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...]

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...]

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...]

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...]

The test makers are notoriously clever when it comes to the interplay of variable sets in Logic Games, particularly with how they word the rules and restrictions governing distributions. So how can you prepare yourself for this challenge, and what methods can be used to "test" the limits of variable interactions? Today's LSAT Forum Post of the Day addresses both of these concerns, as PowerScore Developer Jon Denning explores exactly what to do when faced with complex language and the uncertainty it creates.Here's a quick preview. Make sure to check out the full thread to read the entire … [Read more...]

I was reading my colleague Dave's recent blog post on Global and Local question strategies in Logic Games, and it got me thinking about recent conversations I've had with students on similar topics, primarily with respect to efficient inference making and question attack. So I'm going to supplement his insights with a few of my own.We focus a tremendous amount of time and attention in our courses and books emphasizing the fundamental importance of making correct inferences in Games: determining the various truths of the relationships between variable sets. In making inferences, what we’re … [Read more...]

A while back, I received an interesting question from a student: “Hi, I have your Logic Games Bible and have a question. Another book recommends answering local “if” questions first then doing what you call global questions. I don't believe the Bible makes any recommendations about which questions to answer first. Do you have a question ordering strategy or you simply recommend answering them in the order they appear on the test?” Strategies such as the one referenced above (which I will call the Local First strategy), and others (such as a Global First strategy) are initially appealing … [Read more...]

(To learn more about guessing on the Logical Reasoning section, check out Part II of this blog series. For guessing on the Reading Comprehension section, read Part III. )Since there is no penalty for guessing on the LSAT, it goes without saying that you shouldn't leave any bubbles blank. Precisely how you guess, however, depends on a number of factors: Are you a strong test-taker? Can you at least narrow down your possible choices? Which questions do you need to guess on?Let's break it down:1. Do you need to resort to blind guessing?According to our Guessing Strategy and … [Read more...]