- Fri Dec 27, 2019 9:43 pm
#72865
Hi dlehr99! Nice job going back and recognizing why Answer Choice (A) is incorrect.
As to your question - in a word, no. There's a couple reasons why I wouldn't rule out an answer choice just because it uses a word you're not familiar with. First, I very much doubt that there's any real correlation between hard words and incorrect answer choices. LSAC generally shies away from extremely difficult language, but when they do decide a word is acceptable LSAT material, it could end up in either a correct or incorrect answer. Every incorrect answer choice on the LSAT has a valid, logical reason for being incorrect - containing a hard word is not one of them. Secondly, you may sometimes be unfamiliar with a word that is actually somewhat common! Every so often I'll come across a word that I've never seen before, but it turns out to be fairly well-known. Everybody has odd gaps in their vocabulary bank, so don't allow yours to trick you into crossing out a correct answer!
Instead, use context clues. What kind of word would make sense in the phrase "The purpose of this passage is to ____ the meaning of a scientific hypothesis"? My mind immediately jumps to "explain" as the most obvious word to fill in the gap. And try to think of words that contain similar roots (such as "lucid" in this case). In short - it's not a good idea to skip over an answer choice because it contains an unknown word, but the good news is that you can usually figure out what that answer choice is trying to convey anyway. Hope that helps!