Word I don't know in LR Stimulus Forum

[PoopNpants]

I came across a stimulus discussing the "dissemination" of advanced technological knowledge today in the PT1 and had no fucking idea what the hell dissemination meant. WTF. Is it normal for strange words such as these to be in the stimulus? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

[msp8]

Sorry to say, but I don't think that's a rare word at all.

In general, though, if you're uncertain about a given word's meaning, you can usually figure it out from the context.

[KMart]

Sometimes they throw words at you, but you can still figure it out from context clues generally. They're not completely rare and dated terms.

PT1 is a bit more dated, but still. You'll be ok.

[jthach]

I'm surprised this isn't a science-related terminology! I'd agree that you can usually get the word from its context. However, I would say that you should just do more LR and RC. I feel that the vocabulary is pretty consistent and grows on you with the LSAT. My troubles with terminology actually came from the answer choices more than anything.

[Jeffort]

Whenever you come across a word anywhere in the LSAT that you aren't 100% sure about its proper dictionary definition, look it up (in a collegiate dictionary, not just the basic online ones that only list the few most commonly used meanings) and put it on your LSAT vocabulary list that you should start now.

Although there aren't any questions or sections that are specifically 'vocabulary test questions' on the LSAT, the test very much tests your grammar and vocabulary skills, there are many high difficulty level questions that hinge on validly interpreting particular words/phrases in context according to proper grammar and dictionary definition rules. You need to make sure you're interpreting all words according to their proper/valid dictionary definition meanings in the context they're used to achieve a high LSAT score, many words commonly used on the LSAT are widely abused/misused in common colloquial conversations/common informal use. The LR and RC sections can punish you through grammar/vocab on some high difficulty questions and/or if you play fast and loose with equivocal/creative word interpretation the way lots of people do in conversations and especially in arguments/debates these days.

On the LSAT, going by the proper literal in context collegiate dictionary definitions is the rule. The first important LSAT word that introduces/illustrates this to most students is the word 'some'. Just like in the dictionary, on the LSAT it does NOT mean 'not all' the way people commonly use and interpret it in conversations. some = at least one, possibly up to all

You aren't expected to know the meanings of esoteric field specific words such as off the wall scientific terms and such. When those are used, if the specific meaning is important to solving any questions, the word will either be explicitly defined or be defined well by context. If the word isn't, such as the name of a bacteria or something weird, its meaning isn't important.

The LSAT test writers (hence law schools) expect test takers to have a good collegiate level vocabulary and grasp of grammar. The test is partly designed to measure/test those skills, hence the reading comp section. RC skills are also tested in the LR sections, even by some question stems themselves.

If you pay attention and keep a running LSAT vocab list as you go, you'll notice a bunch of easily susceptible to misinterpretation words the test writers like to use repeatedly that are important to understand clearly.

The LSAT also tests vocab a lot in LR by referring to/talking about the same things/ideas as stuff in the stimulus but with totally different vocabulary in the answer choices, especially in lots of the CRs and in different parts of the stimulus to make connections less apparent. The test writers make heavy use of paraphrasing throughout the LSAT to test critical reading skills and vocab.

[dasani13]

+1 to context. English is my 3rd language so there were plenty of words I did not know during my prep that I figured out from context. I only had an issue once and it was because they used a word that has 2 completely opposite meanings.