Attacking logic games is a lot like attacking a shark. You want to practice before trying the real thing, you want to find its weaknesses quickly and all things being equal, you’d prefer to be dry while doing it.

Without preparing properly, you can assure yourself of none of these things (because you will no doubt be crying while taking the test). So at Blueprint LSAT Prep, our first rule is to be prepared when taking the LSAT in general and LSAT logic games in particular.

Beyond this initial advice, we at Blueprint LSAT Prep propose several tips for the best way to tackle logic games.

Know your rules

The number one most important thing in studying for logic games, at least according to us at Blueprint LSAT Prep, is understanding the rules. In just the same way that you would want to have a firm knowledge of your state’s crime of passion laws before engaging in any illicit affairs, you want to have a firm grounding in any individual logic game’s rules before moving onto the questions.

Deduce what can be deduced

Once you’ve gotten your rules down, and you feel like you have a firm grasp on why Billy can’t stand behind Susie (keeps kicking her) or Joan can’t be in the same group as Jessica (that meanie!), then you can begin to figure out how the rules connect to each other to form new rules, or, as we at Blueprint LSAT Prep call them, deductions. If Jill hates Bobby because he made her bathroom smell and won’t take a Blueprint LSAT class with him, and Bobby and Sam are Siamese twins who have to take the same Blueprint LSAT class as each other, then you need to be able to deduce that Jill can’t take the prep class with Sam either. And also that she will probably fail miserably at studying for the test.

Diagram what can be diagrammed

Next up is diagramming. After you’ve gotten a firm grasp of the deductions, at Blueprint LSAT Prep we think it’s important to put it on a diagram so you have some kind of visualization of the collection of rules. For ordering logic games, you’ll want to diagram everything on a left to right plane, whereas in grouping games, you’ll just want to clearly label groups and associate the proper factors to each.

Once you’ve done all of this, you’ve run 25 miles of the marathon, and we at Blueprint LSAT Prep salute you. All that’s left is answering those pesky questions, but if you actually went through all the steps above, those should take a matter of moments.

Article edited by Jodi Triplett and Trent Teti of Blueprint LSAT Preparation. Founded in 2005, Blueprint LSAT Preparation is short on years 
but long on skill, and most Blueprint instructors are not only masters of the LSAT but also masters of some version of mixed martial arts.