Identifying In/Out games under time pressure

Danny

Taking in October. Doing great on games, and really love In/Out games. But one of my biggest concerns for test day is that I won't recognize an I/O Game as an I/O Game right away. I say this because there are a number of past games that JY runs as I/O Games (genius), but that others don't run as I/O Games because the cues aren't that obvious. When we're practicing, we usually know it's an I/O game because it's in a bundle or part of a quiz. But once or twice on prep tests, I've hit a game and only a few minutes in did I realize it was an I/O game.

This is a very long way of asking if there is a lesson that I missed, or if anyone has some good cheats, for a foolproof way to spot an I/O Game instantly.

J.Y. Ping

There are only 2 groups. All items must go into one or else the other and not both of the groups. That's an I/O game.

Danny

Thanks. I'm thinking in particular about Dinos, which I know was a bit of an aberration. But it "reads" more naturally as an overfunded grouping game, or whatever the name of that categorization is that the mainstream companies use. 7 items for 5 spots. You've shown how much easier it is as an I/O, but if you have a second, can you go back and re-read the setup through the eyes of someone who hasn't seen it before, and share what would tip you off that it was an I/O?

kraft.phillip

7 items for 5 spots sounds like an obvious in-out game. unless you can double up the things in the spots, 2 must be out. I'd say that often "overfunded" grouping games basically come down to in-out.

There is a key difference between fixed and unfixed in out games, though. While some games dictate how many items are in (fixed), still others do not. This seems like it could be more confusing because there is less to restrict the variables, but both really play the same as in out games. The former just has some additional possible rules/inferences the LSAT can expect you to understand/infer.

Also, PowerScore calls some games "two-value" games, which can, in my understanding, be treated the exact same as in-out games. Those are the games in which there are only two groups and nothing is "out." One example I've recently done is PT41 Game 3, the one about a board of directors whose members "serve on exactly one of two committees." Try that game out if you haven't yet-lots of in-out games I've done have been disguised in that same way. Also, check out PT 40 LG (S2 G3), "Zephyr Airlines." It's an in-out game that's disguised in the most thorough way I've seen yet.

J.Y. Ping

@kraft.phillip Thanks for the clarification.