What are Critical Thinking Skills?

Critical thinking skills are essential skills for any type of lawyer. In order to achieve success, a lawyer must understand how to analyse and evaluate information to inform their advice and enable them to form decisions.

This is why your critical thinking skills are assessed as part of the law admission tests.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the active process of analysing and evaluating information to inform your decisions. To think critically, you examine information, question it, evaluate its accuracy, reliability and relevance, and determine if it is credible.

Why are critical thinking skills important?

Critical thinking skills help you make sound decisions that are founded on facts and backed up by evidence instead of emotions or with reference to any biases. Critical thinking skills also assist with solving problems, as breaking down issues is part of the process. By analysing and evaluating information, you can communicate effectively. This is because your ideas or arguments will be backed by logical reasoning.

How can you develop critical thinking skills?

LAT PLUS can help you develop your critical thinking skills. During our Accelerator Programs, we show students how to analyse information and arguments. We take you through practical examples where we show you how to assess whether information in stimulus texts is relevant, credible and supported by evidence. We also show you how to evaluate stimulus material by identifying biases or gaps in reasoning.

By actively and skillfully analyzing and evaluating information, you can make informed decisions or come up with your own arguments or position that is backed by evidence and is logically articulated.

Register for one of our LAT PLUS Accelerator Programs to master the art and science of critical thinking!