclusion is "James is an awesome friend." The statement about being a homie supports it, not the other way around.

Always go back to the definitions. The main conclusion is the statement that is supported by everything else and does not itself support any other statement. Keywords are a helpful hint, not a reliable shortcut.

Wrong Answer Choices

The correct answer will always be a paraphrase of the main conclusion you identified. The other four will be wrong for predictable reasons:

Background Information: The answer choice captures a background sentence from the stimulus — something that provided context but played no logical role in the argument.

Intermediate Conclusion: The answer choice restates an intermediate conclusion. This is always wrong. The question asks for the main conclusion, not a stepping stone toward it.

Restates a Premise: The answer choice copies one of the premises. Always wrong for the same reason.

Beyond the Scope: The most common wrong answer type for these questions. The answer choice mentions something the stimulus never actually addressed. The main conclusion will always be explicitly stated in the stimulus — you do not need to make any additional inferences to find it.

Let me say that again: the main conclusion will always be explicitly stated. That is why I asked you to highlight it. It is sitting right there in plain sight.

TL;DR

  1. Read the question stem and confirm this is an "identify the conclusion" question.
  2. Know that the stimulus will be an argument and go in looking for the conclusion.
  3. Read the stimulus and highlight the main conclusion.
  4. Find the answer choice that paraphrases your highlighted conclusion.
  5. Read all five answer choices and eliminate anything that fits a wrong answer pattern. What remains is your answer.

EZ!

Go solve some real LSAT questions now. Take a break first if you need one. If you get through it reasonably well, go touch some grass. If you are struggling, go touch some grass anyway, then come back, review this chapter, and try again.

And even if the drill goes well, save the next topic for tomorrow. Pacing matters. Do not overload your brain.

GLHF!