LR

Main Conclusion

Question frequencyUncommon

Common question stems

  • "Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion drawn in the argument?"
  • "The conclusion drawn in the argument is that"
  • "Which of the following best represents the main conclusion drawn in the argument?"
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Main Conclusion Intro

This question type is pretty straightforward. It justs challenges us to identify the main conclusion of an argument in the stimulus.

LSAT students are generally extremely strong at finding the conclusion of arguments, as we have to evaluate so many arguments across the various LR question types. Don't get cocky and think that this question type will be easy, though. The test writers know that identifying conclusions is something that students are very good at, so the stimuli for this question type are often structurally complex. For Main Conclusion questions you're unlikely to see the conclusion follow an obvious indicator word, and the conclusion is almost never the last sentence of the argument.

Identifying conclusions

When identifying the main conclusion we're looking for the claim that the entire argument is designed to support. For a deeper dive on how to break down an argument into it's parts see the foundational Evaluating an Argument lesson.

Continue reading to learn about possible argument structures for Main Conclusion questions with real LSAT Main Conclusion questions embedded as examples.

Rejecting a claim

One very common structure that you'll find for Main Conclusion questions is an argument where the author introduces a claim and then rejects it. The author will then provide support as to why they are rejecting the claim at the end of the stimulus, after the rejection.

Something like this:

Arguer: Some people claim X. (Introducing a claim)

But these people are wrong (Rejecting the claim - this is the conclusion in this structure)

Because actually, there is evidence against X, or evidence for Y. (Evidence)

Try the examples below in LawHub or another licensed platform to get some practice, and read the explanations if you get any wrong.

Main ConclusionPT 105, S1, Q1Tennyson’s line of poetry . . .
Main ConclusionPT 105, S4, Q6Willett: Lopez and Simmons, a married couple . . .
Main ConclusionPT 105, S4, Q25Some residents of Midville claim . . .
Main ConclusionPT 108, S3, Q8Metaphors

Conclusion comes first

Argument has multiple conclusions (sub-conclusions)