Basic Linear Rule Setup Problems

[kcolclough6]

Good morning all,

I took the June 2016 LSAT and scored a 140 which was devastating. I was previously using Kaplan/took a kaplan course and decided to self study with powerscore (purchased the entire set). I am struggling right now with diagramming rules and making inferences on logic games. Any tips? I don't want to freak out but this is so important for LG.

[Adam Tyson]

In the words of The Hitchhiker's Guide, Don't Panic!

There is still plenty of time to study and practice and improve on your games performance. Take things one step at a time, and learn to use the diagramming tools we have outlined in the LG Bible. Work on just one game type for now - maybe pure sequencing would be a good start - and forget about timing. Take time to understand the rules, the relationships, and build your diagram without rushing into the questions.

The process of drawing inferences can be slow at first. You won't find many in pure sequencing games, but start by asking yourself two key questions with every one of those games: 1) What could be first in the sequence?; 2) What could be last?

From there, once you are comfortable, move on to Basic Linear games, and there you will find more inferences. Some will come quickly - a rule that says M is before P gets diagrammed as M - P, and you should fairly quickly grasp that M cannot go last and P cannot go first. Other inferences may take some work, and I often talk to my students about asking themselves "what if" questions. What if M is 5th? What if P is 3rd? Do these questions result in learning new information, such as a variable being unable to go in a certain space or two variables unable to go next to each other? Those are inferences, and you can add them to your diagram.

Take the time to go through the "what if" process and learn new things, before you go on to the questions. You may worry that you are wasting precious time, and feel an urge to move on quickly rather than spend this time playing around, but in my experience that "what if" time almost invariably pays off big time in allowing you to more than make up the time when you get to the questions and find that they are easier. With a more complete diagram you will be more confident and accurate, and you will go faster as a natural result.

Inferences won't always come easily or quickly - they are the result of work, of questions, of carefully applying multiple rules in concert with each other. You won't get every inference, nor should you try to do so, because that really will waste time. Just try a few things, see what happens when you play around with placing any variable in any space. If you are learning new things, keep going. If you aren't, after a couple of attempts with no useful results, then move on to the questions.

Please ask us more specific questions as you go through the material, and we'll be happy to help. For now, forget the timer, and treat this job the way you would treat the job of eating an elephant: one bite at a time.