San Francisco LSAT Instructor Blog

“Extreme” answer choices are not always obvious

One of the kinds of answer choices that you might already be familiar with and know that they are usually not the right choices in analytical reasoning sections of the LSAT  are “extreme” answers choices. These are the answer that start with “all,” “always,” “everywhere,” etc… making an absolute and unqualified statement, such as “all people are good,” “all money is evil,” etc….  Usually, these incorrect answer choices are also shorter as it takes fewer words to make an extreme statement than a qualified one.

However,  it’s important to remember that some “extreme” answers are not that obvious. For example, even though the key words, such as all, everywhere, always, all the time, etc… indicate that the answer choice is extreme, absence of those words doesn’t mean that the answer isn’t extreme.

For instance, consider the following statement: People are good.

Is it extreme? At first, it might not look like it, but it is. It doesn’t say that some people are good, or that some people are good in some places and under some circumstances. This statement implies that all people are good without saying “all” and therefore is extreme.

So, look for the key words that would suggest that the answer is extreme, but also be on the look-out for brief, generilinzg statements that don’t have those key words as these statements are also usually extreme and are incorrect choices in the analytical reasoning arguments of the LSAT exam.