With the new year comes new habits, and create these new habits around how you will approach and attack the LSAT. This week, spend a few hours each day reviewing logic games. This section can seem daunting to some, but in reality it is the easiest to master if you just can get a little faster at them and master the rules. Through some trial and error, here is what I found to be the most efficient way to complete a logic game. Two overarching ideas to keep in mind: (1) stay organized and (2) write legibly. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to decode your own handwriting and thoughts while already facing something as mind-consuming as a logic game. First, read the question and then diagram on the right side of the page where the individual questions are. This will save you precious time from scanning back and forth. Make sure you label the diagram you create for each question as well, helping you stay organized, and ensuring they are not too large or complex. The biggest tip to remember though is to simply memorize the rules. The LSAT questions, minus a few outliers, follow a set fact-pattern and rule that has been established already. Spot these rules, memorize these rules, and know them like the back of your hand. Keeping all of this in mind you can make the logic games your best section in no time.
Posts about LSAT logic puzzles:
LSAT Analytical Reasoning: The Brainteasers Inherent in the System
Logic puzzles. You probably ran across them back in elementary or middle school—those weird brainteasers that asked you to do things like sort out which five kids lived in which five houses and liked which five fruits and that sort of thing. And you’d get clues—like “Alice lives next to the boy on Maple street”. Or “the girl who likes pears has never met anyone who prefers citrus fruits” (some great examples are in this video by The LSAT Trainer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7mUPexyLZE) Games like these have a way of generating enthusiasm or dismay, and while some people can happily spend hours on them, others tend to shred the paper in cognitively contorted frustration. So what on earth are such puzzles doing on a law exam? And how can you navigate your way through them?