Point at Issue Questions on the LSAT: Finding the Real Disagreement

Point at issue questions give you a short dialogue between two people and ask you to identify the claim they disagree about. The stem reads: the two speakers disagree over whether, or are committed to disagreeing about. A close cousin, point of agreement, asks the opposite.

The correct answer is a statement that one speaker would affirm and the other would deny. That sounds simple, but the wrong answers are engineered to look relevant while failing one half of that requirement.

Here is the tool that makes these mechanical. For each answer choice, ask two questions: would speaker one have an opinion on this, and would speaker two have an opinion on this. Then ask whether those opinions are opposite.

The right answer must get a clear yes, yes, and opposite. If even one speaker has no stated view on the claim, that answer is wrong. If both agree, it is wrong for a point at issue question.

Most wrong answers fail because only one speaker addresses the claim. The other speaker simply never spoke to it, so you cannot say they disagree.

A common mistake is assuming what a speaker probably believes based on their general position. The test only lets you use what each speaker actually said or is directly committed to. If a belief is merely plausible for them but never stated or implied, it does not count.

Stick to the words on the page. Ask what each speaker is logically committed to given their statements, not what a reasonable person in their position might think.

Speakers often disagree about something narrower or broader than it first appears. One might claim a policy is unwise while the other claims only that it is legal. Those are not actually in conflict, because being legal and being wise are different questions.

The correct answer pins down the precise proposition where their views collide. Check that the answer is about the same thing both speakers addressed, at the same level of generality.

Read both speakers and note each one's actual claims. For every answer, run the agree/disagree test: does each speaker have a stated view, and are the views opposite. Eliminate anything only one speaker touched. Confirm the surviving answer captures the exact proposition in dispute.