Attitude questions ("The author's attitude can best be described as…") look subjective, but they are among the most mechanical questions on the test. The author always leaves fingerprints: adjectives, adverbs, verbs of judgment, and concession structures. Your job is to collect them and synthesize.
The LSAT's attitude scale. Real LSAT answer choices cluster on a spectrum. Learn the landmarks:
- Enthusiastic / admiring: "groundbreaking," "elegant," calls for adoption.
- Cautiously optimistic: positive words plus explicit qualifications ("promising, but significant obstacles remain").
- Neutral / detached: pure description, no evaluative language.
- Skeptical / critical: "thinner than enthusiasts admit," warns of flaws.
- Dismissive: rejection, mockery (rare as a correct answer — the LSAT seldom rewards extremes).
Where to look. Three places carry most of the signal:
- Adjectives and adverbs. Circle every evaluative word as you read: "tantalizing," "promising," "stubbornly high," "encouraging." These are the author's feelings leaking through.
- Concession structures. "These objections deserve to be taken seriously, but they argue for careful design rather than abandonment." The word after the "but" (or "yet," "however," "still") is the verdict. Everything before it is politeness.
- The final paragraph. Authors love to deliver their bottom line at the end. The last two sentences of a passage resolve more attitude questions than the rest combined.
The two classic traps:
- Topic enthusiasm vs. method endorsement. An author can be fascinated by a phenomenon while remaining skeptical of a proposed application. Ask: enthusiastic about what, exactly?
- Acknowledging criticism vs. surrendering to it. "Critics caution that the evidence is thinner than enthusiasts admit" is the author reporting criticism, not necessarily agreeing with it. Check what the author does with the objection — answers it, or folds?
Worked example. Take the final paragraph of the quorum-sensing passage in your drill bank: "The practical implications are tantalizing… Early laboratory results are promising… Yet significant obstacles remain." Positive words (tantalizing, promising, valuable) plus an explicit "yet" of qualification. That is the textbook profile of cautiously optimistic — not "unreservedly enthusiastic" (which ignores the obstacles) and not "deeply skeptical" (which ignores the promise). The correct answer sits exactly where the evidence sits: in the middle, leaning positive.
Key takeaways
- Attitude is mechanical: collect adjectives, find the concession's "but," read the final paragraph.
- Place the author on the spectrum; the LSAT rewards the middle (cautiously optimistic, qualified endorsement) far more than extremes.
- Distinguish enthusiasm for the topic from endorsement of a proposal.
- Reporting an objection is not the same as agreeing with it — watch what the author does next.