new LG on modern tests Forum

[permapress]

I guess that most people have recognized the fact that recent LG relies a lot more heavily on plug and chugging rather than on finding key inferences to break the game. For example, a lot of the linear games now involve conditionals that don't come into play until after you diagram local questions and some In/Out games don't lead as easily into following logic chains. How has that changed your style or tactics of dealing with LG? Most of us, I suspect, must have started with practicing and drilling with the older games (and I mean anything pre 50s basically). I'm finding it difficult to push through these newer games because they tend to be so time consuming and deal more with building hypotheticals for every single answer choice.

I took the undisclosed test in Asia this June and completely crashed and burned in LG. There were very little inferences that could be made and I'd often run into dead ends with questions while still having two or three answer choices left, and thus being forced to guess. It just felt like there was a rule missing from each game. Since that melt down, I've been drilling games like crazy and I've been able to reach 0-3 (with the exception of SuperPrep B and C... ) on practice tests, but I'm still a little weary of new tests, especially with this change in format. How do I avoid this experience?

[chadbrochill]

I'm in the same boat, and I think you hit it right on the head with the shift towards localized questions (Though only occasionally, I'd say strong inference ability is still a must).

My only guess why you're still running into trouble is that a lot of these questions require more than 1 hypo, especially the "could be true" variety. A lot of the time the new premise can force a variable into only 1 of two places, each with its own set of multiple possibilities regarding the final floaters.

There is a lot of good practice for this to be found in the 30's when you drill the 50-60's into memory. A good example would be PT36 Game 3 (The bus game). These games are fairly straight forward unlike some of the wackier 20's games..but definitely requires quick hypo ability that can serve you well in modern games. Best of luck!

[CyanIdes Of March]

What point have you noticed this shift? I've currently taking the the early and mid 50s for PTs and have been doing alright.

[togepi]

I crashed and burned on the logic games too for the undisclosed South Korea administration. I've been doing a lot of the more recent logic games, but I do remember during that test I completely blanked out and didn't know how to do anything. Ended up half assing 3/4 games and flat out guessing on one of them. Not sure if that was due to nervousness or I just wasn't prepared. LG is usually my strongest section but I completely messed it up test day.

[DSman]

Personally I like the new logic games. With some of the older games, you had to make those inferences and if you missed them due to time pressure or something, you'd get a lot of the questions wrong. With the newer ones, its more plug and chug and takes more time but you don't come across impossibly hard games with maybe a couple of exceptions.

[togepi]

Personally I like the new logic games. With some of the older games, you had to make those inferences and if you missed them due to time pressure or something, you'd get a lot of the questions wrong. With the newer ones, its more plug and chug and takes more time but you don't come across impossibly hard games with maybe a couple of exceptions.

What are some old tests that have LG similar to the new format? I need to really hammer those out so I don't choke again. I did really well on all the other sections but most likely got around 10/23 on the LG section in June

[chadbrochill]

I found this blueprint video that does a pretty good job at summarizing recent trends
*Spoiler Alert for PT61 game 1*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NofFTfA8Ylw

He basically says that instead of 2 easy 2 hard, its now 4 moderate difficulty games, a fair trade-off I'd say.

[NoodleyOne]

I found this blueprint video that does a pretty good job at summarizing recent trends
*Spoiler Alert for PT61 game 1*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NofFTfA8Ylw

He basically says that instead of 2 easy 2 hard, its now 4 moderate difficulty games, a fair trade-off I'd say.

Stained glass from 62 would like a word with you.

[jmart154]

^ This.

[Zensack]

Are you doing the questions in order or skipping around? I recommend drawing a diagram with your permanent information first, then working questions that supply new info (eg: if L is 4th, what must be true) in new diagrams that go underneath it. That way when you hit a general question (eg: what might be true) you can make deductions based on your work from previous questions. Early in my prep work I did questions in numerical order, the realization I could use old work to solve more than one question really lowered my miss rate.

If a question changes a rule, keep it away from your other diagrams and consider doing it last.

[permapress]

haha yea, i definitely freaked out during june when i couldn't solve multiple games... i'm sure it was a combination of nerves and the different demands from modern games. it sucks that it was undisclosed, so i can't really tell how much i'm exaggerating my bad test performance vs. actual new LSAT trends. in general, i find that the process involved is not as mechanical as it was before and my pre-diagram tends to be less useful, so i'm forced to actively hold and remember rules in my head rather than auto-pilot thru games. WHICH SUCKS because i definitely do not trust my test-brain with that responsibility and i feel like a large benefit of drilling was getting to the point where you could mechanically finish games and rely more on your skills and practice rather than active thinking or whatever. i guess i'm referring more to upper 50s and beyond where the variables and their interactions seem to me at least to be more fluid and dependent on specific situations (kind of like the vehicle game in pt 63... so frustrating and time consuming). they're weird, but not weird like the much older tests that don't follow specific types. like in june, i could identify what type each game was and diagram them, but i couldn't solve a lot of the questions still. after that my test/prep strategies completely broke down and i panicked, hence why i'm here again lol... i'm just not really sure how to prepare for them or if i need to change my studying tactics. what is everybody else doing?

[togepi]

haha yea, i definitely freaked out during june when i couldn't solve multiple games... i'm sure it was a combination of nerves and the different demands from modern games. it sucks that it was undisclosed, so i can't really tell how much i'm exaggerating my bad test performance vs. actual new LSAT trends. in general, i find that the process involved is not as mechanical as it was before and my pre-diagram tends to be less useful, so i'm forced to actively hold and remember rules in my head rather than auto-pilot thru games. WHICH SUCKS because i definitely do not trust my test-brain with that responsibility and i feel like a large benefit of drilling was getting to the point where you could mechanically finish games and rely more on your skills and practice rather than active thinking or whatever. i guess i'm referring more to upper 50s and beyond where the variables and their interactions seem to me at least to be more fluid and dependent on specific situations (kind of like the vehicle game in pt 63... so frustrating and time consuming). they're weird, but not weird like the much older tests that don't follow specific types. like in june, i could identify what type each game was and diagram them, but i couldn't solve a lot of the questions still. after that my test/prep strategies completely broke down and i panicked, hence why i'm here again lol... i'm just not really sure how to prepare for them or if i need to change my studying tactics. what is everybody else doing?

Yeah, it really does blow not getting to see what I messed up on. I know I did bad on those LG, but I really wish I could have the chance to rework them to feel more confident on test day.

[hallbd16]

I crashed and burned on the logic games too for the undisclosed South Korea administration. I've been doing a lot of the more recent logic games, but I do remember during that test I completely blanked out and didn't know how to do anything. Ended up half assing 3/4 games and flat out guessing on one of them. Not sure if that was due to nervousness or I just wasn't prepared. LG is usually my strongest section but I completely messed it up test day.

Kinda off topic, but since there are two posters talking about testing over seas, I thought I would ask about the experience. Any added challenges for your experience? I ask because I will be taking the December test in Shanghai.

[togepi]

I crashed and burned on the logic games too for the undisclosed South Korea administration. I've been doing a lot of the more recent logic games, but I do remember during that test I completely blanked out and didn't know how to do anything. Ended up half assing 3/4 games and flat out guessing on one of them. Not sure if that was due to nervousness or I just wasn't prepared. LG is usually my strongest section but I completely messed it up test day.

Kinda off topic, but since there are two posters talking about testing over seas, I thought I would ask about the experience. Any added challenges for your experience? I ask because I will be taking the December test in Shanghai.

Granted that I've only taken the test once in South Korea, I can't contrast between American facilities but I can say everything went exactly how I imagined it would. They even had a locked auditorium where you could put your backpacks (I was worried I would have to leave it somewhere unsafe). All in all, it ran pretty smooth.

[togepi]

Oh, and can someone please point me in the right direction concerning the format of the new games? I'd like to know which preptests in particular most resemble the new format.

TYIA

[msquaredb]

Personally I like the new logic games. With some of the older games, you had to make those inferences and if you missed them due to time pressure or something, you'd get a lot of the questions wrong. With the newer ones, its more plug and chug and takes more time but you don't come across impossibly hard games with maybe a couple of exceptions.

This. I crash and burn on old logic games sections. I recently took a diagnostic with a random experimental mixed in. I nailed the recent (actually) LG section and bombed (-8) the old one that happened to function as the experimental.

[objection_your_honor]

Oh, and can someone please point me in the right direction concerning the format of the new games? I'd like to know which preptests in particular most resemble the new format.

TYIA

The newest tests represent the "new" format. Late 50s, and 60-66.