Quick Tip: Score Preview
A recent feature of the LSAT is universal score preview. Previously offered only to those who were first-time takers, all students now are able to preview (and cancel) their score upon receiving. This option is not free; if ordered prior to taking the test, it costs $45, while ordering it after you take the test (but before score release) is $75.
This is an option to be aware of. If the test didn’t go well, you now have the option to functionally expunge the score from your record. If nothing else, this gives a bit of comfort for test takers who worry about a bad score showing up, allowing more confidence during the test. This is a game changer for most students, and should make test takers more willing to “roll the dice” and sit for a test they feel a little less prepared for; a bad score can be removed right away.
Discussion: The Value of Old Logic Games
A question I frequently get from students is the following: “X game from PT 1-16 is really weird. I’ve heard this type of game doesn’t come up any longer. Is it worth doing?”
My answer is always an emphatic one: “Yes!” The fact that these games are so rare makes them, paradoxically, even more valuable. Here’s why.
Much of the training students do for LG is about repetition; we do games that have patterns and recursive inferences on the theory that there are only so many types of grouping and sequencing games. This is the wisdom of “foolproofing,” where you do a game so many times that it becomes second nature. Then, the inferences start to come through in similar games.
But foolproofing is far less effective for those dreaded “miscellaneous” games. The reason is that they don’t really follow the same schema of sequencing/grouping games and thus don’t have as many clear patterns. Many students fall into trouble trying to impose a sequencing/grouping set-up on those games.
Instead, the secret for miscellaneous games is to be flexible and not panic. Often, the games are very visual, requiring a picture to be drawn. But flexibility is a skill in and of itself, and it’s not something that most games teach. So, the result is that you want to do as many “weird” and “different” games as you can—not because those games will repeat (they won’t) but because the mere act of doing something different builds a skill that you likely haven’t practiced otherwise.
So my advice: foolproof the entirety of PTs 1-35. 16-35 are the Core Curriculum games that aren’t too weird, while 1-16 have some weird ones. If you master these 35 PTs, you’ll be a whiz at 140 different games that cover most of what the test writers can throw at you.