Freezing during new games

runiggyrun

Hi all,
I guess I'm looking for some encouragement, but I'll gladly take advice too
I've gone through the LG curriculum on Sage, and proofed ~70 games (mostly the ones in the curriculum and problem sets plus some extras from the first 35 PT's). I can do the games I proofed and new "normal" games with very good speed and accuracy. I've now started going through the rest of the games sections in PT's 1-35, by section, and while I do OK on games similar to what I have done before, I freeze badly on games that have an unexpected twist. It's like my mind goes into panic mode and everything just jumbles in my head. I usually end up -4/5 for the section because the freeze up and subsequent brute forcing causes me to run over time. The thing is, once I'm finished, before looking up anything, I go back and redo the whole section, timed, and get -0/-1 with time to spare. It's like a veil lifts from my brain when I look at the game a second time, and the setup and inferences become clear. Anyone else feel like this, and do you think it's curable with practice? Any tips on achieving the "clarity" at first sight?

Nathanial

@runiggyrun You're definitely not alone in that department. I normally have been scoring 0 to -1 in my logic games for a while but in the 70s have come across a couple of games that have thrown me off. Definitely when you see it the second time you realize that the setup was so easy. Here's what i did: PT 72 game 4 i came in to the game with 12.5 min on hand and was thinking I'm gonna own this. When i read the setup i got totally confused. Panic and chaos came in and then for the next 5 min i was banging my head. I took a deep breath and started to read every line very carefully to see what the setup was gonna be and from there i was able to go ahead and finish the game in time. The only mistake i made that I caught on BR was the M can only goto J inference. I initially didn't do it but then the questions made you realize that inference.
Just remember:
1) Lsac is trying to be clever with wording to distract you so you panic and then freeze. If you have done all the games this course teaches, there is almost no game that can surprise us.
2) If you have trouble seeing whats important in the game, look at the questions and see what they are focusing on and that could help with your setup as well.
Hope this helps.

UsernameChange

@Nathanial said:
PT 72 game 4 i came in to the game with 12.5 min on hand and was thinking I'm gonna own this. When i read the setup i got totally confused.

Yes!lol This game was probably the most unusual game I have faced on the LSAT to date. Not necessarily hardest but definitely threw me for a loop. Also game 3 in PT 76 I feel is a great indication of the direction I feel the LSAT has taken with games. The game seems like a typical hybrid sequencing game at first but then it just confused the crap out of me. My only advice is to research the hardest/most unusual games and do them with unlimited time to see exactly how to complete them and not worry about the time aspect at first. Also if a game causes you to freeze up, skip it and go to the next game. I'd hate to miss an easy linear game 4 because game 3 was strange and confusing. One last tip that I have found helps me immensely: if a game seems very unusual, look over the first question to see if it helps you figure out what base to use.