Logic Games, Need for Speed!!!

Nice_home

I came to post this question and noticed that someone just posted a very similar question a few minutes ago. That said, I feel my question is sufficiently (y'all see that LSAT language creeping in) different to still go ahead and post it up.

For background, I have never completed an LG section under timed conditions.

I wonder, for those of you who have overcome the same dilemma, do you have any tips that seemed to bridge the gap between Finishing and Not Finishing the LG section. I often get through only 11-12 questions, so needless to say my score is a disaster.

I write this partially because I had the same issue with RC and LR sections until very, very recently. What helped me was to realize there is almost no possibility to take the foot off the gas on this test, and instead to just go all out flooring it at blazing speed (probably 2-3x beyond my max "comprehensible" reading speed). Which actually gave me a lot of confidence and seems to have helped my score at least in the short term. My analogy is like getting on a fast-moving highway: there's no room at all to slow down.

For LG I can't use the same approach, because there is literally no way to go faster without first at least trying to figure out what's going on. Put differently, in LG the questions are more "symbolic" in nature, vs just purely dense linguistically. So like without being able to formulate and organize the symbols properly, there's no way to speed up. Meanwhile, I find myself taking too long to diagram, too long to analyze each question, and often, just getting totally lost in there. The analogy is, I need to get onto the highway, but halfway up the on-ramp, I realize one tire is totally flat.... Meanwhile there is a car speeding by!!! (I guess that would be the car that y'all are in!!!) So my confidence is pretty deflated on this front. But I am trying to keep it positive!!! Especially since the January LSAT is the last possible test for this application cycle for my target school. And I cannot get the necessary (LSAT language again) score while leaving half the LG section with pure guesses. Please help if you find it in your heart to do so!!!!!!!!! God bless!!!!!!!!!!

kkole444

Hello @verewill
If I were you I would stop taking PTs if that is possible. From reading that you only get through 11- 12 questions, that means the fundamentals are just not there YET. I would go back to the CC and redo the LG lessons and keep track of all the games that give you difficulty and re work them until you know them backwards as well as forwards. Are you having trouble setting up the games? Or going through the questions? For me it was setting up the game and rules that took the most time and that was because I did not have a proper knowledge of the conditional indicators group 1sufficient, group 2 necessary, group 3 negate sufficient, group 4 negate necessary and on top of that I did not know when rules triggered versus when they did not once I knew those and fluid with them then my score started to really increase, and I was also able to complete all the games with sufficient time for each game. I am not sure your goals for score but you can improve it just takes dedication and time. If don't know already start learning the 4 groups of conditionals and when rules trigger versus when they don't this will also help with LR.
Trigger sufficient rule triggers
Trigger necessary rule falls away.
Negate sufficient rule falls away
Negate the necessary rule triggers in the contrapositive form.
From there I would get the simple games down and be good at them. pure sequencing, conditional sequencing, 'one sequencing' ect and move up in difficulty and to different types of games.
For LR I would take a lot of time breaking down each question knowing premise, conclusion and why the correct answers are correct and why they wrong ones are wrong. With out specifics it is hard to give you advice on LR and RC.
With the increase in reading speed normally that comes at a cost of accuracy. Also if you have to take the exam in January, then for LR do the first 10ish questions, then jump to the end and work backwards. Normally the most difficult are in the teens. And for RC do a quick scan and see which topics you like most and read those first.
I hope some of this helps, and good luck on the LSAT. (:

naomi.richardson6778

Hey! The thing that most helped with me was looking at the rules and keeping them into account for each question. So if you have a could be true or must be true - odds are the answer is going to be one of the options with a solid rule - not a floater.

So lets say, A and E both have conditions and C doesnt (AKA C is a floater) when you look at the question and it says what could be or must be the 3rd position, I find the LSAT makers wouldnt make it easy and have the answer be C. Most of the time its going to be answer A or E. So try filtering those out. Saves time! Also - if the answer has one option come up multiple times, so A in postion 1, A in position 3 etc. Chances are, the answer is probably something to do with A, now you just have to figure out if spot 1 or 3 makes more sense.

I hope this helps and if you are confused at all please feel free to comment back or message! Good luck!

parkdan7070

Honestly the LG is the most improvable once you start fool proofing each type of games. What helped me get section to 0-2 missed is start fool proofing the types of games like grouping for one night and then in & out the next day and repeat until you're sick of the game haha

justinlam

I've been there. Foolproofing is important, at least for grasping the foundations. If you're barely finishing half the section in the allotted time, it probably means you're not well-versed enough with the basic setups and inferences. If you could elaborate on how exactly your time is being distributed during each game I could give you better advice.

Personally I like to keep a mild pace going through the rules and board setup, because if you mess up just one rule it could lead to multiple false inferences and cost you multiple questions. I also used to avoid splitting into sub-game boards because I didn't want to spend so much time up front, but I realized the hard way that not splitting "splittable" games leaves a lot of room for error and makes me less certain about my answers (too much mental visualization and reliance on short-term memory). There are still many, many games that are rule-driven, but learning to spot the difference is key. If there aren't that many possible worlds, the rules interact with each other a lot, and there are enough questions in the game to justify splitting, then try your best to split. This got me from the -7 to -9 range (sometimes even more), to the -0 to -5 range.

Also, if you're splitting where possible and making inferences up front but still spending too much time on the questions (particularly the ones where no immediate answer is clear), I'd suggest taking the path of least resistance. This means first eliminating answer choices that directly conflict with your rules / board(s), then glancing over the remaining answer choices and only trying the ones that give you red flags. If you can mentally visualize an answer choice to work out OK with the rules, you should probably come back to it later. It's a bit difficult to explain, but typically the correct answer choice won't involve a floater – it will usually involve a game piece that triggers a lot of "stuff" to happen.

Lastly, only brute force if you've exhausted the options above. And if you're spending like 2-3+ minutes on one question (excluding game board setup), it'll probably cost you. If you're stuck for a few seconds, TAKE STOCK of which game pieces you have left. If you're STILL stuck, just move on.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what to do moving forward. Work on fundamentals (fluency brings speed naturally), take it easy when setting up the game, split and make inferences up front when possible to make it easy on your brain, and work on your test-taking skills (path of least resistance).

Nice_home

Wow, thank you so much for all the thoughtful replies. This community is really supportive. I could only wish I didn't find it only a few days before my retake! (And can only hope that I don't need another retake after that, which possibly means waiting for another application cycle!)

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To follow up on a few of the comments given, I think the "flat tire" I am encountering equates to basically being completely stumped on questions with no recourse. I can literally just be frozen by a question and have no idea where to go with it. So no matter how fast I want to go, there's no possible way, because I just have no idea what the next step would be. Figuring out the next steps takes precious minutes. This would be the most common/biggest challenge for me in the Logic Games.

Secondarily, in many games, my diagram comes out exactly the same as JY's. However, the application of the diagram may take quite a while.

Especially, I may take a while to understand what angle the question is coming from.

Additionally, I may miss a key (like very last) inference that actually unlocks the whole game.

Lastly, just diagramming alone can take up quite a bit of time for me, like 5 to 8+ minutes.

So these are some of the common issues.

What helped me most recently was going deep for several hours into PT 77 LG 3. Through that I put together a framework that hopefully will allow me never to get completely stuck with a "flat tire." Then it's more of a battle of accelerating the other processes.

For those who are able to finish all the games on a given section, do you feel like you are at or beyond your "top speed?" Like are you pushing the petal to the metal? Or do you get to a point where you are solving them within time while you are still just in cruise control?