Indian pedagogical approaches to mastering the LSAT logic games section
October 26, 2015 11:21 AM Subscribe
I have come across books written for an Indian audience that help prepare them to pass the Common Admission Test. I’ve used such books to help me with American exams like the GRE and the SAT. I am looking for a book written with the same level of rigor and lucidity to help me conquer the dreaded LSAT logic games section.
The closest I’ve found is a single "Puzzle Test" section in R.S. Aggarwal’s book A Guide to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning.
Can anyone point me to a book that contains approaches to dealing with logical games puzzles written by someone similar to Aggarwal or any other writer associated with Indian test prep. I have used American test prep books like The Princeton Review, Barrons, and Powerscore but found them wanting in their rigor and clarity of explanation. Plus their approaches don’t always seem to be very reliable. They also aren't clear and often times recommend you utilize dubious methods of cancelling out answers on the basis of what a typical student would pick. I'm looking for something more concrete. I also seem to remember that one of solving such dreaded logic games puzzles is through constructing matrices of sorts. Anybody know anything about that?
The closest I’ve found is a single "Puzzle Test" section in R.S. Aggarwal’s book A Guide to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning.
Can anyone point me to a book that contains approaches to dealing with logical games puzzles written by someone similar to Aggarwal or any other writer associated with Indian test prep. I have used American test prep books like The Princeton Review, Barrons, and Powerscore but found them wanting in their rigor and clarity of explanation. Plus their approaches don’t always seem to be very reliable. They also aren't clear and often times recommend you utilize dubious methods of cancelling out answers on the basis of what a typical student would pick. I'm looking for something more concrete. I also seem to remember that one of solving such dreaded logic games puzzles is through constructing matrices of sorts. Anybody know anything about that?
I know woefully little about Indian pedagogy (and would love to learn more if someone has a recommendation), but know quite a bit about the LSAT, and taught with one of the major test-prep companies from '09 to '12.
While I agree with you that the logic and rigor of an LSAT prep-course is very wanting in comparison to any university logic course, that is by design. After all, these courses aren't promising to train someone in logic, they are promising to help a student achieve the highest score on the LSAT. The LSAT is a unique test, with rules and tendencies that are wholly unrelated to general logic but instead based on the test-taker's psyche (there has been a bit of an arms race between the test writers and test prep companies, with each "spying" on the other). It's designed merely to test aptitude for law school, not test potential to be a good lawyer. The Law School Admissions Council is not required to adhere to any formal reasoning technique, and therefore they use a few words differently from the traditional logician (e.g., the word "might" gets a lot more mileage in an LSAT than a logic test). It's an altogether messy affair, so unfortunately I don't think you will find any books that match the rigor you may have found in Indian texts.
As for the logic games, that is as concrete as the test gets, and it is best to use a gridded format. I would recommend searching for things like "LSAT analytical reasoning diagramming" or "LSAT games diagram technique", and I am sure there are some sites and/or books that will give you some help. Briefly, you are looking to create a diagram with unchanging elements at the header, and the changeable elements are the parts you arrange in the columns below. So, if you had 4 people each bringing one side dish to a party, you would have the attendees names (or initials) at the top, one to a column, and, depending on the clues and elements, one side dish in each column.
Good luck!
posted by Snowden at 11:54 AM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
While I agree with you that the logic and rigor of an LSAT prep-course is very wanting in comparison to any university logic course, that is by design. After all, these courses aren't promising to train someone in logic, they are promising to help a student achieve the highest score on the LSAT. The LSAT is a unique test, with rules and tendencies that are wholly unrelated to general logic but instead based on the test-taker's psyche (there has been a bit of an arms race between the test writers and test prep companies, with each "spying" on the other). It's designed merely to test aptitude for law school, not test potential to be a good lawyer. The Law School Admissions Council is not required to adhere to any formal reasoning technique, and therefore they use a few words differently from the traditional logician (e.g., the word "might" gets a lot more mileage in an LSAT than a logic test). It's an altogether messy affair, so unfortunately I don't think you will find any books that match the rigor you may have found in Indian texts.
As for the logic games, that is as concrete as the test gets, and it is best to use a gridded format. I would recommend searching for things like "LSAT analytical reasoning diagramming" or "LSAT games diagram technique", and I am sure there are some sites and/or books that will give you some help. Briefly, you are looking to create a diagram with unchanging elements at the header, and the changeable elements are the parts you arrange in the columns below. So, if you had 4 people each bringing one side dish to a party, you would have the attendees names (or initials) at the top, one to a column, and, depending on the clues and elements, one side dish in each column.
Good luck!
posted by Snowden at 11:54 AM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you are looking for the standard logic puzzle grids, logic-puzzles.org has lots of them suitable for practice. There are hints available and they explain how you deduce the need to cross off or select a particular option. The forums also have some Q&A about methods. Once the students are comfortable with the premade grids, they can make their own.
posted by soelo at 12:09 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by soelo at 12:09 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure about an instructional approach to the logic games, but the reason I received a perfect score on that portion is because I'd been doing them since I was a kid. You can pick up books of these games/puzzles in most airports, supermarkets, etc. (often as part of a "variety puzzle" book). They usually have the matrix pre-drawn. Here are some on Amazon. Do a ton of them until you master the thinking process. As a plus, logic games are the one section of the LSAT where you can actually check your answers, much like with a math problem.
Everyone I know who struggled with this section never did these games for fun/leisure. Everyone I know who did well on this section did.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:09 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Everyone I know who struggled with this section never did these games for fun/leisure. Everyone I know who did well on this section did.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:09 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I did the logic games intuitively and always got them right, and then I was introduced to the grid method and that sped up my time considerable as well as my confidence, but I will say that it feels like cheating because it makes the questions so easy. Also, not sure I ever did them prior to studying for the LSAT, but they were a lot of fun before I knew how really to do them.
posted by janey47 at 12:27 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by janey47 at 12:27 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Janey47, What is the grid method that you are referring to? Is it similar to constructing matrices? Any recommendations would be welcome.
posted by caudal at 12:45 PM on October 26, 2015
posted by caudal at 12:45 PM on October 26, 2015
I was an LSAT "master teacher" for one of the big-name test prep companies. The book I found most useful was Examkrackers LSAT Analytical Reasoning by David Lynch. The methods are very specific and (from what I found) clearly explained.
posted by 1adam12 at 11:07 PM on October 26, 2015
posted by 1adam12 at 11:07 PM on October 26, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by johngoren at 11:50 AM on October 26, 2015