Introduction to Logic Games & Sequencing Games

Introduction to Logic Games Video

Please note that the modern Logic Games are spread across two pages and so you havea lot more room. However, it's still a good idea to write small and make good use of the space you are given.

Additionally, starting with the September 2019 administration, the LSAT will be fully digital. You will have plenty of scratch paper to do your game boards on.

Categorizing Logic Games

MEET THE LOGIC GAMES.

Logic Games test your ability to read very carefully and draw inferences. They are hard because they are unfamiliar to you. Don’t worry. Everyone improves on Logic Games. By a lot.

There are a couple of other reasons that Logic Games are hard. They are all superficial difficulties that you can train to overcome.

Every Logic Game begins by flooding you with a torrent of information. It’s a mess. You have to sort through the chaos and establish order. Only then can you understand each piece of information in precise detail. As we’ve realized in our Lawgic lessons, English isn’t a great language for expressing ideas in logic. Logic Games is nearly a pure exercise in logic. As such, we should strive to translate the information given to us in messy, cumbersome English into a clean, visual language. In the coming lessons, you will learn just such a language. We will also be using a good deal of Lawgic as well.

A visual language will help you make inferences more accurately and faster. That’s the whole point of Logic Games – to make inferences. You want to make as many inferences as possible and as quickly as you can. Think of it as a search for buried treasure. That’s what the inferences are – buried treasure. If you find it, you win.

Oddly enough, the word “Game” doesn’t appear anywhere in the LSAT. We call the Analytical Reasoning section of this test the “Logic Games” section in an appeal to a metaphor. It’s really like a game in three respects.

The game board The game pieces The game rules

For every game, you’ll have to determine how to draw the game board on which you place the game pieces. The information for this is often contained in the beginning paragraph. Once this decision is made, you read on to the game rules. These rules determine the interaction and relationship between the game pieces and the game board (and between the game pieces themselves). They tell you which pieces can go where and what consequences are triggered when certain pieces are placed in certain spots on the game board.

Unlike the Logical Reasoning section, there are about 2 or 3 types of Logic Games, depending on how you want to draw boundaries.

First, there’s the type of game where your job is to put things in order. Call these sequencing games. You have to line up your items, e.g., people, sign posts, concerts, etc. Socrates is older than Aristotle, who is younger than Plato.

Second, there’s the type of game where your job is to group things. Call these grouping games. You have to figure out which items can be grouped together with which other items. Mencius can go to the zoo with Confucius or Laozi, but not Xunzi.

You see the difference between the two? The third type of game makes you sequence and group items at the same time.

To do well in this section, you have to do many, many games many, many times and then do some more. Seeing the different game boards appear repeatedly and forcing yourself to move through the inferences is the only way that you will memorize the patterns.

Lastly, and admittedly kind of weird, you have to learn to write small, write neat, and write fast. There isn’t very much space on the Games section so you have to make do with what you have. Also, no erasing. You don’t have the time and it’s messy.

A Diminishing Number of Possible Worlds Video

Introduction to Sequencing Games 1

Introduction to Sequencing Games 2

Introduction to Sequencing Games 3

Simple Sequencing Game 1 - Game Board Setup

Simple Sequencing Game 1 - Questions

Simple Sequencing Game 1 - Live Commentary Video 11m

Simple Sequencing Game 2 - Game Board Setup Video 14m

Simple Sequencing Game 2 - Questions Video 12m

How to Quickly React to Logic Games Question Stems Flashcards Flashcards 5m

You shouldn't be spending a lot of time deciphering the question stems for Logic Games. They are standard. You should know them. Here are the 4 most common question stems and what properties their correct and incorrect answers have.

1. Must be true / CANNOT be false This type of question asks you to select the answer choice that must be true. In other words, the correct answer choice CANNOT be false. The four incorrect answers all could be false.

2. Must be false / CANNOT be true This type of question asks you to select the answer choice that must be false. In other words, the correct answer choice CANNOT be true. The four incorrect answers all could be true.

3. Could be true This type of question asks you to select the answer choice that could be true. The four incorrect answers all must be false or CANNOT be true.

4. Could be false This type of question asks you to select the answer choice that could be false. The four incorrect answers all must be true or CANNOT be false.

The flashcards below will prompt you with a Logic Game question stem. Your task is to figure out the logical property of the four incorrect answer choices.

Hint: switch "must" with "could" and "true" with "false".

Spatial Sequencing Game 1 - Game Board Setup Video 10m

Spatial Sequencing Game 1 - Questions Video 16m

Spatial Sequencing Game 2 - Game Board Setup Video 9m

Spatial Sequencing Game 2 - Questions Video 9m

Fool Proof Guide to Perfection on Logic Games Video PDF 5m

As a supplement to the video, here's how one exemplary student adopted the Fool Proof Method:

For LG, I attempt one game at a time with a loose time constraint (8-12 mins), check answers, and watch video explanation right after. Memorize the inferences, then do that game over and over under strict time constraints (5-8 mins). One game at a time really helped me focus on game-specific inferences and identify weak games. After doing this a few times, your initial loose time constraint will get shorter and shorter. Then I recommend moving on to whole sections at a time under 35 min constraint. Do as many as you can. I did 18-29 PT sections on two days and the cram improved my skills immensely. I score avg. -3 on PTs.