Though one may assume that you happened upon this blog because you are already somewhat acquainted with that dreadful test known only as the LSAT, I'm going to cross my t's and dot my i's and give you, my loyal readers, a little introduction of each section of the LSAT.
Okay down to business. The LSAT Test is technically comprised of six sections, four of which are actually graded. Why, you may ask, would LSAC insert two ungraded sections into this already strenuous exam? Well, the short answer could possibly be because LSAC is an evil conglomerate run by carnivorous aliens with a diabolical plan to take over Earth, one LSAT-related-panic-attack at a time. The more likely answer is that the LSAT Test, even more than being an exam that tests your logic skills, is an endurance test. One of the ungraded sections is interspersed in the test to help the process of un-focusing your mind and thus, dragging your score down. But, through practice you can you hone your endurance skills. The brain is like a muscle, you've got to be patient and weight train before you can dead lift the LSAT.
So, what are these six sections? We've got two graded Logical Reasoning sections, one graded Logic Games section, one graded Reading Comprehension section, one ungraded experimental section that could be Logical Reasoning, Logic Games or Reading Comprehension, and one ungraded Writing Section.
I'd like to begin with my favorite section: Logic Games. I mean, come on people, the title of the section has the word GAME in it. How horrifying can it really be? Well for some people Logic Games really are the bane of their existence. But, hopefully, throughout the blog I can convince you otherwise. And, if you are a part of that select few who does get a bit giddy at the mention of possibly two Logic Game sections, well then, welcome my children.
Each Logic Games section has four games, each game containing anywhere from five to eight questions. As with all the other types of questions on the LSAT, there are a finite amount of "types" of questions. All Logic Game questions will have some type of inventory, whether it's people, canoes, apples or wombats. Then you are asked to place the inventory in some type of order, whether that be sequential, or coupled, or just based on the sometimes convoluted conditions that LSAC will give you. Really Logic Games are no different than a Sudoku puzzle, and the great thing about Logic Games is that they are actually easier than Sudoku because after you have seen a few hundred questions, the Logic Games will become predictable. One very important thing to remember about the LSAT: it is repetitive.
The conditions of the question are your best friends. You need to come up with a system to first draw out a skeleton of how the question wants you to organize the game and then symbols depicting the conditions so you can quickly come back to the conditions and plug them into your main frame skeleton.
For example, a logic question could give you a mainframe of: Six bloggers, Jake, Karla, Laith, Melody, Neema, and Olivia, are standing in line to get movie tickets to see the Dark Knight Rises. The conditions could be as follows: 1) Jake is in front of Melody, 2) Karla is in front of Olivia, 3) Jake is not in front of Neema, and so forth.
I would depict condition #1 like this: J—M. J, my symbol for Jake, is to the left of M, my symbol for Melody. For me the farthest left standing person is the person closest to the movie ticket stand. The great thing about the games is that you can make whatever symbols and put them in whatever orientations that you like best, just BE CONSISTENT! Let's try condition #2: K—O. Now let's go for #3: your first instinct may be to write "not J—N," however, it's always best to write out your symbols, if possible, in the positive. SO let's think, if all six bloggers are in line and Jake is NOT in front of Neema, then Neema is in front of Jake, right? Right! So we would write it out as such: N—J. Bravo!
As you get more acquainted with the test, you will create your own repertoire of symbols and ways to depict them. Remember, it's a game, don't sweat it. Practice makes perfect!
Happy Studying!
