RC sections: one passage of each subject, mostly

Reading Comprehension passages fall into four subjects: humanities, law, science and social science. Most sections have one of each, and that holds in 91 of the 96 distinct four-passage sections in LSAC's released tests (94.8%).

• When the pattern breaks, it breaks the same way: all five exceptions have two social science passages (and lack humanities in three, science in one, law in one).
• LSAC's own subject labels break the pattern at almost the same rate: 72 of the 76 sections where every passage carries one of their labels (94.7%). A section without one of each is real, if rare, not a labelling mistake.
• What fills each position, across the 96 sections (the share of first, second, third and fourth passages in each subject): humanities tends to open and rarely closes (34%, 31%, 18%, 14%); science and social science lean late (science 21%, 16%, 34%, 28%; social science 22%, 27%, 26%, 30%); law is spread evenly (23%, 26%, 22%, 28%).

Counted on my own reading of every passage (October 2026), each distinct passage once however often it was re-released.