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LSAT question type identifier
Paste a question stem and see which type its wording asks for — along with the exact phrase that gives it away, so you can start recognizing the pattern yourself.
Name the type before you read the answers
Every Logical Reasoning type wants a different kind of answer. Strengthen wants new support. Must Be True wants something the passage guarantees. Method of Reasoning wants a description of what the author did, not a verdict on whether it worked.
Read five choices without knowing which job you are doing and a well-written wrong answer will look right — because it IS right, for a question you were not asked. Naming the type first is the cheapest accuracy you can buy.
What this is matching against
The same stem-cue table Counsel uses internally to check that its own questions are labeled correctly — 17 types and 89 wording patterns. It is not a separate heuristic written for this page.
It is also deliberately loose, and will say “no type recognized” rather than guess. LSAC publishes no official catalogue of stem wordings, and every type name below is prep-industry nomenclature rather than anything official.
The 17 types it knows
- Cannot Be True
- Complete the Argument
- Evaluate
- Flaw
- Inference
- Main Point
- Method of Reasoning
- Necessary Assumption
- Paradox
- Parallel Flaw
- Parallel Reasoning
- Point at Issue
- Principle
- Role of a Statement
- Strengthen
- Sufficient Assumption
- Weaken
Common questions
- How do you identify an LSAT question type?
- By the stem — the sentence asking the question, not the passage. Each type has recurring wordings: 'vulnerable to criticism' is Flaw, 'depends on assuming' is Necessary Assumption, 'most helps to explain the discrepancy' is Paradox. Naming the type before you read the answers is the first strategic move on every Logical Reasoning question.
- Why does identifying the type matter?
- Because each type wants a different kind of answer. Strengthen wants new support; Must Be True wants something the passage guarantees; Method wants a description rather than a verdict. Reading the choices without knowing which job you are doing is how a well-written wrong answer gets picked.
- What if my stem is not recognized?
- That is a normal outcome. LSAC publishes no official catalogue of stem wordings, real stems vary, and this tool would rather say nothing than invent a label. Check you pasted the question rather than the passage.
- Can one stem be two types?
- Yes, and the tool shows both when it happens. Sufficient and Necessary Assumption overlap in wording, as do Inference and Point at Issue. Deciding between them is a judgment about what the question asks you to produce.