misinterpreting words on logic games

louise.jesse

Hey guys,

I think a lot of you will read this and think "why the hell is she posting about this" because it's not really something that has to do with actual logic game skills but,

I seem to have a persistent problem with misreading instructions in the logic games. Not the conditional instructions - those are covered by our lessons. I mean re-reading actual words the wrong way.

For example, on Preptest 44, one of the games is about 5 different archaeological sites, all of which were discovered by different people in different centuries. The options are the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries.

One of the rules says "the site discovered 3rd is from a more recent century than the sites discovered 1st or 4th."

My brain somehow managed to read this as "the site discovered 3rd is older than the sites discovered 1st or 4th."

I messed up the rule during a timed practice test and then, shockingly, I messed it up again during BLIND REVIEW. This is how bad this tendency is. I don't have any kind of reading learning disability that might lead me to swap words in my head.

I'm just kind of at my wits end because this is not the first time this has happened to me. In fact it seems to happen a lot, and I usually don't realize it until I've diagrammed everything and then I have to start over, losing precious time.

Has this happened to anyone? Can you recommend any good techniques that will help me stop doing this?

GoBirds11

I've had the same problem and haven't been able to overcome it yet either. Couple things I'm trying are to reread the rules again to confirm I wrote them down correctly before doing any setups and use the rules directly from the game on the first question to help clue me in if I wrote something down incorrectly (assuming it's the standard acceptable situation question). But I haven't successfully incorporated that into my process yet and could use some help with this issue as well.

Alex

@"louise.jesse" said:
Hey guys,

I think a lot of you will read this and think "why the hell is she posting about this" because it's not really something that has to do with actual logic game skills but,

I seem to have a persistent problem with misreading instructions in the logic games. Not the conditional instructions - those are covered by our lessons. I mean re-reading actual words the wrong way.

For example, on Preptest 44, one of the games is about 5 different archaeological sites, all of which were discovered by different people in different centuries. The options are the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries.

One of the rules says "the site discovered 3rd is from a more recent century than the sites discovered 1st or 4th."

My brain somehow managed to read this as "the site discovered 3rd is older than the sites discovered 1st or 4th."

I messed up the rule during a timed practice test and then, shockingly, I messed it up again during BLIND REVIEW. This is how bad this tendency is. I don't have any kind of reading learning disability that might lead me to swap words in my head.

I'm just kind of at my wits end because this is not the first time this has happened to me. In fact it seems to happen a lot, and I usually don't realize it until I've diagrammed everything and then I have to start over, losing precious time.

Has this happened to anyone? Can you recommend any good techniques that will help me stop doing this?

What do you think may be causing this issue?

I know I'm guilty of making similar errors, and in my experience, it's a result of bad habits like not reading carefully and rushing into diagramming without fully understanding the rules. What made it worse was I got lucky for a long time with these bad habits, and they ended up compounding. Eventually, I found myself either going -1/-2 on games or like -6/-7 depending on if I got lucky and didn't misread something.

Somethings to consider adding to your LG process:

Try to always read the rules with your pencil down. Visualize the rules and how you're going to approach the game in your head. Really take the extra time to think things through. When we rush to put pencil to paper, we often go into autopilot mode and misread/misunderstand the rules.

As you write the rules down, eliminate answers from the acceptable situation question that's often first. This will give you a second round to consider the rules and how they interact with each other.

Another important practice is to circle key words like "more recent" or "later" so you can filter out all of the noise and reduce the clutter that isn't important.

Make sure you develop good habits and techniques that you're going to consistently follow and which you will carry with you into test day. A wise LSAT tutor once told me that we should focus on the process, which we can control, rather than just the result. When we only focus on the result i.e., just trying to rush to get the game done, we often jettison our process, which we know works when executed correctly. Develop good habits/processes and these mistakes will happen far less!

I know it may sound cliché but it does't make it any less true when I say: If I can do it, anyone can do it.

goingfor99th

@"louise.jesse" said:
Hey guys,

I think a lot of you will read this and think "why the hell is she posting about this" because it's not really something that has to do with actual logic game skills but,

I seem to have a persistent problem with misreading instructions in the logic games. Not the conditional instructions - those are covered by our lessons. I mean re-reading actual words the wrong way.

For example, on Preptest 44, one of the games is about 5 different archaeological sites, all of which were discovered by different people in different centuries. The options are the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries.

One of the rules says "the site discovered 3rd is from a more recent century than the sites discovered 1st or 4th."

My brain somehow managed to read this as "the site discovered 3rd is older than the sites discovered 1st or 4th."

PT44 G3 is a tough game. There are a lot of unique things going on in this one, particularly the way the rules are worded. That's something you picked up on, so good on you. The best way to remedy this is to read slowly and deliberately when you feel confused by rules/wording.

Here's what my board looked like, for reference: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Lb3cyzET4BOpwInV2.

Ironically, this game is extremely similar to the one the comes immediately after it on the same test: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EJ4db3UDOQQfPaaa2.