October 2003 Lsat Logic Games

LSAT Blog - PrepTest 38 Logic Game 4 - Musicians' Performance (October 2002) - Duration: 11:17. LSAT Unplugged & Law School Admissions Podcast 1,364 views 11:17.

Setup and Rule Diagram Explanation
This is an Advanced Linear Game: Defined-Balanced.
This game is challenging because with seven rules the setup can be tricky, and many students fail to draw the key inference about S.
The game scenario establishes that six dogs are being judged. The six dogs are a variable set, and the ribbons are another variable set. The ribbons make the most sense to choose as a base because there is an inherent sense of order, but there is a catch: only four ribbons are awarded. Thus, the first four spaces will be numbered 1 through 4, but the last two spaces will be listed as “NR” for No Ribbon. These last two spaces are interchangeable in that there is no fifth or sixth ribbon. We will also place a vertical divided bar after the fourth ribbon in order to emphasize this difference. On top of the ribbon base there will be a row for the six named dogs.
Let us examine each rule:

First and Second Rules
The first rule establishes a variable set wherein each dog is either G or L, but not both. To account for this variable set another row must be added to the diagram.
The second rule establishes a variable set wherein each dog is either M or F. To account for this variable set another row must be added to the diagram.
Neither of the first two rules addresses any specific variable, but they both create a greater number of elements to track. With these new variable sets, the basic game structure appears as follows:


Oct 91__M12_game#4_L11_explanations_game#1_setup_diagram_1.png (7.5 KiB) Viewed 3819 times


Third Rule
This rule establishes that both female dogs win ribbons, meaning that the two dogs who do not win a ribbon are both male. In addition, exactly one of the female dogs is a labrador, meaning that the other female dog is a greyhound, which creates the following situation:


Oct 91__M12_game#4_L11_explanations_game#1_setup_diagram_2.png (9.27 KiB) Viewed 3819 times


Fourth Rule
This is a very helpful rule. If only one labrador wins a ribbon, then the other three dogs that win a ribbon are greyhounds. Plus, because from the third rule we know that one of the females who wins a ribbon is a labrador, we can be certain that there are no male labradors that win a ribbon.
Fifth Rule
This rule establishes a powerful sequence:


Oct 91__M12_game#4_L11_explanations_game#1_setup_diagram_3.png (3.1 KiB) Viewed 3819 times


Even though U is not addressed in this rule, the sequence still produces several important inferences:
1. Both P and R win ribbons. Because P and R each finish ahead of at least three dogs, P and R must both win ribbons.
2. S wins a ribbon. Because S finishes ahead of at least two dogs, S must win a ribbon.
3. At least one of Q and T does not win a ribbon.
The biggest uncertainty, then, is where U places as that will directly affect Q or T.
Sixth and Seventh Rules
The final two rules connect certain dogs to specific dog types. Using subscripts for greyhound and labrador, let’s review the sequence again:


Oct 91__M12_game#4_L11_explanations_game#1_setup_diagram_4.png (3.48 KiB) Viewed 3819 times


U is also a labrador.
With this new information, and the fact that exactly one labrador wins a ribbon, we can infer that S is the labrador that wins the ribbon, and that U can therefore not win a ribbon (as U is also a labrador). Thus, U must finish in one of the last two places (and thus behind S), and therefore S must place third. P and R must then place first and second in some order.
Further, because S is the labrador that wins a ribbon, from the third rule S must be female. In addition, from the fourth rule, the other three ribbon-winning dogs are greyhounds, meaning the dogs in places 1, 2, and 4 are greyhounds. The information above leads to the following setup:


Oct 91__M12_game#4_L11_explanations_game#1_setup_diagram_5.png (9.79 KiB) Viewed 3819 times


To complete the setup, we need to examine the last two places. Remember, there is no true order to the last two places; that is, neither is necessarily “fifth” or “sixth.” One of the two dogs is U, which is a male labrador. The other is the remainder of Q or T, and will be either a greyhound or a labrador. Applying this information leads to the final setup:


Oct 91__M12_game#4_L11_explanations_game#1_setup_diagram_6.png (10.29 KiB) Viewed 3819 times

With the information above, the questions should now be considerably easier.

PrepTest 23 (October 1997), Game 2 - Applicants being interviewed and hired (Combination: Grouping: Selection and Grouping: Splitting)2. PrepTest 24 (December 1997), Game 3 - Juarez and Rosenberg review introductory and advanced textbooks3.

PrepTest 25 (June 1998), Game 2 - Tourists and Guides (Grouping: Matching)4. PrepTest 27 (December 1998), Game 2 - Lizards and snakes in a reptile house (Combination: Linear and Grouping: Matching)5.

PrepTest 31 (June 2000), Game 2 - Music store's new and used CDs (Grouping: Selection / In and Out)6. PrepTest 33 (December 2000), Game 3 - Stones: rubies, sapphires, topazes (Grouping: Selection / In and Out)7. PrepTest 34 (June 2001), Game 4 - Randsborough/Souderton Clinics (Grouping: Splitting)8.

PrepTest 36 (December 2001), Game 3 - Window and aisle seats on a bus (Advanced Linear)9. PrepTest 40 (June 2003), Game 3 - Flight connections on Zephyr Airlines: Honolulu, Montreal, Philadelphia, Toronto, Vancouver (Grouping: Mapping)10. PrepTest 57 (June 2009), Game 3 - Dinosaurs: iguanadon, lambeosaur, plateosaur, stegosaur, tyrannosaur, ultrasaur, velociraptor and Colors: green, mauve, red, yellow (Combination of Grouping: Selection / In-and-Out and Grouping: Matching).Check out my.Also see:,. The key to some of these grouping games is drawing templates using the most restricted rule.for example preptest 49, game 2: the first rule translates to M and L go to J or R. Thus there are four possible templates:1) L to R, M to J2) M to R, L to J3) L&M to J4) L&M to R.Then for each template, apply the rules to place the rest of the pieces.Then, at the side of each template, keep track of the unplaced pieces:Template 1 leaves 1 unplaced piece (F).Templete 2 and 3 leave 3 unplaced pieces (F,P,S).Template 4 leaves 2 unplaced pieces (F,S).By diagramming these four templates before hand, you can quickly eliminate the wrong answer choices for questions 9-12.However, diagramming template/possibilites can reach a point of diminishing returns.

I dont diagram them all if there are more than like 6 possibilities.good luck to everyone writing on Monday! AnonymousHello Anonymous from June 24,After much pratice, I still fail to make key inferences often enough during setup; and later discover that and have to go back to previous questions to correct mistakes made due to partially completed inferences.

I would love to be able to pick difficult games apart like clockwork. Honestly, the more difficult the game, the more fun to be able to crack it.

Could you elaborate on 'once you lay everything out.' You mean the set up, rules and inferences? Any points woud be much appreciated!

AnonymousI was just working on the Music store game and found it very difficult, then found this list and felt slightly relieved because my confidence tanked. I find this game slightly similar to the Birds game (Preptest 33, Game 2 (Birds in a forest: grosbeak, harrier, jay, martin, shrike, wren in the LGB Ch 4, game 4, because similar inferences must be made and then they must be linked. One must understand all the conditional statements and their possible outcomes.

It is difficult to try and recognize them and remember them in your mind, so take the time to write them out, this is a good exercise. Once this is done then I believe you can crack any question relating to the game, as one of the comments goes 'once you lay everything out, you can pick even difficult games apart like clockwork.' I'm still working on it. 2000 jewels game was a brain. I don't know if there really was a 'correct' setup Kelly. The only decuction I could come up with besides putting down the contrapositives was this:(2 sapphires)-(1 ruby)-(3 topaz).

The first part is stated, but its also helpful to deduce that if there are exactly 2 sapphires there will also be exactly 3 topaz'(s?).Also since M-W we can conclude thatif H or Z is in then both W and M are out. 1260 1295 marco polo travels to asia. This can be concluded since we know from our contra-positives that if W is out then M is out and if H or Z is out then w is out. Its a combination of those two.

Besides those simple deductions I couldn't find an easy way to do this one and had to go through each answer choice at a time comparing to the rules and the aforementioned deductions. It took me 11 minutes and I still missed one due to a careless error. I don't know if I would have had the mental stamina to finish that prep test if the Analytical Reasoning wasn't the last section on it, lol. It seems to be a trend that games are getting harder in recent tests, so what I'm working on, and would advise for anyone having trouble doing the games in an efficient amount of time would be to try and get the easier games down to under 6-7 minutes so that you will have the extra time to conquer these tougher games. I don't really see any other way around it. Hi there, can you answer this question for me?

I'm working on sufficient and necessary conditions right now and I'm stuck on this logic game from Feb 99, Game #2. How would you diagram this rule and the contrapositive to go with it?' If yews are not in the park, then either laurels or oaks, but not both are in the park'and'If it is not the case that the park contains both laurels and oaks, then it contains firs and spruces'How would you diagram these two rules?If anyone could help me out it would be great!Thanks. Ryan SmithI just finished the applicant game and thought it was simple. It took me about 10 minutes to do it, but given that the first game took 5 minutes I Was in good shape.

The funny thing is that the game after it seemed harder to me- I took almost 12 minutes on that bad boy. Here's why I m posting: I had forgotten that this was a known tough game and I simply went into it and did my best. TUrns out that was enough. I did the snakes and lizards game recently and had one heck of a time slogging through it. I suspect it was in part because I knew and feared its reputation. My point: often knowing a game is tough is best AFTER you've done it.

That way one can look back and think, 'That was not so bad' as opposed to letting the game scare you and affect performance. Prep test 23, October 1997 Game 2 is a killer! Those of you saying it was simple must be brilliant. I'll concede the first three questions are easy, but questions 9-11 are monsters. It's definitely a relief to see that Steve has it listed as one of the hardest game ever!

I certainly agree. I'm still looking for explanations though. Mapping the contrapositives doesn't provide me any revelations. Any suggestions for the setup?P.S. Ryan Smith, your reasoning about being oblivious to a difficult game's reputation is ridiculous; using similar reasoning one could just as easily provide an explanation under opposite circumstances. Moreover, attempting a game before discovering it's notoriously tough does not guarantee you can look back and think, 'that was not so bad'. I'm pretty sure that would be determined more by whether or not the test taker found it very difficult.

I, for one, was unaware of the game's reputation and still looked back and thought, 'that was sooo bad.' Something that may be true for you is not necessarily 'often' true for others. If your post is any indication of your reasoning ability, then I'm amazed YOU found that game simple.On a side note, Ryan, since only you and Anonymous June 24 claim to have not struggled with this game, would either of you care to enlighten us dummies? Neither of you provide any indication on how to approach it, although some implications are made by June 24 that identifying contrapositives may be useful.