Logic Games Panic Forum

[jetfan23]

Hey TLS:

I've lurked for a while but am in need of some help.

I've drilled a ton of games, I understand all the types and setups, and I've gone through the Manhattan Guide, LGB & Cambridge Packets, yet on fresh PTs I too often find myself between -6 and -8 for the games section alone, which generally accounts for more than half of all the questions I miss on a given test.

I need to change something in my approach--was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. I basically never have trouble figuring out a game after the fact, but in the moment, I always choke.

How do I get to a point where I don't have to worry about drastic fluctuations in this section?

Thanks.

[zeglo]

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[jetfan23]

Much appreciated, that progress must feel pretty good.

I guess I feel like it should be clicking for me by now.

Are practicing full sections better than drilling? I guess I get frustrated because I'll choke on a PT, go back and master the section, think "oh that was easy I just need to remember X next time," and repeat the process on one out of the next two fresh PTs I take.

Can anyone suggest like a daily one month regimen for an experienced test taker looking to break a plateau?

I'm also wary of spending too much time prepping LG.

Thanks again.

[zeglo]

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[jetfan23]

Thanks, good stuff. I like that diagramming strategy.

[Blueprint Mithun]

Much appreciated, that progress must feel pretty good.

I guess I feel like it should be clicking for me by now.

Are practicing full sections better than drilling? I guess I get frustrated because I'll choke on a PT, go back and master the section, think "oh that was easy I just need to remember X next time," and repeat the process on one out of the next two fresh PTs I take.

Can anyone suggest like a daily one month regimen for an experienced test taker looking to break a plateau?

I'm also wary of spending too much time prepping LG.

Thanks again.

All of zeglo's advice is excellent. 2-3 sections a day sounds like a very solid regimen. I just want to add a couple of things:

It's a good idea to keep a log of the games you've done in the past, specifically the ones in which you got something wrong, or took an inordinate amount of time. More than the other sections, logic games are the most repeatable - you can redo previous games a week later and get a lot out of them. And since you're more than likely to see some of those same inferences/patterns again, it's important that you know how to recognize them.

Like zeglo said, repetition is key. You want to get to the point where you notice a lot of the tricks automatically. Consistency and legibility with diagramming is also fundamentally important. Your main diagram should be fleshed out and easy to read. With diagrams for individual questions, however, I'd sometimes take shortcuts, like not labeling all of the spaces or rewriting every inference. You need to be careful if you do this, but it can shave off seconds that add up to minutes from your total time.

[RamTitan]

Repeat a game until you get 0 wrong on it (so even if you miss one problem); but, do all the retakes within one day. While the game won't be 100% fresh each session, the patterns will be easy to identify, and you'll start to see these patterns in other games as well.

[Lexaholik]

I had the same problem too. There's a lot of good advice in this thread. For me, I did everything with no marked improvement (and wildly fluctuating PTs depending on how the LG section went.) It was deeply frustrating, but one day I started consistently getting high scores. Sometimes it just takes time to sink in. You can't tell when that will be, but taking time away seems to help.

[JazzOne]

I was going to suggest more drilling and some repetition of games that gave you trouble. But that advice has already been given. So, I just wanted to reiterate the observation that learning is not a project for which you can dictate a timeline. I have been a test prep instructor for more than a decade. I have seen some students pick up the concepts quickly, and I have seen others who learn more slowly. Interestingly, the correlation between the quickness of learning and the final score is very low. Some of my best students took many months to improve, and some of my sharpest students laid an egg on test day.

Don't stress yourself out by creating unrealistic goals. You cannot control how fast you master a skill. Just keep practicing, and repeat difficult games. When you repeat a game, be proactive and attack the aspect of the game that gave you difficulty head on. If you missed a key deduction, that deduction should be front and center when you repeat the game. If you diagrammed the game incorrectly, the correct diagram should be the focal point of your repetition. This is a contrived approach that will help you spot difficult aspects of a game before they trip you up.

[footballlax55]

Here's basically what I did and would suggest:

Get a set of about 10 or 20 PTs worth of games. Preferably sorted by game type. If not, then sort them by game type yourself. When you do them, do all in one category first before moving on. This sort of repetition helps.
For instance I went off of a Manhattan book which split the games up into basic ordering, relative ordering, basic grouping, and hybrid.
Then what I'd do is do about 4 or 5 games in a row, so basically the same amount as in a section, but all of the same type. I'd time each individually and write the time it took me next to the game. (NOTE: Either photo copy the game and questions or record your answers on another sheet so that you can redo it multiple times)
After that section of games, so like 5 basic ordering games in a row, I'd check the answers and score them. I kept a sheet where I listed my score and time for each game so I could keep track of progress.
If I got the game perfect and finished it quickly (based on what I felt was an appropriate time as well as what 7sage recommends) then I marked that and moved on. If I got any wrong or it took me too long, I circled that problem on my master sheet where I kept track of everything.
Then either later that day or the next day I would redo the games that I hadn't gotten perfect and done quickly. If I still didn't get them perfect and quick and in a way that I understood the second time, then I'd mark that down and make sure that I watched the 7sage video about how he did it. And then the next day I'd do that game yet again. If I still didn't have it perfect then I'd keep on repeating and do it again and maybe watch the 7sage video again until I had it perfect.
Keep in mind that although my first takes of the tests would be divided by category, so like the first 2 days I might do only basic ordering, as I went on I'd be doing like my first run through of grouping and on the same day doing some retakes of old ordering games.
I basically just did that until I got all those games right.
Then I went on to doing full sections of new LG. And whenever I wouldn't get perfect and quick on a game, I'd do the same thing of redoing it and watching 7sage videos until I did.
Then after a while (like 10 or 20pts later) I went back and ran through all the same games that I started on divided by game type. This helped reinforce the ideas. I barely have to redo any of them because by now I get most of them perfect. I still keep track of my scores and times on that same sheet that I started out on and can see how much I've improved (some is attributed to familiarity with that game, but a lot is just being familiar with the concepts).