Setup and Rule Diagrams

[Dave Killoran]

Setup and Rule Diagram Explanation

This is a Grouping: Defined-Fixed, Unbalanced: Overloaded game.

This is a Profile Charting game, a variation on a Grouping game that we discuss in our LSAT courses. From a Grouping standpoint the game is Defined-Fixed, Unbalanced: Overloaded. The selection pool is subdivided.

The game initially sets up as eight candidates for four spaces:

PT35-Oct2001_LGE-G1_srd1.png

However, the eight candidates each have two characteristics. The simplest way to handle all of the information is to create a chart that profiles each candidate:

PT35-Oct2001_LGE-G1_srd2.png

The first two rules specify the composition of the group that must be selected:

PT35-Oct2001_LGE-G1_srd3.png

The third rule establishes that either P or L, or both are selected. This produces the setup that most students have as their final setup.

PT35-Oct2001_LGE-G1_srd4.png

While the above setup is accurate, it is incomplete. In Profile Charting games, the most critical step is to examine the profile chart to determine which candidates have identical characteristics. The search for identical pairs must be done because often these identical pairs have natural “opposite” pairs within the game, and consequently powerful hypotheticals can be created. This game contains several such hypotheticals.

From the profile chart, we can determine that J, K, and L are identical, each with the characteristics ER. M, P, and T are also identical, each with the characteristics IG. Thus, the two groups are perfect opposites, and as long as the rule regarding “either P or L or both are selected” is considered, we can quickly make hypotheticals from the two groups:

PT35-Oct2001_LGE-G1_srd5.png

The hypotheticals above solve, or can be used to help solve, question #1 and question #4. The hypotheticals also have the additional benefit of instilling confidence since they contain so much information about the game.

It is also notable that the two remaining variables, F and N, are perfect opposites, and, because they are unique in the game, if one appears then the other must appear. Both question #3 and question #5 hinge on this inference.

Because F and N are opposites, the remaining two variables that are selected with F and N must also have opposite characteristics. Hence, one variable from the group J, K and L must be selected, and one variable from the group M, P, and T must be selected:

PT35-Oct2001_LGE-G1_srd6.png

Of course, the P/L rule must still be obeyed.

There are a few simple lessons taught by this game:

1. You must be able to recognize the game type you are facing. Students who recognized
this game as a Profile Charting game had a distinct advantage over students who did not
recognize the game.

2. When attacking a Profile Charting game you must examine the chart for variables that
are identical and variables that are perfect opposites. Use the results of this search to
construct hypotheticals.

3. Use the hypotheticals to attack the questions. When you do so, the game becomes
incredibly easy.

[bella243]

Hi there,

Could someone please share a basic but best way to tackle this game? Under timed conditions, I wasn't sure how to best approach the game since the rules are somewhat unusual. So I skipped this under timed conditions. But when I did this untimed, I broke down the variables into experienced and inexperienced, and then wrote geologist or radio next to the variable. This then made answering the questions a bit easier. But I still felt that this approach was not robust enough.

[CodeyD29]

Hello, If someone could please provide the set up details for this problem I would greatly appreciate it, I am lost. Thank you!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Bella and Codey,

This game is an unusual game type, so it's not surprising it was tricky to set up for you. It's a profile charting game, where we are trying to track the characteristics and attributes of different variables.

To begin with, we start with the same basic structure of any game---a list of variables and the structure of the diagram.

Here that's fjklmnpt8

And we have a group of 4, made up of 2 experienced, 2 inexperienced, 2 geologists, and 2 radiobiologists.


2e/2i
2g/2r

Now, we need to be able to track which variables have which attributes. Here's where the chart comes in handy. We build a chart to show us the attributes in an easy to glance at form.

Var. e/i g/r
f e g
j e r
k e r
l e r
m i g
n i r
p i g
t i g

What do we notice about that chart? Well, several of the variables have the same profile. j/k/l are all the same (e and r) and m/p/t are all the same (i and g). It's probably time to start some hypotheticals to see how this plays out.

Wait, first, we want to get that last rule on the diagram.

p/l

2e/2i
2g/2r

There we go.

Let's start the hypotheticals. The first thing I want to try is to look at combinations of my two big similar blocks of variables---the jkl and the mpt blocks.

If I start with the j and l, I could add any combination of m/p/t
If I start with the k and l, I could add any combination of m/p/t
If I start with j and k, I need to have p. So I could have p, with either m/t.

That's almost all of the options. Except, what about those strange outliers---f and n? What would happen if I put those in?

If I select f, I have an e, and a g. I need another e, and I can take any of j/k/l. For this, I'm going to select l.

That gives me f (e and g) and l (e and r). I'll need two of i, but I'll need one r and one g still. The only way I have an i with r is to pick n. Then I can pick m/p/t to finish it off.

So if I pick f, I have to pick n. Otherwise, you can't have the right combinations of profiles. So the final possible hypothetical would be

f and n, j/k/l and m/p/t (making sure to select one of l/p)

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[CodeyD29]

That was a very challenging game to handle. Thank you so much for your explanation, it did help indeed.

[Adam354]

After creating a profile, it did seem very helpful to create a template with one of the irregular variables, N or F, resulting in the inference that N must be with F. That would be sufficient to finish the game in a timely fashion.

Another strategy that could work when there are 4 total variables, which I saw explained elsewhere, is to make two rows of experienced and inexperienced, then just draw boxes around the ones that are geologists and leave the radiologists unboxed. This provides a very fast and clear picture that could save the minute of time spent to create the NF template.

Still, for the sake of not trying to memorize too many different setups, the simple profile and template the power variables seemed to work well.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

There are different ways to set up the game here, Adam, but the profile charting method is really the most clear way to visualize that so many of the variables have the same profile, and to quickly and efficiently identify the unusual profiles present as in here. When trying hypothetical scenarios, I almost always look to those unusual profiles to test the limits of the game.

The idea with the chart is that it can work for multiple profile types with multiple numbers of attributes. The box system works okay here, but it would be less clear in scenarios with three attributes to profile. Having a consistent method for approaching the different games makes it easier on test day to know what to do and how to do it without spending time considering multiple options.

Hope that helps!

[German.Steel]

Any other specific PTs with games similar to this one? This kind of game gives me a headache, and I need to practice it.

[Adam Tyson]

These are pretty rare! We do have this blog article that helps explain them:

https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/help/pr ... 20criteria.

This game is, I believe, the only one of its kind in the current LSAT era (which dates back to June 1991). There were some back in the 1980s, when the test was a little different. I have to wonder if this sort of thing might come back again as part of the revised Analytical Reasoning section, whenever that gets implemented, but for now we just don't have much to work with.