Introduction to Logic Games

Hello all,

     We'll begin this blog with a very educational post - most likely a reiteration of Steven's wise teachings in your first class. Hopefully you took notes. If you didn't, maybe you'll find this useful -- at least this way you can't say "HOW COME NOBODY TOLD ME THIS?????" three days before the test when you're tweaking out in Sandy's office, pulling out your hair and facing chocolate banana bread from Chaco Canyon :) We all deal with stress differently.

     Here at the Steven Klein Company, we begin our 8-week class with a focus on logic games. Contrary to popular belief, we do not begin with the logic game section because it is the most difficult section. We begin with logic games for two main reasons: First and foremost, games can be extremely daunting to the untrained eye. We want our students to familiarize themselves with games as soon as possible to eliminate “game anxiety,” so we can eventually move on to fine tuning our students’ LSAT logical reasoning and reading comprehension skills. The second reason we begin with logic games is that it is oftentimes the most teachable section on the LSAT; games are commonly an area that offers great room for improvement. Please find a sample logic game below. I’ve highlighted the stimulus and bolded the rules for your convenience.

The host of American Idol must decide the order with which contestants will appear. Seven performance slots are available for contestants, and are numbered one through seven in the order that they will perform. Each of the seven contestants – B, C, D, F, H, J, and K – will perform during the show. Only one contestant can perform at one time. The assignment of the contestants to the slots is subject to the following restrictions:

B and D must occupy consecutive time slots.

B must be aired during an earlier time slot than K.

D must be aired during a later time slot than H.

If H does not occupy the fourth time slot, then F must occupy the fourth time slot.

K and J cannot occupy consecutively numbered time slots.

There are typically three main types of logic games: Sequence, Assignment, and Binary Games, although sometimes you will come across a game which is a hybrid of these main types. Without going too in-depth into the types of games yet, I’ve included some helpful hints for logic games below.

1.     Relax; don’t stress out. Instead of thinking of the game as an abstract intelligence test, imagine you are a character within the stimulus, and this is a real-life situation you must solve.

2.     Give yourself ample time to carefully read and digest a game’s stimulus and rules. Correctly setting up the game is half the battle. It’s not uncommon for great logic game players to split their time evenly between a game’s set-up and the actual solving of it.

3.     Use a dark-colored highlighter for the initial set-up, and then play the game with a pencil and an industrial sized eraser. You will have limited space on the page, and you will need to play the game multiple times in the same small space. Drawing the set-up with a highlighter will ensure that you don’t erase your set-up when beginning a new question. Highlighter, not a pen. Pens are not allowed on test day.

4.     Remember that logic games are just that – games – they are meant to be played. Unlike puzzles, which have only one right answer, logic games have many solutions. If the answer to a question doesn’t jump out at you right away, just plug-and-chug.


Ellie