Diagram

[lukemhearn]

I took a practice test today, and the Games section included both of these Closed Board Games. Needless to say, they ate me alive!

With some luck, I was able to get a few of them right, but can't seem to figure out the set-ups, and am having trouble with the second-level inferences.

Any tips for payback to these games?

Edited: Separated into two forum threads.

[noah]

Preptest 46 - June 2005 LSAT Answers

Here's the diagram I used for the second game. That game calls for very little upfront work -- there's very little to infer.

What makes this game tough is that very few conditions are given in the question. Instead, most every answer simply spells out two conditions and our job is to see if they work together. What this calls for is hunting for easy pickings, which may require quick sketch work. As you evaluate the answers, you don't need to complete the scenario for each one; just spell out a bit to allow you to evaluate whether to defer judgment or eliminate the answer choice.

What makes this game doable is that there are not that many conditions nor elements, and the final constraint is far-reaching.

Try it again with this diagram and see how it goes. Tell me if you need any of the questions spelled out.

[brandblum]

I am having difficulty with this game. I did not have an issue setting up the board. Can someone walk me through the following questions (I eliminated some of the answers):

7. Eliminated A, D, E
8. Eliminated D, E
9. Eliminated E
11. Did not eliminate

Thanks!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I'd be happy to point out what's going on with each of the incorrect answers that you're having issues with. If for some reason this doesn't seem to match what you have as you set up each question, maybe you could post your setup and we could work it through together.

7. answer choice (C) has three sides of jazz, but there are supposed to be only two sides of each kind of music.

8. (C) Must be true. Look at the fourth constraint. It could be written out

R(1) --> ~F(2)
R(2) --> ~F(3)
R(3) --> ~F(4)

If there are two sides of rock on side two then there cannot be any folk on tape three

_ R _ _
J R _ _
1 2 3 4

There can be one side of folk on tape one, but no matter what, at least one side of folk will have to be on tape four.

9. To see why answer choice (A) should be eliminated

J _ _ F
J _ _ H
1 2 3 4

Where do you want to put the rocks? We cannot put them on tape three and if we put them on tape two, then the other folk will follow and break the last constraint.

(C) can be eliminated because of the following

_ _ F J
J _ F R
1 2 3 4

Now, we cannot put the second rock anywhere. Rock is precluded from the first tape by the first constraint and from the second tape by the fourth constraint.

(D) can be eliminated because of the following

_ _ _ F
J _ J F
1 2 3 4

The problem here is that only hip-hops and rocks are left but neither are permitted on tape one.

11. (B) cannot be true for the following reason

_ H R _
J H R _
1 2 3 4

There will be at least one folk on tape four and this will break the fourth constraint.

I really hope this helps. Another thing to keep in mind is that while working from wrong to right is the correct approach for logical reasoning, it's not the way you want to go in logic games. Run with chains of inferences. I rarely check every answer choice on a logic games question.

[brandblum]

Thanks for the response. I forgot to apply the following rule:
"Each genre is found on exactly two of the eight sides"
Careless. Now the game makes sense. Thanks again.

[kwjustin89]

I understand everything about this game and why the answers are correct, but I would like to know what the best approach is for these types of questions? I noticed you said that working from incorrect to correct isn't the right approach; however what better method is there for these types of questions that give you little? I feel like there is no other way to do these than just start drawing hypotheticals for each answer til you find the correct one.

[noah]

I'm afraid this is a game that requires a lot of thinking out each answer choice. Thankfully, the set-up is relatively quick, so you've got time in the bank.

I suggest you play this game every couple of weeks to build up your ability to employ the rules without actually writing out hypotheticals.

[jennifer]

How could you determine that you could have two of the same genres on the same tape, such as Tape 1 FF. The question stem says "the tape contains exactly one of the following four". I was only able to realize that you could have two of the same genres when I got to the second question. Thank you

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

How could you determine that you could have two of the same genres on the same tape, such as Tape 1 FF. The question stem says "the tape contains exactly one of the following four". I was only able to realize that you could have two of the same genres when I got to the second question. Thank you

Good question. The set up says that "each side of four cassette tapes ... contains exactly one of the following four genres." It never says that each tape contains one of four genres, and it never says that the two sides of any one tape cannot contain the same genre.

Does that answer your question?