It’s rare in this world to find something that everyone can agree upon. In the hours after the December 2016 LSAT, however, we found something that fits the bill: the Logic Game about companies trading buildings was all kinds of f***ed up. Well, last week, as happens every year this time, the exam was released. And, of course, we got our grubby little hands on it immediately to take a gander at this oddity. To be sure, this game was weird.
There have been some weird logic games lately. For a very long time, from the late 1990s until a few years ago, it seemed as if logic games had standardized. The vast majority of logic games asked you to put things in order, in groups, or both. The exact kind of ordering or grouping varied from test to test, but relatively standard games dominated.
Sure, there were hard games. Every test has one. Some games were weird. But back then, most of the weird games were recognizable as tricky variations of normal games, with many of the same kinds of rules.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve found yourself scrambling to get an assignment done the night before it is due. Among those nights of panic and regret, you’ve probably also encountered the stomach churning realization that you’re not going to be able to complete your task on time. When I’ve been in those moments of desperate clarity, I’ve promised myself time and time again that I won’t procrastinate ever again–I’ll turn over a new leaf and stay ahead of my work. And yet, I keep finding myself in the same situation over and over again.
No one likes to do more work than they really have to do. In your day-to-day life, this tendency might result in less desirable outcomes, such as performing the sniff test to determine whether you can get another use or two out of your T-shirts.
Suppose we had a cast of characters — let’s call them Frank, Garfield, Henrietta, Ipecac, Jeremiah, Kougar, Lambada and Mong. Grouping games on the LSAT might ask you to combine these characters in a few different ways. There are some important things to know about the different kinds of rules in a grouping game, and what they mean in different kinds of grouping games. Let’s run through them.
Scenarios are the dragons of the LSAT prep world: Often discussed in harsh whispers, but hard to find unless you know where to look. However, they’re also a powerful tool that can help you achieve your goal with a little strategizing (and a hint of brute force). The below guide will help you demystify scenarios faster than you can say “Daenerys Stormborn, of House Targaryen, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.”
A couple days ago, we covered how to work on Reading Comprehension as you shift from learning the basics to reviewing and working on timing. Yesterday, we took a look at Logical Reasoning. So, you guessed it, today’s all about those games.
The first step is similar: identify your weaknesses and address them. If there are any types of games that you just don’t feel comfortable with, now’s your time to go over them.
If you’re taking a Blueprint class for the June LSAT, chances are you’re wrapping up ordering games. Grouping games are coming up, but before you move on there are some things you want to have down. Like, really have down.
Last time I blogged, I gave suggestions of podcasts that would give you some general subject familiarity that might help you on reading comp. Today’s suggestions are for short fiction that will help you with logic games. If that sounds pretty unlikely, that’s because it is.
These suggestions are quite tenuously related to actual studying, but if you’re casting about for a great read, you could do worse than these short stories, chosen for a logical complexity that mimics that of the games (and for their general coolness).
As the song goes, “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.” In a perfect world, you’d be able to finish all four Logic Games in a section within the given time, but sometimes that’s just not in the cards.