logic games and dyslexia

[Hithere17]

Hello,

To begin, I have found your course, generally, to be very helpful.

Thank you.

Through no fault of your material, I find myself hitting wall after all with the logic games. I've come to believe that many of these problems lie with my dyslexia. With this in mind, I am hoping that aside from encouragement, you might be able to offer suggestions as to how to crack these logic games with dyslexia in mind. Is there extra material you could suggest? Do you have a way of teaching these games and addressing the challenges that come with Dyslexia?
And yes, I do practice a lot.
I do take your online course.
I do have a tutor.
The good news is the I am determined to crack this code.
The bad news - the LSAT date is very soon.

I have invested a tremendous amount of time into preparing for this test. I don't want to see my logic game score ruin my chances of getting into a good school.

With this in mind, I hope you can draw from your experience as teachers and shine some light this way.

Thank you.

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Hithere,

Thanks for the information. I've worked with dyslexic students a number of times in the past, and the first thing I always recommend is looking into accommodations with LSAC. This is typically something you set up well in advance, but if you have documentation, the allowances are often double-time in the section, which goes quite a long way towards levelling the playing field for you. Here are some useful links:

• LSAC Policy on Accommodations for Test Takers with Disabilities
  
  LSAT Accommodations, Part 1: An Overview of the Accommodations Granted
  
  LSAT Accommodations, Part 2: Applying for Accommodated Testing
  
  Documentation Requirements

As you've found so far, dyslexia tends to have the biggest impact in the Logic games section, because of all the variables used in the games. Extra time is critical because it allows you to slow down and confirm the variables you are working with. In the absence of that, you need to fall back on the tools you've developed over time to keep things straight. That might mean writing down the variables in play for each question, or writing them down and circling the ones being used, or whatever you've found over the years that helps you the most.

So, the question here is: what have you tried thus far, and is there any mental tracking tool or trick you have used in the past that could be helpful? There isn't a certain way to teach these that's different, mainly because the movement of variables and solutions is consistent regardless of how you approach the games, but perhaps we can come up with a system for you that helps make things clearer.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

[Hithere17]

Hi,

Thank you so much for the quick response.

I do have the accommodations. Time and a half, a larger test format, non scranton answer sheet and scratch paper. I don't have breaks in between sections.

To answer your question: I'm not sure what works and what doesn't because the game becomes muddled after my initial set-up. It's like I have trouble seeing how to change the set-up once NEW rules are applied. I think that must be a dyslexia thing. I am able to make initial basic inferences, figure out contrapositives, figure out not laws..

As a side note, my reading comp scores are very high and my LR scores are not terrible. I'm adding this info in so you know that there are not serious cognitive issues at play.

Since you have experience with dyslexics, would you be at all open to teaching me for one hour. Perhaps you will be able to see exactly where I go wrong and how to fix this. I realize that one hour is not a lot but have a feeling that you will be able to help a lot.

Thank you again.

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Hithere,

Ok, this is good to know, and that was smart of you to already go through the accommodations process

The key thing you said was, "To answer your question: I'm not sure what works and what doesn't because the game becomes muddled after my initial set-up. It's like I have trouble seeing how to change the set-up once NEW rules are applied." This is actually a universal problem, and something that everyone struggles with to some extent. But if you don't know what works, that's the starting point for you. Here are two popular ways to handle new information in a question:

• * Rewrite the entire setup for each question and include the new rule. This is time-consuming, but you have the advantage of extra time, and this is one way it can be used. The benefit is that it reinforces the variables and re-establishes them each time. This makes them easier to track.
  
  * Rewrite just the variables for every question, using a marking system as each is placed or affected. Less time-consuming than the prior method but sometimes less effective depending on the person.

Of course, there are also methods of approaching the questions that can be helpful. One is doing all of the Global questions first, so you can focus just on the initial game information. Or, alternately, doing all the Local (new information) questions first, and then the Global questions (so you have the maximum number of hypotheticals to use to solve the questions). The problem with this is that it introduces new information into the system right away, which is less than beneficial usually. So, I usually have students try the former approach first.

The key is that in this battle you are your own biggest advocate! You know more about where you are running into problems as well as your sticking points in individual games. Keep testing those and seek the methods that seem most helpful. In other words, find those methods that work by testing different approaches! That's your primary goal right now with LG.

In response to your question, I really don't tutor any more as I prefer to help students in a public forum, as that way I can hopefully help as many as possible at once for free. Plus, tutoring is not something where one hour makes much of a difference Any good tutor will tell you that more time is needed for the tutor to get to know your individual strengths and weaknesses. The good news is that I'm not the only tutor here who has worked with dyslexics in the past, and if you'd like me to talk to our Tutoring Manager about setting you up with a specific tutor who could help, just let me know!

Thanks!