Diagram

[gregory.mortenson]

I treated this as open assignment but my diagram did not yield too many inferences and so I relied on trial+error for a lot of the questions. The only inference that I put was that R couldn't be Wednesday. Other than that it seemed pretty wide open... comments appreciated!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

This game is an open assignment game to be sure. I agree that there are very few deductions to be made before you begin the questions. Attached is a pdf of the open board after the initial setup.

I wish I could tell you that you missed something major and make this game easier for you, but I think you're on the right track, which is probably better in the long run anyways.

If you need help with any of the questions specifically, let me know.

[gregory.mortenson]

My diagram was almost identical to yours. I get nervous when so few inferences are made -- I often think that I'm missing something important! The questions for this game weren't too bad although a bit time consuming due to the amount of drawing for each one.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Totally reasonable. Sometimes the test writers want to see if you can draw out the inferences. Other times, they want to see if you can slug your way through a game with almost no setup.

Good to hear that you were able to make your way through the questions. Just make sure that you pause after the initial setup and look for those inferences. Just because some games don't have them, doesn't mean you shouldn't look for them.

If your setup looked like mine you're on the right track. Good work.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

After taking another look at this game, I think this game lends itself to using frames. I thought I would share that with the following setup.

It moves much faster this way. Good luck!

[sge4]

I used similar frames. But for your Frame 2, I don't see how putting an O and an R in Wed and Thurs forces an R in Sat. I think all you know in Frame 2 is the O in Wed and the R in Thurs, not the R in Sat.

I think you could have:

Wed: O1
Thu: R1 G1
Fri: R2
S: O2 G2

I tried writing this out horizontally in the message body but the spacing wouldn't hold when I previewed it. Is there a way to make whatever I type appear fixed in place?

Something like this:

G O
O R R G
W T F S

But without the program aligning everything left? Thanks.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I used similar frames. But for your Frame 2, I don't see how putting an O and an R in Wed and Thurs forces an R in Sat. I think all you know in Frame 2 is the O in Wed and the R in Thurs, not the R in Sat.

Hey great question!

Actually that was the basis for Frame 2. The last constraint says that at least one of them goes on both Thursday and Saturday. The choice of frames was based on that constraint, so the first frame begins with O in both Thursday and Saturday, the second frame with R in both Thursday and Saturday, and the third with G.

Hope that helps!

[soyeonjeon]

mattsherman,

Thanks for your diagram. It is lucid.
Is it equally sufficient if I used the second rule (GR at least once) to build frames?

Since [GR] could not come first, I also came up with three sets of frames.

Can you also point me to some clues to how I can better spot the major rule which yields more inferences, in games like this one, where you cannot deduct all that much? Is it the conditional that mostly yields the major deductions?

Thanks!

[Jakexcohen]

So when I took the June 09 Diagnostic I initially set this game up as G, O, and R as my base with 2 slots designated next to them, on account that they must each go two separate days. However, I quickly learned this set-up was counterproductive when tackling the local hypotheticals. My question to the manhattan lsat community is how do I know, when beginning a logic game such as this one, to make the days of the week my base with an open grid to fill in the 3 variables? Intuitively, one would attempt such a game with the three actors as the base simply because 3 variables appear more limiting than 4 days of the week used twice.

If anyone could elaborate it would be greatly appreciated,
Jake

[DanielleB416]

I am in the same boat as the commenter above. How do I know, when beginning a logic game such as this one that the days of the week are best suited as my base with an open grid to fill in the 3 variables? On my initial attempt, I approached this game with the three actors as the base simply because 3 variables appear more limiting than 4 days of the week used multiple times.

[ohthatpatrick]

I have a pretty easy to follow rule of thumb for this that I personally use in all cases:

if there is any part of the game that involves Ordering, THAT needs to be my left to right in the diagram.

I can't think of a single exception to that rule or a single time where I've regretted following that rule.

Hope this helps.

[DanielleB416]

That does help. Thanks!