Setup and Rule Diagrams

[Administrator]

Setup and Rule Diagram Explanation

This is a Grouping game.

This setup is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[MGardner]

Can you please explain the set up and inference for this game? I was able to set it and make a few inferences, but struggled with most of the questions. Thank you in advance!

[Adam Tyson]

Here's how I handled it, MGardner:

FJLMPQS7


F M+P

J Q

Q P; P Q (this "most dangerous conditional rule on the LSAT" means that EVERY solution to this game must have AT LEAST one of P or Q and could perhaps have both)

L J OR S (no need to include any notation for the possibility of both, because that is already implied in the use of "or" on the LSAT)

L+S M

Additional inferences include that if J is in, P must also be in (J in knocks Q out, which forces P in), and that if L and S are both in, F must be out (because they knock M out, and F requires M).

The other inferences I make are about the smallest and largest possible groups, something you should always think about in any grouping game of this sort (one group of indeterminate size, aka an "In/Out" game). This game can be solved with just one variable, and that would have to be either P or else Q because of the second rule. The largest group I can come up with is 5, and there are a few ways to do that, such as FMPLJ in and QS out.

That's all I did, and off I went into the questions! I hope that helps!

[ashpine17]

Is the experimental logic games section for this particular exam easier than the real?

[leejihyesarah]

The hint about the possibility of P and Q both existing was a mind blowing revelation. I missed every question in the games because I misunderstood the ~Q > P; ~P > Q rule and the second time around, I got all of it right. Thank you! I need to read the rule more closely...

[Robert Carroll]

leejihyesarah,

Yes, a rule like that allows both to be in! It's very different from the second rule.

Robert Carroll

[Adam Tyson]

To answer ashpine's earlier question about the ease of the two sections, I personally found the two sections to be comparable in difficulty, although the experimental section did feel more like some older games. That may have made it feel to some students like it was more familiar and thus easier, just because the games fell into more recognizable patterns. But for a student who was coming at this test without that extensive background of taking older practice tests or had not otherwise studied the games from those older tests, I think they would not sense a big difference in the overall challenge.