Have you ever given birth to a baby? I have. And I did it along with some fellow LSAT geeks here at Manhattan LSAT. We are very proud to bring the world LSAT Interact! What the heck is LSAT Interact? In short, it’s a self-study course built on interactive videos (click on answer (D) and you go here, click on answer (B) and you go somewhere else). We are so incredibly excited for this to be done. But let me take you on a short trip down a timeline of how this all went down:

Read more

When it comes to Orientation questions, always let the rules be your guide

The first question on a logic game often asks for a possible ordering (or assignment, or grouping) of the elements. We call these Orientation questions, and they can usually be answered by simply applying the rules, one by one, to the answer choices. For example, if there is a rule that Sam arrives fourth (yay, simple rules!), scan the answer choices to check for Sam. There’s almost certainly going to be one where he’s not fourth—get rid of that one.

While moving through the rules this way is, generally, a reliable and efficient approach for Orientation questions, we also teach that you can use your diagram. On some games, such as relative ordering, this is a good idea. It can be faster.
Read more

Many LSAT takers find the Logic Games section of the exam to be the most challenging. Why?

It’s because “Analytical Reasoning” (aka Logic Games) is the section of the test that is most unique to the LSAT. Sure, maybe you’ve done a few logic riddles or Sudoku puzzles in your free time, but outside of the Manhattan LSAT geek squad, I know very few people who spend time solving Logic Games ‘just for fun’.

Mastering this unfamiliar section of the exam requires a lot of time and practice, but there’s good news: Logic Games are extremely learnable! With proper preparation, you can actually develop in to a good enough player of Logic Games to count on this section to boost your score.

Regular readers of this blog will have picked up some helpful hints about how to tackle games (see below):

• Necessary v. Sufficient: The Flash Mob Example
• Logic Games: The LSAT is Not Two-Toned
• Binary Grouping: Is It or Isn’t it?
• Could Be a List v. List of What Could Be
• Rule Equivalency Logic Games Questions

So how does one get good at these things, aside from picking up some free nuggets of advice on our blog? While practicing as much as possible is important, it’s equally important to practice well. Pick up a book (I personally favor the Manhattan LSAT Strategy Guides, of course) and learn how to think about organizing the different elements that games are constantly throwing at you. Learning the proper strategy to practice will make the hard work that you put in to mastering Logic Games that much more effective.

If games seem to be your main bugaboo heading in to October, consider signing up for the Free Trial Class for our upcoming  Games Intensive Online Summer Course taught by, Brian Birdwell. This class will focus exclusively on Logic Games and how a 170+ test taker goes about deconstructing them.

My sister got married a month ago, and as the maid of honor, I saw it as my duty to do what any good maid of honor does: plan a flash mob for the reception.

I choreographed a routine to Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger,” uploaded a humiliating instructional video onto YouTube (of yours truly doing the dance in my Brooklyn apartment), and spread the word (link). In the video, I say, “We want at least 40 people in the flash mob in order for it to look good. And if it has 50 or more, that’ll be amazing!” Read more

With only 4.5 days to go before the June 2012 LSAT you should be at the point in your preparations where you have made peace with your capabilities and are ready to sit down and take the exam with confidence come Monday. If you’re still struggling, you’d ought not to fool yourself in to thinking that a miracle is going to occur. Truth is, many students roughly 3  points lower on the real test than they do on their timed PrepTests leading up to the exam.

These decreases on the real exam are generally due to nerves or random test day variables such as a really annoying neighbor, a less than ideal test center, or a proctor from hell. Unless you have been consistently scoring 2-3 points higher than your goal on your most recent timed Prep Tests, I would strongly suggest postponing your exam until October and spending the next three and a half months sharpening your skills. Read more

The second game on PrepTest 35 is an open assignment game about new cars. Each new car is equipped with one or more of the following: power windows, leather interiors, and/or a sunroof. The diagram we draw for this game is the standard for open assignment games: the open board. The open board is awesome for open assignment games because it provides a means to track how many features each car has. (Remember, each of these cars could have anywhere from one to three features.)

Stiletto Feature Sold Separately

A student recently asked, “Could it have more than one sunroof?” I told her no, that she should assume no duplicates. To illustrate, I said, “Think of how absurd it would be to have a car with multiple leather interiors.” She raised her eyebrows. “I’ve seen it.” (I convinced her with the power windows feature.)

Two-tone leather interiors aside, it struck me that this may be a point worth making clear for you guys: the LSAT is not two-toned. Read more

To recognize a binary grouping game, we look for two things: (1) two groups into which we’re placing elements (that’s what makes it binary) and (2) conditional constraints.

On the June 2011 LSAT, there is a game masquerading as a binary grouping game. It asks us to place judges on one of two courts–appellate or trial–so it meets the first of the two criteria above. Many people see this, make their two columns, and get ready to draw some arrows. But when they get to the rules/constraints, they get stuck. You can’t draw arrows if you don’t have “ifs” and “thens.”

Check out the first game on Prep Test 63, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Did you fall for the trap?

The game offers a lesson that potentially could save valuable time–and points–on the test. Once you spot that you’re sorting elements into two groups, and that alerts your binary-grouping-‘dar, good for you. But you’re only halfway there. Don’t start making “in” and “out” columns until you scan the constraints to confirm they’re conditional. Otherwise, you’re about to spend the next few seconds (or more) wishing you had.

What do you do when you go on vacation? Do you whip out a book of logic puzzles? Yes, I do. Say what you will, but this is what it’s like in the life of an LSAT geek.

On my latest vacation, I started in on Alice in Puzzle-Land, by Raymond M. Smullyan. I recommend it if you have some extra time on your hand for strengthening your logic brain power. The puzzles are arranged in sets that build on similar logical themes. Some are pretty easy, and some are killers. Here’s a summary of the first puzzle of the book:

There are two brothers. One is named John. I forgot the other one’s name. One always lies, one always tells the truth. I forgot which one does which.

Your job is to figure out which one of the brothers is named John. But, everyone is in a rush, so you may ask only one brother a three word question. That’s it! You need to be able to figure out which brother is John from that question.

Ideally, you should figure this out while sitting in a hot spring on vacation. Go ahead and post your answer or e-mail it to me (my first name @manhattanprep.com/lsat/)

Remember ABC order? You know you hum “elemenopeee” when you’re looking for a “P” word in a list.

ABC order can be useful in an LSAT-specific context. It can help you distinguish between two question types that look very similar but are actually different in logic games.

Consider these two hypothetical question stems:

(1) Which of the following is a list of students any of which could be assigned to Mr. Patrick’s class?

(2) Which of the following could be a list of students assigned to Mr. Patrick’s class?

Often, you’ll see “complete and accurate” smashed in there before “list”:

(1) Which of the following is a complete and accurate list of students any of which could be assigned to Mr. Patrick’s class?

(2) Which of the following could be a complete and accurate list of students assigned to Mr. Patrick’s class?

The questions are obviously similar. For the novice test taker, they can look identical. But they’re asking for different things.

Question (1) is asking for a list of all possibilities, in any scenario. What students can be assigned to Mr. Patrick, ever, at all, in any situation? It’s not asking for a list of students that must be able to be in Mr. Patrick’s class together in one scenario. Read more

We are often asked whether or not we use real LSAT games in our class (the answer is YES! The vast majority of the questions featured in class, homework, and from our books are 100% real LSAT questions!), and the question has been asked so many times that the question now reveals more than the answer itself. Someone, at some point, was teaching the LSAT using fake games, and those students were not happy. Whoever that is/was, shame on you – may your pencils be always dull and your erasers leave annoying streaks on your paper.

But, the truth is that our site does sport a rather large number of fake games. What’s up with that? You thought Manhattan LSAT keeps it real; grade A, pure 100% USDA LSAT beef. We do, I swear, but we do like to dip our toes into the world of synthetic LSAT stimulants for extra practice. There are two big reasons for us having fakes. One is that we want to write games that are harder than the usual ones out there so we can push our students’ brains past their usual limits. But the most important reason we have these games is to hone our teacher’s skills. Every one of our teachers must write a logic game as part of his or her training, along with many other curricular and pedagogical challenges (up to but not including having to walk across a bed of coals while reading aloud a reading comp passage). Read more