Game Type Training Book

[EsquireGirl]

Hi! I have a few questions.

When answering the "5Ifs", if you get A as an answer, should you keep going? Especially since they are so time consuming?

Can you explain in Game #8 how question 4B is correct?

Can you explain in Game #9 how questions 5-8 are solved?

Thanks a bunch!

[Stephanie Oswalt]

Hi EsquireGirl!

Thanks for your post, and welcome to the forum! An instructor will respond to your first question below!

However, to answer your remaining questions, we will need a little more information. The Game Type Training publication has multiple games #8 and #9, so we'll need to know which chapter you are referring to.

Also, at the beginning of each chapter, it lists which PrepTest those Games are originally from (For example: Chapter 1, Game #8 is from June 1995, Questions 1-6). If you go to that PrepTest in our LG subforum lsat/viewforum.php?f=5, you'll see that some of these questions have already been explained or students have asked questions there, and this may help you out quite a bit!

Let us know if that make sense, or if you still have questions! Thanks!

[EsquireGirl]

Thanks! I'm going to go look there first. They're probably already answered.

[Adam Tyson]

Hi there Esquire! I'll share with you my rule of thumb for answering questions not only in Logic Games, but in all sections of the test, and that's this:

Read every answer choice, every time, UNLESS you can meet three criteria:

1) You are 100% confident that you understood the game/passage/LR stimulus (and in the case of a game, that your diagram is perfect)
2) You are 100% confident that you understood the question perfectly
3) You are short on time and need to hustle along to get one or two more questions answered

If you are less than 100% confident in your understanding, or if you are doing fine with your pace and have the time to spare, don't take the shortcut, but be careful and thorough. Move only as fast as your most accurate pace!

It can be very tempting to take shortcuts on this test, and to stop reading answer choices as soon as you find one that looks like a winner. Sometimes you will prephrase an answer and one choice is a perfect match, and in that case it makes sense to just pick it and move on. We see this in games all the time, especially in local questions that ask what must be true, such as "if V is 5th, which of the following must be true?" If you do a quick mini diagram and determine right away that Y must be 3rd and that S must be 8th, and you see that S must be 8th is one of the answer choices while no answer choice mentions Y, by all means just select that answer about S and get moving.

Most of the time, though, it's worth the extra time and effort to at least give all 5 answers a fair shake. Sort them into losers and contenders, knocking out anything you know to be wrong based on the rules and on any solutions you have already worked through, and then test your remaining contenders. If you have only one contender, pick it and move along, but if you have more than one, give them a try just to be sure you aren't falling for a trap or making a mistake in your diagram. Answer A might look perfect, but what if B also looks perfect? Then you know you messed something up, and it gives you a chance to fix the problem before you compound it by answering more questions based on what might be a flawed diagram. That's a real gift - don't throw it away!

Now, that said, those dastardly "5 If" questions can be very time consuming and draining. If you are struggling for time, and they are taking you too long, don't be afraid to pick the first answer that you like, or just to guess, and mark that question to return to later if time allows. Better to lose that battle and win the war than it is to spend precious minutes fighting for one right answer that would be better spent on two or three others.

Good luck, and be careful out there!

[EsquireGirl]

Thanks Adam!