Just a couple of quick questions.

[acremer]

Hi Guys,

I just have a few quick questions before I take my first LSAT in December...

1. In the logic games section, is it fair to assume that each game is intended to be more difficult than the last?

2. Have you found that the score range that you typically fall into during your practice tests is where you perform during the real thing?

Any opinions would be very appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

Alex Cremer

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Alex,

Thanks very much for the questions! For the first question, I wish they did it this way, but they do not. The games are not given in order of difficulty. that's actually true for every section—the difficulty jumps around.

Although historically the first game is usually not overly difficult (and I can't remember a situation off the top of my head where the first game was the hardest on the test). If you'd like some additional info on this general topic, here are a few articles:

For more info on score variation, I've included some links that discuss various aspect of how this all works:

• General Test Construction and Difficulty
  
  LSAT Test Composition: How and Why Difficulty Varies
  
  LSAT Logical Reasoning: Overall Section Difficulty
  
  
  Difficulty Within Logical Reasoning Sections
  
  LSAT Logical Reasoning: Question-by-Question Difficulty
  
  LSAT Logical Reasoning: Individual Question Difficulty

The last two links above are the ones that are most relevant to your question, and although they apply specifically to Logical Reasoning, the basic idea of how difficulty isn't in order applies to LG and RC as well. So, the questions aren't in order of difficulty and it does jump around. There are some basic guidelines that you can use to your advantage, however.

Second, your practice tests are generally good indicators of how you will perform on the actual test. Assuming that you use real LSAT PrepTests, and that you take your tests under timed conditions, your scores should be similar to what you would see on an actual test. There are variances, however, and it helps to understand those before you walk in to the exam. Here's some additional information on that:

• Welcome to the LSAT Casino
  
  Luck and the LSAT

Your test mentality also play a role in how you perform on the real thing, so if you want additional information on that, just let me know and I'll link you to some resources there.

Please let me know if the above helps, and if you have further questions I'm happy to help with those too. Thanks!