Which Section of the LSAT Is Hardest?
No section of the LSAT is designed to be the hardest. LSAC builds every section to the same difficulty level. In practice, most students find one section clearly harder than the other, and which one depends on your skills. If dense passages slow you down, Reading Comprehension will feel hardest. If arguments trip you up, Logical Reasoning will.
Which section of the LSAT is hardest?
It depends on the student. That is not a dodge. LSAC, the organization that makes the LSAT, has said its sections are constructed to be parallel in difficulty, and that the average percent correct in each section is about the same. So there is no section that is hardest for everyone. There is only the section that is hardest for you, and you can figure out which one that is in a single timed practice section.
The two scored section types test different skills. Logical Reasoning asks you to pick apart short arguments, one question at a time. Reading Comprehension asks you to read long, dense passages and answer several questions about each one. Most students are naturally better at one of those two jobs than the other. Your job is to find your weak one early and give it more of your study time.
What is on the current LSAT
As of October 2026, the LSAT has four 35-minute multiple-choice sections, plus a separate unscored writing sample. Only three of the four multiple-choice sections count toward your score. The fourth is an unscored experimental section used to test future questions. You will not know which section is unscored while you take the test.
| Section | Scored? | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Logical Reasoning (2 sections) | Yes, both | Analyzing and evaluating short arguments |
| Reading Comprehension (1 section) | Yes | Understanding and analyzing dense passages |
| Logical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension (1 section) | No | Experimental questions for future tests |
| LSAT Argumentative Writing | No | A short written argument, taken separately |
Two facts in that table matter for this question. First, Logical Reasoning is two of the three scored sections, so it carries about two-thirds of your scored test. Second, Reading Comprehension is a full third of your score in a single section, so a bad Reading Comprehension section hurts more than a bad stretch of Logical Reasoning questions.
Why Logical Reasoning feels hardest
Logical Reasoning is the section most students struggle with early in prep. Each question gives you a short argument and asks you to do one specific job: find the flaw, strengthen the argument, weaken it, identify the assumption, or draw an inference. The arguments cover unfamiliar topics, the wording is precise, and the wrong answers are written to sound reasonable. If you read casually, you will pick traps.
It also has the steepest early learning curve. Students who have never studied argument structure have to learn a new vocabulary: conclusions, premises, assumptions, and common flaw patterns. That learning pays off fast, though. Logical Reasoning is widely considered the most learnable section, because the same question types and flaw patterns repeat across tests. Once you can name what a question is asking, your accuracy usually climbs.
If Logical Reasoning is your weak section, the fix is targeted drilling by question type, not more full sections. Work one type at a time until you can spot it on sight. Our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types breaks down every type and what each one asks you to do.
Why Reading Comprehension feels hardest
Reading Comprehension is the section most students say feels hardest under time pressure. You get about 35 minutes for four passage sets: three single passages and one comparative set with two shorter passages. That is roughly 27 questions, or about 8 to 9 minutes per passage set, reading included. The passages are dense, academic, and often about subjects you have never studied, like legal theory or science.
Reading Comprehension also improves more slowly than Logical Reasoning for many students. You cannot memorize your way through a passage. You have to read for structure: what is the author's main point, where does the argument turn, and what does the author actually believe. Students who read for details instead of structure run out of time and then rush the questions, which is where the points disappear.
If Reading Comprehension is your weak section, slow down on the passage and speed up on the questions. Read each passage once, closely, and note the main point of each paragraph before you touch a question. Our guide to LSAT Reading Comprehension question types covers what each question type wants, and our comparative reading tips cover the two-passage set that trips up a lot of first-time test takers.
Why old answers to this question are out of date
If you search this question, many top results still name Analytical Reasoning, better known as Logic Games, as the hardest section. That answer is years out of date. Logic Games were removed from the LSAT starting with the August 2024 test. They are not on the current exam at all.
Any guide that ranks Logic Games as the hardest section, or that tells you to study them, was written for a test that no longer exists. Judge any page on this topic by one test: does it describe the current two-section-type format, or does it still talk about Logic Games as if you will face them? If it fails that test, its advice about difficulty is stale too.
How to find your hardest section
Do not guess. Take one timed section of each type under real conditions, 35 minutes, no pauses, and compare three things:
- Accuracy. How many questions did you get right in each section? A gap of 4 or more correct answers points to your weak section.
- Time left. Did you finish one section with minutes to spare and run out of time on the other? The section where time ran out is usually the one where your reading or reasoning process is slowest.
- Error pattern. Are your misses clustered in one question type, like flaw or main point questions, or spread across the section? Clustered misses mean a fixable skill gap. Spread-out misses mean a pacing or stamina problem.
One timed section each is enough to point you in the right direction. You do not need a full practice test to answer this question, and you should not wait for one before you start fixing the weak section. For how many full tests to take overall, see our guide to how many practice tests to take for the LSAT.
What to do about your hardest section
Give your weak section about 60 percent of your drill time until the gap closes, and keep your strong section sharp with a smaller share. Study in this order: untimed accuracy first, then timed accuracy, then full timed sections. Speed built on shaky accuracy just produces faster wrong answers.
Review every miss in your weak section by writing down, in one sentence, why the right answer is right and why your pick was wrong. If you cannot write that sentence, you have not understood the question yet, and that question type goes back into your drill pile. Most students close a section gap in a few weeks of this kind of review, because the LSAT repeats the same skills in new wording.
Finally, retest. After two or three weeks of focused work on your weak section, take another timed section of each type and compare again. If the gap is gone, rebalance your study time. If it moved to the other section, that section is now your weak one, and the same process applies.
Frequently asked questions
Is Logical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension harder?
It depends on the student. LSAC designs both sections to the same difficulty level. Students who struggle with dense passages usually find Reading Comprehension harder, while students new to argument analysis usually find Logical Reasoning harder at first.
What is the hardest section of the LSAT now that Logic Games are gone?
The current LSAT has only two scored section types: Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. Logic Games were removed starting with the August 2024 test, so they are not part of the current exam.
Does the unscored experimental section count?
No. One of the four multiple-choice sections is unscored and used to test future questions. You will not know which section it is during the test, so treat every section as if it counts.
Is Reading Comprehension worth more than Logical Reasoning?
Each scored section counts equally, but Logical Reasoning makes up two of the three scored sections, so it is about two-thirds of your score in section terms. Reading Comprehension is one section, or about one-third.
How do I know which section I should study most?
Take one timed section of each type and compare accuracy, time left, and error patterns. Put about 60 percent of your drill time into the weaker section until the gap closes, then rebalance.
Can a section be hardest for everyone?
No. LSAC has said its sections are built to be parallel in difficulty, with about the same average percent correct in each section. Difficulty varies by student, not by section design.