Accidentally misreading a rule on LG

Comments

• 1 Like

  BenjaminSaka Member

  January 2021 214 karma

  This happens to me too and it's heartbreaking when I realize that I've misread a rule and already mapped out a whole gameboard based on an incorrect reading, or I forget a rule and miss essential inferences due to forgetting that rule.

  I think that a good rule is that if the game seems extremely difficult—brute forcing a lot of questions—you've either missed an inference, missed a rule, or misread a rule. Games shouldn't be difficult.

  I'm still trying to figure out how to avoid misreading more often, so I unfortunately can't give you any better advice right now.
• adrianaisabel Member

  January 2021 56 karma

  Yeah, I second that ^. If I notice I'm not easily seeing the answers for more than like two questions, I go back to the rules and re-read or redraw the diagram. Foolproofing also helps a lot - eventually the questions start to look so similar that it just cuts down on the little things that will trip you up (unless it's a misc game in which case diagrams are not that useful anyways lol)
• emmorens Core Member

  January 2021 1470 karma

  I have tended to make these mistakes as well. I think the best advice for all of us comes from what JY says; there is a reason he always tells us to spend time upfront understanding the rules.

  It's easier said than done when the clock is ticking, but what I have found helpful is to watch the videos of students performing an LG while JY makes comments about how they are performing.

  What I like to see in these videos is how much time they spend upfront thinking about how the rules interconnect etc. I guess the point is - the more time you spend up front, the less frantic you are to write down rules and get to the questions - I feel it would leave more room to catch any errors as well!
• 1 Like

  tmac1293 Member

  January 2021 51 karma

  Thank you guys for the answers. It's a difficult trade off -- wanting to be as fast as possible but also very careful so as not to make mistakes when reading the rules. I agree it's worth spending a little extra time upfront before hitting the questions.

  Because I keep making this mistake, I think it may be worth taking the extra 15 seconds per game to double check that you read the rules correctly. Altogether this would take a minute or less for the four games combined. I think this is very much a time well spent given the potential waste of time from misreading a rule.
• 1 Like

  Auntie2020 Member

  January 2021 552 karma

  I try to double check! Especially when the game isn't making sense to me I will try to double check the rules and that also helps to bring out some inferences.
• 1 Like

  TimeIsMoney Member

  January 2021 495 karma

  Be thankful this just happened on a practice test. In the July Flex, I did my entire 1st section with a wrong rule and it was a simple ordering set. I was consistently getting around 20/23 on my LG and never had that problem. Sure it hurt my score significantly. My advice is details over speed. The goal is to get as many right as possible, not get through as many questions.
• 1 Like

  Ru_mp1639 Member

  January 2021 56 karma

  I like your motto!> @TimeIsMoney said:

  Be thankful this just happened on a practice test. In the July Flex, I did my entire 1st section with a wrong rule and it was a simple ordering set. I was consistently getting around 20/23 on my LG and never had that problem. Sure it hurt my score significantly. My advice is details over speed. The goal is to get as many right as possible, not get through as many questions.
• Martianman Core Member

  January 2021 211 karma

  I will echo @Auntie2020 - I was having this same issue. Now after I transcribe the rules, I take about 10-20 seconds (I think, maybe 30 idk) to DOUBLE CHECK the rules. It doesn't take that long, and it is much faster than working with an incorrect rule.
• yazzie711 Core Member

  January 2021 19 karma

  I've made the same mistake several times. Now I highlight the rules as I go through them and write them down on my paper to make sure I don't miss any and on that first question where it asks for a sequence that could be correct - I also double check that I have all the rules right. That way it doesn't take any extra time.
• noonawoon Alum Member ⭐

  January 2021 3481 karma

  "I know the obvious answer is to slow down, but I feel the need to move fast since I am very slow when it comes to LG. I usually never get to the fourth game in time."

  I would actually recommend spending a lot of time drilling LG individual games and 4-game sections outside of PTs then, because it seems like this is where the problem is! If you're not as familiar with games and haven't spent as much time drilling them, it can take a little longer to make the inferences and set up the game board. When you get to a point where you're very comfortable with the games, you shouldn't be skipping entire games due to time constraints. At most you should be skipping/guessing on a couple of the trickier questions per section