The Logic Games section of the LSAT is typically the section that students start off as the least prepared for, but it has the greatest potential for improvement. Students, after studying, often see the Logic Games section becoming their highest score because once you become familiar with each type of game, you can tackle any that appear on the LSAT. Here are five tips to keep in mind:

1. Practice, review, learn, repeat

What makes studying for this section unique is that games benefit greatly from repeat attempts. If you do a game, and it goes badly, watch the explanation and try it again in a week. We recommend a week because the second attempt should be an application of new skills rather than rote memorization of the steps. And even if you do well on a game, make sure to watch the entire explanation video, as there may be some key deductions that you missed.

2. Make sure you have seen everything

Make sure you know every game type, every rule type, and every question type. Recognizing each different type of game, rule, and question and knowing what to do in each different situation is crucial to speed up the reasoning process and ensure that you finish the games section on time.

3. Recognize similarities

Games are also unique among the section types, because unlike LR and RC, every game you do prepares you for future games. Recognizing similarities between the different types of games and strengthening common skills and patterns of deduction will help you acclimate to the more difficult or unusual games.

4. Stay organized

Staying organized is incredibly crucial to succeeding the games section. You do not get scratch paper on the LSAT, and you only have the space underneath the questions to diagram. Write a base diagram, and DO NOT TOUCH IT. Make other diagrams for the each question. Make sure you can tell which diagram is valid when doing different renditions.

5. Learn short term trends

Games that are close to each other in time tend to have the same kinds of challenges, as the writers of the test tend to exhaust the same challenge in a set period of time before making a new one. Currently one of the challenges that is present in most recent LSAT tests is the “Rule Replacement” question. So if you are taking an upcoming LSAT, it would fruitful to review the most recent disclosed LSAT games sections.

Speaking of the most recently disclosed tests, the September 2018 LSAT was just released on Saturday, and we have put together a FREE series of video explanations for every game on the test. Click the links below to watch Justin walk you through every Logic Games question from the September 2018 LSAT.

Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4

Good luck students!

Posted: 10-2-2018