If you’ve read my previous blog entry, L.S.A.T Reading Comprehension – Identifying Crucial Information, you undoubtedly noticed a litany of bolded words.  This blog entry will teach you how to transform clues from the reading passage into a road map which easily leads to correct answers.  From these bolded snippets, you’ll be able to ascertain the author’s tone, main point, point of view, inferences, arguments, counterarguments, and conclusions.

Below I will explain the significance of the bolded terms.

‘extreme view of global warming’   The central theme of the passage is the author’s aggressive criticism of a particular school of thought about global warming.  The use of ‘extreme’ instead of something weaker discloses the greatness of the difference in opinion.

While it contains some facts, this view also contains exaggerations and misstatements, and has sometimes resulted in unreasonable environmental policies.  Here, the author prepares to address what s/he thinks are dangerous misrepresentations of facts and the disastrous effects which have followed.

‘According to this view…’   This exposes the predictions of someone with the extremist view and is not the author’s opinion.

‘However, there is still a great deal of uncertainty’ The author deconstructs the faulty view.

Certainly…There is some evidence…however, there is also evidence that the Antarctic ice sheets are growing. In fact, it is possible… These are arguments and counterarguments about global warming.

Certainly, we need to have better knowledge…before predicting dire consequences The author infers that a weakness in the opposing view is a failure to investigate sufficiently before reaching conclusions.

This view also exaggerates …’ This illustrates the author’s continuing criticism of the radical viewpoint.

While human activity may be a factor in global warming, natural events appear to be far more important.  Although this appears towards the end of the passage, this is the author’s hypothesis.

Of even greater importance… The author reveals the strongest evidence in support of his/her view of global warming.

Climate variability has always existed and will continue to do so, regardless of human intervention.  This is the author’s ultimate conclusion in direct contradiction to the ‘extreme’ view.

Learning to carefully read, highlight, and decipher a passage will help you achieve the highest possible score on this section of the L.S.A.T.