5.1 - Logic Games Overview

Ah, my beloved Logic Games. How I'll miss you after the August 2024 test.

Nevertheless, there's still one more opportunity to walk away with 23 (basically free) points from LG. So we'll take you through everything you need to know to be crush the games one last time.

In this lesson we will:

• Introduce the section and its anatomy
• Discuss the types of games you'll encounter
• Explain the value of working up in difficulty
• Provide some general study tips for LG

Let's get started.

Logic Games Anatomy

The Logic Games section—formally called Analytical Reasoning—is broken up into four segments similar to Reading Comprehension

Each segment is its own game. You'll read through a unique scenario with a handful of constraints and then answer 5-7 questions about how the scenario plays out.

Games tend to get tougher the further you get into the section. But not always. Be careful to fall into the trap that a Game 2 should be easy or that a Game 4 will be hard.

Game Types

Most logic games fall into one of four categories: ordering, grouping, hybrid, and random.

The names come from what the game principally wants you to do. In ordering, we tend to put things in order. In grouping, we put things in groups. In hybrid games, we tend to both order and group things. Random games, however, tend to defy these other convention and force you to improvise.

I'll touch on this again in a later lesson, but don't worry about game types too much.

While game types can provide some helpful guidelines for structuring diagrams, your main focus should be solving the puzzle in a way that makes sense to you.

Work Up In Difficulty

Perfecting logic games comes from being able to absolutely smash easy games, making time for tougher ones down the road.

It's not unusual for excellent LG students to finish the entire section with several minutes left on the clock. If that's not you, you shouldn't be worried about hard games just yet.

Instead, focus on fundamentals and getting easier games perfect one game at a time.

General Study Tips for LG

We've touched on a couple of these already, but here are some more tips to help with your Logic Games studies:

• Practice as many games as you can, moving upward in difficulty
• Focus on getting one game perfect at a time
• Use diagramming conventions that make sense to you
• Learn to make worlds / scenarios and use them in almost all games
• Know when it's wise to split diagrams (and when it's not)
• Be prepared to improvise—for every LG rule of thumb, there's a game that breaks it

And here are some things to avoid:

• Worrying about game types
• Repeating the same game over and over
• Writing / translating the rules—this is a massive waste of time and creates opportunities for error
• Worrying about the clock

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That's all for our intro to Logic Games. I'll see you next time as we dive into the key to perfecting LG—taking it one perfect game at a time.

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What did you think of this lesson? How could I improve it? Leave me your feedback in a comment below.