Logic Game Speed & The Availability of Practice Tests

[agrisafi]

Hi All,

May I ask your advice about how to speed up my average Logic Game time?

Started studying 3 weeks ago; registered to take the test in September. Took 8 practice tests the first week: highest timed score 163; highest untimed score 173. Worked through Kaplan & PowerScore books the second week. Taken 8 practice tests so far this week: highest untimed score 180; highest timed score 166.

Recently I have been finishing short reading sections in less than 34 minutes and performing well (0-4 wrong between both sections). I have been finishing the long reading sections in less than 38 minutes and performing well (0-2 wrong in the section).

Unfortunately, although I perform well (0-2 wrong in the section) and I finish some logic game subsections in as little as 6 minutes, the time it takes me to complete these sections is *highly* variable: from 25 to 45 minutes for the section; some individual subsections/games have taken me as long as 15 minutes.

While I think that 35 more timed practice tests will be sufficient for top performance on short and long reading sections, I worry that I will still struggle to see the "trick" fast enough on one or two of the logic games on test day if this is how I prepare.

On the other hand, I worry that if I redo either the Kaplan or PowerScore Logic Games materials, I will have too distinct a memory of the specific logic game examples in those books, and I will render the associated practice tests less useful.

A few specific questions:

1) Are there any books or other materials with logic games similar to those on the LSAT but not taken from any of the official LSAT practice tests?

2) Is this something private tutoring might help with?

3) In general, how should I weigh the desires for useful practice tests and more LSAT logic game prep?

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, Agrisafi,

It sounds like you have a solid grasp of a lot of the concepts tested on the LSAT and are applying them correctly and consistently. Good job.

With respect to the Analytical Reasoning section, there are a couple overarching pointers I can offer:

1) Are you previewing your games to rank them? One time killer occurs when the third game drains a ton of time, leaving you frustrated and anxious to get to the last game, perhaps with insufficient time to complete it accurately and confidently. At a minimum, make sure that you save the hardest game for last. The hardest game is the game that you anticipate will be the most challenging and time consuming for you.

2) Just chugging through dozens of LSAT game sections will not necessarily significantly improve your performance. You will likely become more proficient at games to a certain extent, but to excel at Analytical Reasoning, you need to approach both the set up and the questions strategically. That is, you will need to devote the correct amount of time to different phases of the process depending on the criteria of the given game. For instance, more restrictive games with more global questions benefit from a lot of pre-work. With respect to the questions, you will need to develop your skill identifying the kind of correct answer to anticipate for any given problem. You will need to develop your ability to know when you have done the correct amount of work to find the answer for any given question.

3) Certainly, tutoring can help, especially if you are able to identify the specific areas in which you need the most improvement and allow the tutor to develop a targeted approach to teaching those concepts and recommending effective practice material for you.

I would be remiss not to flag some of our existing material, for instance this excellent article about Logic Games strategy:

https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/help/lg_strategy.cfm

In addition, our LSAT guru Jon Denning just launched a video series breaking down solutions to individual games using the PowerScore approach. You can read more about this series here and also find more helpful information on our LSAT blog:

http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/announc ... deo-series

I hope this helps!