Why copy the game board for each question?

brennan

It seems JY recommends copying the game board for questions that give you new premises

Like: if a question says "if M is in lane 4, what might be true?" then you would make a mini game board and put M in 4, then add whatever deductions you can from M being in 4.

To me it seems much faster and less cluttered to write the permanent rules, board, and deduction in highlighter, and the temporary ones in pencil. Then after each question, you can just scrub the entire board area with your eraser, instantly deleting all the work that is local to one question.

Of course, the con is that you don't save information about previous questions, chiefly examples of hypotheticals that "could be true". My gut feeling though is that this is only useful on about 10% of games, and the speed/clarity gains from not having to recopy the board over and over outweigh the loss of that benefit.

Anyone else have a perspective on this, or a preference one way or the other?

dennisgerrard

If you can picture on your mind , it will save time.

LSATShinobi

Don't sleep on having hypotheticals saved from previous questions. It helps on definitely more than just 10% of the games and sometimes with the REALLY tough games it's a breath of fresh air when I see a local question with a conditional that I can apply to a previous hypothetical and eliminate incorrect answer choices or even better, pick the correct answer choice.

Alex

@LSATShinobi said:
Don't sleep on having hypotheticals saved from previous questions. It helps on definitely more than just 10% of the games and sometimes with the REALLY tough games it's a breath of fresh air when I see a local question with a conditional that I can apply to a previous hypothetical and eliminate incorrect answer choices or even better, pick the correct answer choice.

Yeah, it's good to keep your boards. There's a good chance they may help with future questions. Also, if you realize you've made an error, it's good to have the board(s).

Bevs ScooterMinion

For me using a highlighter and erasing is more time-consuming than writing out a new game board each time, if I haven't written several game boards up front.

I've done both, and writing out a new game board for each question, as is necessary, or the several boards at the start, is far quicker for me than worrying about erasing some of my master board, even with a highlighter.

Also, as @"Alex Divine" mentions, if you realize you've made an error in your master board, you can fix it going forward. And fix past questions too, if you have time.

BinghamtonDave

For sequencing/grouping/in and out games I actually draw out 5 blank game boards upfront. I do this for 2 reasons:
1.some of the questions will inevitably ask for a world to be set up: I can readily do this.
2.When I make a valid world I circle it and add a symbol. Doing so aids me in the possible rule substitution question and it also aids me in questions that indicate what piece must be a in a certain location. Essentially, having valid worlds in front of me can aid in several ways.

As an aside, I'm left handed, but can readily write right handed. I used to solve games with my pencil in my left hand and a highlighter in my right, the highlighter highlighting specific rules or inferences and then I would count them to ensure my world was valid. Ultimately, this type of juggling didn't create as many benefits as I wanted. Find what works for you my friend. Games are a work in progress that really no two people do exactly the same.

Another weird thing that I do is I write out our list of piece 4 times. An example would be:

ABCDE
ABCDE
....etc

The top row I never touch. The rows below it I will scribble out what I have put on my game board VS. what is left, this affords me an instant check to see what is available. This has helped me in many many situations: especially with questions that ask what must be used on in and out games.

hope this helps

-David

Sarah889

You also don't have to fully copy the game board. I usually just draw the slots and only number the slot under the specified variable and the last slot. So, for your "M in lane four" example, it would look like this:

_ _ _ M _ _ _ _
............4............8

(Clearly, ignore the dots. They're just there to place the slot numbers for this thread.)

This takes seconds at best...It certainly shouldn't take longer than erasing a potentially useful game board would. JY does something similar to this in some of his LG videos. He juxtaposes what he writes on his exam while taking it timed versus what he writes out for the purposes of clarity while teaching.