Inference questions ("Which one of the following is most strongly supported?" / "can most reasonably be inferred?") ask what must be true given the passage. Not what could be true. Not what sounds plausible. What the stated facts force.
The one-step rule. A valid LSAT inference combines passage statements with at most one small logical step — usually just restating or combining what was said. If you need two leaps ("this suggests that, which would mean that…"), you have gone too far. When in doubt, pick the answer that stays closest to the text.
The method:
- Locate. The stem usually points you somewhere ("about Vibrio fischeri" → paragraph 1). Go there first.
- Combine. Put the relevant sentences together and ask what they jointly require.
- Verify. Read your chosen answer back against the exact sentences. Every word of it should be accounted for.
Know the four wrong-answer shapes, because inference distractors are built from a menu:
- Contradicts: flatly opposed to the passage. The easiest to eliminate — and the test counts on you missing them under time pressure.
- Out of scope: introduces something the passage never discusses.
- Too strong: "always," "never," "all," "impossible" — the passage gave you "some" or "often," and the answer overclaims.
- True but unsupported: might be true in real life, but the passage doesn't establish it.
Worked example. The quorum-sensing passage in your drill bank tells us V. fischeri glows only in dense colonies and remains dark in dilute suspension. Combine those two facts: a lone, isolated cell is in the most "dilute" condition possible — so it is not glowing, which means it is not spending energy producing light. That is the supported inference: an isolated cell does not expend energy producing light. One small step, every word grounded. Now watch the traps: "glows continuously regardless of population density" directly contradicts paragraph 1; "bioluminescence is visible in dilute cultures" contradicts it too; claims about the bacterium's survival outside its host or its discovery history bring in topics the passage never discusses.
Key takeaways
- Inference = what must be true, usually one small step from the text.
- Locate the relevant lines, combine them, then verify every word of your answer against those lines.
- Memorize the four distractor shapes: contradicts, out of scope, too strong, true-but-unsupported.
- The answer that hugs the text beats the answer that sounds smart.