Not Laws

[lakasil]

Hello,
I just ordered the LGB from Powerscore and have began studying for the LSAT for the second time. My first score of taking the LSAT was pretty low and this time I'm trying to least score a 150 or above. It seems that when I'm looking through the material I'm understanding it by bits and pieces . I have been reading everything carefully and attempting to do the practice drills. When it comes to Not Laws, I kind of get confused when the games have more than 3 variables for i.g. when the book talks about YZ and how Z cant be first because y Comes before Z, I understand that but when more variables are involved I start mixing it up and not actually knowing how or where to place the variables under the numbers. How do I know which numbers should have not laws under them? especially since I'm on page 166. I have gotten that far and still feel as though I'm not retaining the not laws as much from first being introduced to them and with not laws I'm not being able to diagram very well. Any suggestions? I WOULD APPREICIATE THE HELP! my goal is to hopefully do the best I can on the Logic Games by the December 2016 LSAT. Is it possible? ( I have LGB 2016 edition)

[David Boyle]

Hello,
I just ordered the LGB from Powerscore and have began studying for the LSAT for the second time. My first score of taking the LSAT was pretty low and this time I'm trying to least score a 150 or above. It seems that when I'm looking through the material I'm understanding it by bits and pieces . I have been reading everything carefully and attempting to do the practice drills. When it comes to Not Laws, I kind of get confused when the games have more than 3 variables for i.g. when the book talks about YZ and how Z cant be first because y Comes before Z, I understand that but when more variables are involved I start mixing it up and not actually knowing how or where to place the variables under the numbers. How do I know which numbers should have not laws under them? especially since I'm on page 166. I have gotten that far and still feel as though I'm not retaining the not laws as much from first being introduced to them and with not laws I'm not being able to diagram very well. Any suggestions? I WOULD APPREICIATE THE HELP! my goal is to hopefully do the best I can on the Logic Games by the December 2016 LSAT. Is it possible? ( I have LGB 2016 edition)

Hello lakasil,

This may just take practice, though don't worry about getting every single Not Law if there are dozens of them. Sometimes you don't need to diagram every single Not Law to do well on a game.
You have the basic idea, that if there's a "y before z" relationship, then z can't be first, and y can't be last. Other, multi-variable Not Laws are just variations on that theme, even it takes you a while to figure it out for each different game or problem. (E.g, if there's a "y---g---z" relationship, then g and z can't be in first place, z can't be in second place, y and g can't be in last place, and y can't be in second-last place.)
Again, even if you can't find every possible Not Law, all the other elements in games, such as blocks, conditionals, etc., may help you get plenty of the questions right. But for Not Laws, keep drilling until it becomes more second-nature and comfortable, and that should likely help. If you put in a lot of work, you may be able to do well on the December 2016 test.

Hope this helps,
David

[lakasil]

Thanks so much! I believe this should help. I have two more additional questions also.

1. Are there any printable practices for not laws besides the LGB and besides the workbook?

2. When it comes to Restrictions and using split block (i.g. ST being places in slots 1-4 or 2-5 ) how are the slots determined and how do you know which number to put ST above?

[Adam Tyson]

There are many PowerScore books that include both linear and grouping games in which you might encounter not-laws, including all of our course books, the LG Bible, the workbooks, and many more. Anywhere that you find games, you will find opportunities to apply not-laws, along with many other diagramming tools such as blocks, conditional diagrams, templates, and more. Don't get too hung up on one tool - you are trying to fill your toolbox with many tools, and learn to choose the best tool for a particular job when you are faced with it.

I don't entirely understand your second question, but if you have a linear setup with 7 things happening in order, your diagram should have 7 slots, or spaces, or dashes, or whatever you might like to call them, and they should be clearly numbered 1 through 7 (or M-T-W-Th-F if it's about days of the week, or J-F-M-A-M for months, etc. - it's all based on what variable set you choose for your base). Then, when you get a rule that says, for example, that S is either 1st or 4th, you can put an S/ on the 1st space and /S on the 4th space. There should be no question about which space is 1st - it's the one all the way to the left, with the number 1 under it.

Determining which variable set makes up the base is usually pretty clear, especially in a linear game - it's the variable set with the more natural, inherent order (the order, the days, the months, the time slots, etc.) When it is less clear, you may need to try some alternatives. Also, look at the answer to the list question, if there is one - that may clue you in as to how the authors thought about the game, and that should guide you towards setting it up their way.

To expand on what David said, if you have a rule that sets up a linear order of Y - G - Z, you know that Z cannot go first or second because it must have at least two variables before it (Y and G), and could have more. You know that G cannot go first or last because it must have at least one (Y) before it and at least one (Z) after it. Y must have at least two after it (G and Z) so it cannot go last or next-to-last.

I hope that helps!

[lakasil]

Thanks so much for the explanation. Slowly but surely, I'm starting to grasp the material. I do have another question. For the Linear Setup Practice Drill Answer Key on Pg. 102 of the LBG, Question # 4 talks about the variables of TVWXYZ. I was wondering how do you know exactly that T/V should go above slot 2?

[Adam Tyson]

Read on just a little further on that page, and you'll find an explanation for that inference about T/V. Basically, there is a TV block, per the last rule of the game. You cannot put T or V 4th, because X is there. You cannot put TV at 5-6, because then there would be no room to put T before W. The only remaining choices are either T first and V second or else T second and V third. Therefore, either V is second or else T is - nothing else could go there. If something did - let's say Y, a random variable - then there would be nowhere in the diagram to place the TV block without violating some other rule (like the T-W rule).

When in doubt, try it out! Play with that block, in combination with the other rules, and see what you come up with. You would eventually make that same inference on your own. Give it a try!

[lakasil]

Hello Adam,
Thanks for the response so when I tried on my own to come up with a few things choices I came up with what you said you to see how it works which was : slot 1- T slot 2-V slot 3-W Slot 4-X Slot 5- Y Slot 6- Z OR
S1-Y S2- T S3-V S4-X S5-W S6-Z is that what you mean by playing around with the blocks? From my understanding of the Logic games so far its important to follow the rules that are given and applying them when placing the variables in the slots .

[Adam Tyson]

That's exactly what I mean! Within the confines of the rules there is always some room for manipulation and variation, so experiment with those variations to see what you can learn. New inferences are found that way.

[lakasil]

Awesome! that made me feel even more confident I attacking those types of problems. On Page 105 of the LGB, I was wondering for the Linear Setup Drill Answer key the problem discussed A college Dormitory Using the Variabes of P,Q,R,S, and T. And I know that you have to set it up as vertical for the problem, But I am confused a little because how do you know automatically where to put the "xxxx" besides slot 4 for that problem? and could it be possible to actually do that problem horizontally??

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi lakasil,

Great question. If you look closely, floor 4 isn't listed; we have floors 1-3 plus 5 and 6. So you could just leave it out, but when things are numbered, our brains tend to assume no number is missing. Additionally, if you just leave it out, it will seem like 3 is right below 5, but it isn't; floor 4 is in between, even though we aren't using it here. Putting xxx on floor 4 but including it reminds you of two things: first, there is no floor 4 in this game; second, 3 and 5 are not right next to each other.

It is possible to do this game horizontally, but it is not advisable. Basically, you want to make it so you have to keep track of as few things as possible when doing a game. To facilitate that, you want to use the natural choice that best represents the scenario; if you have floors in a building, you want to arrange the slots just like floors in a building would be arranged, because that allows you to pay less attention to that aspect during the game (since it is visually represented).