Killer LR: 15 of the Hardest Logical Reasoning Questions of All Time Part IV

Part I, Part II, and Part III list the 15 hardest LSAT Logical Reasoning questions in chronological order. Now let’s get to the most valuable and interesting part of this discussion. What can we learn from them? Here are a few fascinating observations drawn from an analysis of the 15 hardest LSAT Logical Reasoning questions.

A Notable Bias Towards (A)

Questions within this set of 15 are overwhelmingly biased in favor of answer choice (A). While this could be partially explained by subjectivity, consider that the correct answer for the next five questions we considered but did not include was also (A).

Overall, the correct answers for the 15 questions break down as follows:

(A) = 9, or 60%
(B) = 1, or 6.6%
(C) = 4, or 26.6%
(D) = 1, or 6.6%
(E) = 0, or 0%

Keep in mind that if we had added the next five most difficult questions, creating a list of 20 rather than 15, answer choice (A) would have been correct 14 out of 20 times, or 70%! Given that random chance would suggest each answer appears about 20% of the time, and overall on LSAT Logical Reasoning (A) is correct 18.7% of the time, this is significant.

It’s not an accident. The statistics suggest a deliberate strategy by the test makers. Often, with particularly hard questions, students may select answer choice (A) without fully understanding it, then get confused by later options.

Takeaway: If you are stumped by a very difficult question, guess (A). Don’t discount it too quickly—it may well be correct.

A Notable Bias Away from (E)

(E) was not the correct answer for any of these questions. This may be due to the “reverberation effect,” where the last thing read lingers in memory. The test makers likely avoid making (E) correct to prevent this factor from giving students an advantage.

They Tend to Show up Late in Their Section

The placement of these questions is not random. The range of question positions for the top 15 hardest questions:

1. #24
2. #18
3. #23
4. #16
5. #19
6. #24
7. #10
8. #23
9. #25
10. #23
11. #25
12. #23
13. #16
14. #12
15. #24

Average Question Position: 20.33

Of the 15 questions, 0 appear in single digits, 5 appear in positions #10-#19, and 10 appear from #23-#25. Many difficult questions appear near the end of the section when test takers are tired.

Watch the Question Types

The question types of the top 15 also show patterns:

1. Flaw
2. Must
3. Justify-PR
4. Assumption-FL
5. AssumptionX
6. Weaken
7. Strengthen
8. Flaw
9. Parallel
10. Flaw
11. Justify
12. Parallel
13. Resolve
14. Weaken
15. Justify

Breakdown:

Must = 1
Flaw = 3
Parallel = 2
First Family = 6, or 40%

Strengthen = 1
Assumption = 2
Justify = 3
Resolve = 1
Second Family = 7, or 46.66%

Weaken = 2
Third Family = 2, or 13.33%

Removing purely fact-based questions (Must and Resolve), abstract reasoning questions make up 13 of 15 questions (86.66%). The hardest questions tend to be based on abstract reasoning (Flaw, Parallel, Strengthen, Assumption, Justify, Weaken).

Science and Philosophy Rule

From a topical standpoint, 5 of the 15 questions were based on science, and 4 on philosophical-style stimuli. As you progress through the section, pay extra attention to these topics.

This concludes the discussion of the hardest LSAT Logical Reasoning questions. While the list is subjective, the analysis provides helpful insights into patterns, placement, and question types.

Further reading about the Killer LSAT: Killer RC, Killer LG, Killer LR Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV