In the PodCast’s 45th episode, Jon and Dave tackle one of the most common concerns students face: how to increase speed in the Logic Games section. This initial discussion focuses on proper study and review habits, outlining the fundamentals of pacing and how to improve it as well as timing advice to ensure you’re moving as fast as possible by test day. There are also some updates on the coronavirus’ impact on upcoming administrations, and news about LSAC’s likely plans going forward. … [Read more...]
LSAT Podcast Episode 37: The November 2019 LSAT Logic Games Section
With a last look at the November 2019 LSAT, Dave and Jon review the latest Logic Games section, analyzing the four games and their questions. Listen in as they provide advice on how to best approach each game and its setup, and give thoughts on the section as a whole and how it affected the test’s scoring scale. … [Read more...]
LSAT Podcast Episode 30: Are Logic Games Disappearing from the LSAT?
Episode 30 brings breaking news about the future of the LSAT’s most notorious feature, Logic Games! Specifically, Dave and Jon decrypt a just-published press release co-signed by LSAC that raises speculation (to put it mildly) that within the next four years the test will no longer contain a Logic Games section. They cover possible interpretations of the article’s wording, potential confirmation of the change from an inside source, and content that could theoretically replace Games if they are in fact removed. … [Read more...]
Killer LG: The Hardest LSAT Logic Games of All Time
Why Review the Hardest Games? The Logic Games section is inevitable. For many, it’s the toughest section of the test. If Logic Games are generally difficult, why then would we choose to write about the hardest games ever to appear? The short answer is that there are tremendous benefits to be gained by reviewing these games. If you understand how to recognize them and deal with them, you’ll perform better in this section. In our In Person, Live Online, and Advanced Logic Games courses, we devote lesson segments to discussing killer games. In the Advanced Course in particular, we dedicate a … [Read more...]
What’s the Most You’ve Ever Lost on a Coin Toss? Tracking 50/50 Elements in Logic Games
For some students, the mere thought of a logic game is as terrifying as the anthropomorphic creeping death presented by Anton Chigurh in the Coen Brothers’ classic film, No Country For Old Men. Javier Bardem brings Cormac McCarthy’s world-class literary villain to life. In my mind, the best scene of the whole movie involves a coin toss.Despite how it can sometimes feel, a logic game is never quite as scary as that particular coin toss. The LSAT is of course a massively important element in achieving your law school dreams. But, even the most nightmarish logic game is not literally life or … [Read more...]
Logic Games Frequency of Appearance 2007-2018
Anyone preparing for the LSAT is well aware of the unique difficulty presented by the Logic Games section, but what is occasionally overlooked is the fact that certain concepts are far more critical to success than others! That is, specific game types and ideas routinely appear and regularly serve as the basis for the entire section, while other outlier notions are tested so infrequently that they deserve far less attention.In order to help you best prioritize your studies, what follows is a classification count* for all 136 released logic games from June 2007 through the June 2018 LSAT, … [Read more...]
A Comprehensive List of Rarely Tested Logic Games (Outliers and Oddballs)
A tutoring student of mine prepping for June asked me recently if I could put together a list of Circular, Mapping, and Pattern games that have appeared over the years, hoping to ensure that if the next test continues recent trends of LG weirdness he'll be ready.So while it's always a reasonably safe bet that you won't see any games like the ones noted below, savvy test takers are ready for any eventuality. To that end you'd be wise to review a few games from each of the categories here, particularly those from any tests in the 2000s or later.Here's the list:Circular: • PT 1, June … [Read more...]
Last Minute Logic Games Tips
Today's Forum Post of the Day stems from a student still struggling with Logic Games about a week away from the test. While we certainly recommend a more thorough conceptual understanding of the Logic Games section as a whole, Senior Instructor Nikki Siclunov helps this student by providing some rapid-fire last minute tips in order to get the most out of the Logic Games section on test day. Here's a quick preview. Make sure to check out the full thread to read the entire explanation Nikki provided to this student:The Forum posts selected for this series are chosen because they have … [Read more...]
Certainty vs Uncertainty in Logic Games
We focus a tremendous amount of time and attention in our courses and books emphasizing the importance of inference making in Games: determining the truths of the relationships between variable sets. In making inferences, what we’re really focused on is establishing notions of what I’ll refer to here as positive and negative certainty. That is, determining what must occur in an absolute (consistent) sense, and what cannot occur in an absolute sense. So we focus on establishing truths like “X must be selected 4th,” or “X cannot be in Group 3,” and we concern ourselves less with uncertainties … [Read more...]
How to Approach a Nested Conditionals Statement
If you come across a Nested Conditional statement, you cannot completely ignore it unless, of course, you don't care about that one extra point. Oh, and by the way, you just came across a Nested Conditional statement. See how easy that was? In today's LSAT Forum Post of the Day, LSAT expert Nikki Siclunov offers some tips to a student on handling such complex conditionals.Here's a quick preview. But be sure to check out the full thread to read the entire explanation our team provided:The Forum posts selected for this series are chosen because they have a universal quality to … [Read more...]
Logic Game Types and Frequency of Appearance
When you prepare for the Logic Games section of the LSAT, you should be aware of the game types that appear most frequently on the exam. In our LSAT preparation courses and Logic Games publications we delineate the advanced and comprehensive game classification system used by PowerScore to attack the Logic Games section of the LSAT*. Below, we use some of the most basic classification levels of that system to provide an informative analysis of the game types that have appeared on all released LSATs since June 1991 (a total of 260 games). Basic Game Types and Frequency of … [Read more...]
How to Recognize Limited Solution Set Games
In last night's Live Online LSAT class, I asked my (awesome!) group for some input about what they would like to see in my post today. The strongest response I got was to write about how to know when to diagram, as part of your initial setup, the limited solutions possible in a logic game with a highly restrictive rule set. Diagramming the limited solutions at the start of a game can empower you, enabling you to dominate the game with increased speed and accuracy. But only if the possible solutions are, in fact, atypically limited. Knowing when this investment in time is appropriate is the … [Read more...]
Assumption Question: Supporter and Defender
Have you ever wondered why Defender Assumptions are often connected to stimuli that have no obvious errors? Well, one of our students was wondering just that, and decided to ask us about it in our LSAT Forum. PowerScore instructor Clay Cooper first weighed in with an excellent explanation of how Defenders work, and then LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible author Dave Killoran followed up with a discussion of whether you should know if you will be seeing a Defender or Supporter answer choice just based on reading the stimulus. If you've ever struggled with Assumption questions (and who hasn't?), then … [Read more...]
Grouping Games, Conditional Linkage, and the Double-Not Arrow
A commonly-tested occurrence in Grouping Games (and even occasionally in Logical Reasoning) is a set of conditional rules that can be linked to one another through shared variables, forming chains and producing a series of inferences. The ability to create and manipulate these linkages is critical, as is the ability to avoid mistakes! In this LSAT Forum Post of the Day, PowerScore VP of Development Jon Denning walks a student through the process of creating conditional chains, recognizing when inferences are and are not possible, and applying a handy PowerScore tool: the Double-Not … [Read more...]