In this and the next post on LSAT basics, I’ll address the logic games section. Unlike the logical reasoning and reading comprehension sections, logic games are foreign to almost everybody. Once you overcome the initial discomfort with the games, you may find that they become your favorite section.
This week, I’ll focus on understanding the setups and rules of the games and creating a base picture that we can use to answer the questions. Next week, I’ll discuss the major question types and how to attack them.
[Learn how to win at LSAT logic games.]
The goal of the process we are about to outline is to create a simple, easily manipulable schematic diagram that visually represents as much of the information you are given as possible. This “base picture” will be the guide to answering the questions.
Identify the Game Type
The first step in creating your base picture is to identify the type of game. Ask yourself: What am I being asked to do? Becoming familiar with the common game types and asking yourself that question will enable you to identify the game type and proceed to the next step. We focus on the following five game types:
— Ordering: putting characters into a one-dimensional order.
— In-out: assigning characters to one of two groups, often an “in” group and an “out” group
— Single assignment: assigning characters to exactly one of three or more groups
— Multiple assignment: assigning characters to one or more groups or characteristics
— Grid: assigning a character to dependent characteristics
[Identify three types of logic games.]
These five games do not represent every game type that you could encounter on the LSAT, but they are by far the most common.
Create a Skeleton
Once you have identified the type of game you are dealing with, the next step is to figure out how to visually organize the information based on the game type. We call this organizational structure a skeleton. Each game type has its own skeleton:
— Ordering: a set of underscores onto which you can put each character
— In-out: a T-chart, with one side “in” and the other side “out”
— Single assignment: a modified T-chart with as many groups as necessary
— Multiple assignment: a grid with the characters on one axis, the groups or characteristics on the other axis, and check marks or X’s inside the grid
— Grid: a type of chart with the dependent characteristics on the two axes and the characters inside the grid
Understand the Rules
After drawing the skeleton, you can now proceed to fill in the skeleton with the information you gather from the rules. There are too many types of rules to go through how to represent each of them in this post, but here are five general principles to guide you as you practice diagramming.
[Know how your LSAT score can affect your applications.]
1. Address the rules by level of difficulty, starting with the easiest rule. The easiest rules will limit the possibilities of the more difficult rules, making them easier to understand and symbolize.
2. Never use the same symbol to mean two different things. If you’re using a horizontal arrow to represent an if-then statement, then make sure you don’t use a horizontal arrow to mean anything else. The games are complicated enough without creating further confusion for yourself.
3. Search for the interactions among the component parts of the game. This interaction can be between rules or between a rule and the overall setup of the game. Simply listing the rules and treating them as independent will force you to make deductions over and over again instead of just once at the beginning.
4. Identify characters about which you know nothing. This information will be useful in answering certain question types and in making educated guesses if necessary.
5. Identify characters or rules that have a large effect on the rest of the game. When you are answering the questions, look to these characters or rules to help guide you to additional deductions.
Have other questions about preparing for the LSAT? Send me an email.
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Understand the Setup, Rules for Logic Games on the LSAT originally appeared on usnews.com
