Understanding the LSAT Logic Games
The Law School Admissions Test, or LSAT, is a standardized test that is required to be taken by applicants to law schools within the United States. Obtaining a high score on the LSAT is considered to be as important as (in fact, often more important than) an applicant’s undergraduate grade point average by law school admissions committees. The LSAT consists of six sections including one experimental section, one written essay section, and four multiple-choice sections. Among the multiple choice sections is a section on Analytical Reasoning, often referred to as the “logic games” section. (NOTE: This breakdown refers to the in-person LSAT which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been suspended indefinitely. Instead, LSAC offers the virtual LSAT-Flex, which only contains four sections: one Logical Reasoning, one Analytical Reasoning, one Reading Comprehension, a Writing Sample. This means that the Analytical Reasoning section is even more important to your final score For more information on the LSAT-Flex, visit our FAQs page.)
The first LSAT was given in 1948. Because the law is a highly specialized area of study, law schools were looking for a way to determine whether an applicant would likely perform well in the study of law. The purpose of the LSAT is to gauge a prospective student’s aptitude for studying the law—not their overall intelligence quotient. Today, the logic games section of the LSAT is often the section that exam takers find to be the most intimidating.
The logic games section is intended to show how well an applicant can analyze information and draw conclusions. A logic game question will provide a set of rules that apply to the characters and then ask the student to reach a conclusion based on the given rules. For example, a logic game might tell the test taker that six children are in a daycare and each of them must be fed at some point during the morning. It will then provide rules for who can be fed when. Based on those rules, it will then ask the test taker to answer questions about when each child is fed.
There are a number of ways to study for the LSAT logic games section, but the key is that it is a learnable portion of the test. Many students excel after studying for it. The LSAC offers study materials and practice tests as do many other companies. Test preparation classes are also given throughout the year by numerous schools and private companies. Everyone approaches the LSAT logic games in their own way, but pretty much all of them agree that you will need to write, a lot. Writing out the clues, or “notating them,” takes some time, but it is time well spent.