Need help with LG

maxcol95

Hi guys, I'm looking for some advice, I think I'm doing quite well in general with getting the answers right but during my PTs I usually end up with 5-8 unanswered questions on the LG because I just didn't even have the time to look at them. If any of you went through the same thing and found a way to solve it please leave me your tips or strategies.

Thanks:)

Kitty McMaster-1

I used to have the same problem. One thing you need to do is to speed up the first couple of games. If you have 3 minutes left for the last game, you might as well just not do it because you only have time to finish setting up game boards, and time is up. If you can do the easy games in a short time and leave more time for the last game/challenging game, you should be good!!
good luck!

LSAT Lizard

One tip to keep in mind is that you should always be trying to get through LG really fast. Even if you are doing an untimed practice set, you need to be rushing. Otherwise, you risk practicing strategies that work in untimed conditions (always get the correct answers), but are terrible strategies on a real test (just too slow).

For example, resorting to brute force too often. With unlimited time, there's nothing to prevent you from brute forcing every single question. You'll write out pages and pages of boards, and absolutely get every single question correct. But you'd never have time to use that strategy on a real test!

Another common accurate-but-slow strategy that you don't want to practice is giving yourself too much time to double check things. Double checking your setup and answer choices is great for accuracy, so it can become a dangerous crutch- you can't waste time double checking things on the real thing. You want to be able to set up your game and then confidently rely on it for the rest of the questions. It feels very uncomfortable to be so confident when there's always the possibility that you missed something, but you don't have time to look! You just need to hope that you got your setup right the first time. With practice, you essentially always will.

If you see an AC and think 'yep that's definitely a valid answer,' do you find yourself still looking at the rest of the ACs? That's another way that lacking confidence in your previous decisions slows you down! If you see an answer that you think is right, pick it and move on immediately.

You don't have time to check for mistakes. If you move too cautiously out of fear of paying for mistakes, you are guaranteeing that you will be punished later (have only a couple minutes for the last game). Better take a chance of punishment (you really do make a mistake, and fail to notice because you are moving quickly with confidence) than to take a guarantee of punishment.

Matt Sorr

Great advice already given. I mostly agree with @"Kitty McMaster-1" , but I’ll add a couple of points I’ve found useful. Kitty is absolutely right that you should work on getting through the easy games quickly. That means for one, two, and three star games, you should be able to do them at or under the target time. It sounds like accuracy isn’t an issue for you, which is good, but to gain speed you’ve just got do a bunch of reps of the easier games. There’s really no substitute for repetition. To go through the easier games super quickly, they have to become second nature. Doing a bunch of reps will help you learn the kinds of questions asked, the pressure points you’ve got to pay attention to, and they’ll give you just an overall better “feel” for the games and their setups.

The only point I slightly disagree with is the need to always get through the first two games super quickly. That relies on the assumption that the first two games are the easiest. While the first game is generally an easier game, I’ve done a bunch of game sets with hard game twos. I’ve even done a few with hard first games. What I’m trying to get at is if you come across a first or second game that seems super difficult, don’t freak out. It’s possible they placed one of the easier games at three. As @lsat lizard said, you should always go as quickly as possible, but don’t feel like a fool if one of the first couple games is unusually difficult. The test makers probably place hard games up front sometimes to try to make you freak out.

So, all in all, great advice here. I don’t mean to detract from kitty or anyone else, I just wanted to add some nuance I’ve found helpful!

Kitty McMaster-1

I agree, Matt!