7 Games To Practice Before Test Day

Note: the LSAT no longer has Logic Games. LSAC removed the section in August 2024. The scored test is now 2 Logical Reasoning sections and 1 Reading Comprehension section, plus 1 unscored experimental section. This post stays up as an archive, and the reasoning skills still carry over, but you won’t see a game on test day.

Pretend you were taken hostage while studying in the library and could only do 7 Logic Games before Test Day. You can squeeze in one each day while your captors watch their daytime soap operas.

 

Which 7 Logic Games would you pick? Which are the most important?

 

This list includes what I consider to be 7 foundational Logic Games (all are purposely drawn from The Next 10 Actual Official LSAT PrepTests).

 

If you did nothing but these 7 games, you’d be exposed to the pure (non-combination/non-hybrid) games of each common type of Logic Game. Even if you’re not taken hostage, make sure you fully understand each of these 7 games before Test Day.

 

1. PrepTest 38 (October 2002), Game 1 – Pure Sequencing/ Relative Ordering  – Circus car with clowns – page 330

 

2. PrepTest 30 (December 1999), Game 4 – Basic Linear/ Strict Ordering – Toy-truck models – page 53

 

3.PrepTest 36 (December 2001), Game 2 – Advanced Linear/ Multilevel Ordering – Radio talk show host – page 279

 

4.PrepTest 33 (December 2000), Game 2 – Grouping: In-and-Out – Birds in the forest – page 177

 

5. PrepTest 33 (December 2000), Game 3 – Grouping: In-and-Out (Numerical Distribution) – Rubies, sapphires, and topazes – page 178

 

6. PrepTest 29 (October 1999), Game 1 – Grouping: Splitting – Accountant and 7 bills – page 32

 

7. PrepTest 38 (October 2002), Game 3 – Grouping: Matching (Templates) – Job applicants and management, production, sales – page 332

 

Definitions of Major Common Types of Logic Games

Pure Sequencing | Relative Ordering = place variables in order with rules relating them to each other

 

Basic Linear | Strict Ordering = place variables in order with rules relating them to specific slots and (possibly) to each other

 

Advanced Linear | Multilevel Ordering = place variables in order with rules relating them to specifics slots (and possibly to each other) and relate variables of one type to variables of another type

 

Grouping: In-and-Out = choose some variables but not others.

 

Grouping: Splitting = divide variables into two different groups.

 

Grouping: Matching = associate variables of one type with variables of another type or with more than two groups.

 

Techniques

Numerical Distribution = Create various combinations of *numbers* of variables to select from each category. Benefit – gives you a birds-eye view of the game without requiring you to draw every specific scenario. Useful in games with subcategories.

 

Templates = Draw a few main diagrams instead of only one. Each main diagram you draw represents a different potential placement of the variables. Benefit – gives you a birds-eye view of every possible scenario. Useful in games with only a few major possibilities.

I've written free explanations for every question in LSAT PrepTest 159, 158, 157, 156, 155 and 154, with the right answer and why each wrong answer fails. All LSAT explanations are here.

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