Problems with Grouping Games

[abajaj]

Hi all,

At this rate, I've definitely done over a million grouping games from anywhere and everywhere, and no matter what I do or try, I can't seem to get it in 8 minutes and 45 seconds. I've been able to get the others either right at 8 minutes or down to around 6 minutes a game, but I just take SO long in grouping games. Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to speed these up? I typically read the description, write out the rules, make any inferences I can make, and on occasion, draw out a couple templates, but that's usually not too helpful especially when it's all just conditionals.

ANY HELP at all would be great.

[Jason Crandall]

Hey abajaj (forgive me for being unable to decode your username into likely first name or initials),

It sounds like you are doing the right steps, although it's possible that you could spend less time on inferences. My rule of thumb for inferences is that I keep looking until they stop coming quickly. If 20 or more seconds have passed since my last inference, I move onto the questions.

Also, when presented with conditional rules, you should always do the following steps:

• 1) Write all rules with extra space between each one.

• 2) Write my contrapositives, no matter how easy the rule is.

• 3) Scan all resulting necessary conditions to see if any of them infer further conditions.

Here's an example of this process:

1) Write the rules (strikethrough indicates not selected):

K P

K T

2) Add the contrapositives:

K P
P K
K T
T K

3) Look at the necessary conditions: P, K, T and K. Both K and K have inferences of their own and could be used to link the rules (only do one or the other):

P K T

or

T K P

Systematically applying these steps in this order can help you more quickly assess conditional rules while avoiding redundancy.

A final note of encouragement: You're very unlikely to encounter more than two grouping games per test section. If you are able to complete the other game types in eight minutes or less, you are likely to have at least nine and a half minutes per grouping game on test day.

I hope these tips help you reach your target time. Please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

Jason Crandall

[abajaj]

Thank you so much! That definitely helps!