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AutonomousBarnacles

I'd like to see what other people say on the topic. @"Cant Get Right" had really solid advice when I was struggling with LG a few months back. He might have some really solid insights.

I also know that @allison.gill.sanford talked in a webinar about the bizarre miscellaneous games giving her trouble. I would try watch it and figure out her methods for tackling the weird ones.

desire2learn

I think watching the videos for the weird games and focusing on the process of how to not get stuck but keep plowing ahead is helpful. I agree that they can be difficult in the moment but use your foundational skills as best you can. Bone up on your circle games though. There has been a lot of chatter that one may show up again on the LSAT soon.

Cant Get Right

So it's great that you're trying to figure it out on your own. That's how you get better. Keep at it. When you do watch the video though, JY addresses this beautifully, and he's exactly right. The first thing you do on this game is skip it. I don't care how good you are at LG, you've got to skip this game, lol. Once you're done with game 4, then you turn back to 3 and you put your pencil down, close your eyes, breathe, and count to 10. This is a weird ass game that no one has ever seen before. Chill out. Rely on your past experience. Even though you've never seen this game type before, you've got to let the fact that you're really good at LG hold you up. Because you are. You've mastered so many games by this point, that what's a new game really going to entail? You can figure out a new game type, no problem.

One thing you may notice about LG 77 is that the other games are actually kinda straight forward. And this is where Game 3 is won or lost. You should finish those games under time. But let's say that you don't. Let's say you get to Game 3 with exactly 8:45. Let's even take off 0:45 to allow for a little panic and recovery. So let's go to the questions with 7:00. There is nothing to setup, so I think this is realistic. Well, look at the questions. Even for a new game, the acceptable situation question is manageable. So, you start there. That you can get through. Let's say 60 seconds. 6:00. Now, look at the second question. If you approach it right and skim the answers before trying to brute force anything, this is the easiest question the LSAT has ever asked. It's like giving us a rule that states X must be in the first position, and then throwing us a question that asks, who must be in the first position. Answer with confidence and move on. So what's left really? Three questions and, let's say 5:30. Feeling any better? Even if you don't get to finish, you can answer the first two at least. So that's -1 even assuming suboptimal performance on the rest of the Games. (Really it's -0.8 if you're in to that kind of thing.) I can live with that.

But all of that relies on your ability to keep moving forward. If you freeze up, that's not how it's going to go. So the main thing is to stay cool. If you need to, take a moment. Control your breathing. Then move forward. You got this.

I think another thing to keep in mind in situations like this, is that the test accounts for it. They're not going to throw you a game that's going to be catastrophic. They can't, because it will throw the curve and they can't throw the curve. If you are strong on Games and they give you something weird, you can handle it because the test is designed for someone of your ability to handle it. They're not going to tank the curve, and you have to trust that they have constructed a reliable test. Say what you will about LSAC, but the dudes who actually create the test are highly competent and I can promise you they are not going to all of a sudden, out of nowhere screw up PT 79.

So when you see the curveball, skip it with confidence, come back to it with plenty of time, remember that you're incredible at LG, and trust in the test to create an appropriate curve. 77 G3 is super weird. I'll even grant that the last three questions are pretty tough. So what? It's 3 questions with plenty of time.

That's a situation you can manage.