LSAT Reading Comprehension: Finding Frameworks

Frameworks ( 7 most common)

- Challenge Position

- Highlight Noteworthy

- Old/New

- Problem/Solution

- Present Debate

- Answer a question

- Theme/Example

Challenge Position

- starts with someone else's point-of-view, pivots into authors

- The author is usually ether criticizing a view, arguing that someone's argument isn't persuasive, or clarifying a misconception.

- The Main Point ends up sounding like the author saying, "X is wrong" or "Instead of believing what X is saying, believe this."

Highlight Noteworthy

- linear/descriptive/sounds like a story or article

- This one is most common within Humanities passages

- Look for Main Point sentences to be about how the central topic is distinctive, what their impact was, what their backstory was, how they evolved, or what their essential qualities are.

Old/New

- The passage begins by talking about something "traditional"/"default" and then pivots into RECENT research or a NEW trend/new approach.

- This is the most common framework for Science passages.

- It overlaps with Problem/Solution

- The main point is usually found in the final paragraph, where the author often gives her take on the New thing.

Problem/Solution

- The passage begins by describing something problematic. Maybe the author even sounds like she's criticizing something.

- Some passages never end up introducing a solution, or they offer a solution the author finds unsatisfactory (In which case the Main point is really just that "there's a problem". Most end with the author offering the author's solution, in which case is the main point.

Present Debate

- There are at least two different points of view introduced before the author ever comes on the scene (if she makes her voice known at all). We might see a point of view and critiques of that view.

We read the rest of the passage, waiting to see if the author tells us whether he's on Side A, side B, or carving out their own position.

- The debate is centered around some question, so we want to make sure we organize our thinking around the central question and the 2 or 3 answers we hear to that question.

Answer a question

- the passage is centered around some puzzling phenomenon/some question/some curious fact, and the author's main point is her explanation/ her answer.

Theme/Example

- The passage provides is with a general phenomenon or general truism, and them pivots into a specific example or series of examples, usually with some pivot like "Case in point is..."

- As we read each example (or the one big examples), we try to remind ourselves about the bigger theme it's there to illustrate.