Flaw Question
LSAT glossary · Law School Admission Test (LSAT)
Definition
An LSAT Logical Reasoning question type that asks the test-taker to identify the specific logical error in an argument's reasoning. Recognition stems: "The reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism...," "A flaw in the argument...," or "The argument is flawed in that it..." The process is to find the conclusion, find the premises, identify the gap, and match the flaw to an answer choice — the correct answer describes the flaw in abstract, formal language (e.g., "relies on an analogy that is insufficiently alike"). Flaw questions are among the most frequent LR question types, appearing 3–4 times per 25-question section.
Flaw Question in plain English
A Flaw question hands you an argument that sounds okay but actually cheats somewhere in its logic, and asks you to name exactly where it went wrong. Think of it like proofreading a friend's excuse: they say 'the light was green, so I couldn't have caused the crash' — but wait, a green light doesn't prove they were paying attention. Your job is to spot that hidden gap between what they proved (green light) and what they claimed (not at fault), then find the answer choice that describes that gap. The tricky part is that correct answers are written in dry, abstract language like 'treats one possible cause as the only possible cause,' so you're matching the mistake's shape, not its topic. These show up 3–4 times per section, so getting fast at them pays off big.
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