Important Questions to Ask Yourself on LSAT Logic Games (Part 1)
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I’ve found that one of the best ways to elevate your strategy on LSAT Logic Games is to figure out which sorts of questions lead you to the best diagrams and the right answers. These are questions that should be knocking around in your head during every game, guiding your thought process and giving you direction.
We’ve talked about some of these questions before: the questions you ask yourself during the Big Pause. Should I frame this game? Are there any floaters? What’s the most important rule?
Those are valuable guidelines for every LG setup, and you should absolutely memorize the full list. (Repeat each question until you feel like Arya from Game of Thrones.)
But right now, I want to talk about some questions to ask yourself during LSAT Logic Games questions—when you’re trying to decide between answer choices and you’re not sure where to go.
1. Am I done?
You’re tackling a conditional question: one that gives you a hypothetical, and then asks what could or must be true (or false).
As you probably know, the first step is to write out a mini-diagram.
Okay, it says F goes in 5, so I’ll put that over there…
And the second step is to add in any additional inferences.
According to this rule, G comes right after F, so I’ll plop that in 6. Nice. Let’s take a look at the answers.
Uh-oh—hold on, cowboy. Before moving on to the answer choices on a conditional question, you always want to ask yourself one simple question. Are you really done? Take a close look at your full diagram, not just the rules that revolve around the element you’ve been told about by the question. Are there any inferences you can make?
Often, conditional questions will test your ability to think outside the box, zoom out, and see the far-reaching implications of the hypothetical they’ve set up for you.
Ah, wait! H must either go in 2 or 6, so I know H must go in 2, which means K goes in 1…
2. What must be true? What could be true?
Tons of students tell me that the biggest challenge they face on LSAT Logic Games is dealing with ambiguity. It’s just an uncomfortable state of mind to be in—especially when you’re stressed or watching the clock.
This two-for-one question is a must-ask whenever you draw a diagram, whether that’s for your main board or for a conditional question. Have you accurately represented what must be true? Have you included everything that could be true? Make sure not to mix the two—visualizing a could be true as a certainty will definitely hold you back.
Let’s go back to the conditional question from before.
H must go in 2, 3, or 6… So now I know that H is either in 2 or in 6.
This wouldn’t seem to reveal much, but you could either frame this conditional mini-diagram (if you’ve got the time) or represent H’s positions on the one diagram. Either way, there’s a solid chance that if this conditional question is asking you what could be the case, H will be involved somehow.
3. Who’s left?
This is my favorite question on LSAT Logic Games, hands down. Asking yourself “Who’s left?” is often the magical solution to a confusing question or inference.
Here’s the idea: use process of elimination to turn restrictions into possibilities. If you have a heavily restricted section of your game board, try to think about who can go there instead of who can’t.
For example…
Okay, I know from the rules that H, J, and G can’t go in slot 1. Then, this conditional question tells me that I goes in 2. That’s not very helpful…
Who’s left, though?
Well, that leaves F and K for spot 1, since the other 4 elements can’t go there. And if G comes right after F, then K must go in 1!
This might be a simplistic example, but it happens all the time. There are tons of logic games—here’s looking at you, Dinosaur Game—that benefit from you asking yourself “Who’s left?” and searching for those missing pieces.
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Those 3 questions should hopefully open up a lot of doors for you while you’re attacking the tougher games. We’ll be back with a few more important LSAT Logic Games questions in part 2 of this series.
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Ben Rashkovich
is a Manhattan Prep LSAT instructor based in New York, NY. He’s a graduate of Columbia University, and he scored a 172 on the LSAT. He enjoys the mental challenge and logical acrobatics of the LSAT—and he feels that studying for the test can teach everyone to approach problems more rationally. You can check out Ben’s upcoming LSAT courses here!