Of any of the LSAT’s sections, the Analytical Reasoning section has perhaps become the most notorious in popular imagination due to the rigor and complexity of its “logic games.” Accounting for a 25% of a test-taker’s LSAT score, the Analytical Reasoning section makes an appearance at least once on every exam, and possibly twice, should you chance to receive an ungraded research section of this type. The section is composed of four scenarios and sets of conditions (the “games” of the colloquial name) and five to eight questions associated with each. Each Analytical Reasoning section is timed to last for thirty-five minutes, giving students eight minutes and forty-five seconds to process each game and answer its related questions. It needs not be said that this is a very strict time limit that does not allow much if any room for error in one’s test-taking approach.

The games themselves come in several different flavors. They can be broadly separated into the categories of grouping games, in which you are asked about the ways in which a certain number of variables can be chosen for different groups, and linear games, in which you are asked about the ways in which a certain number of variables can be arranged in a linear order. The section’s content can be divided into even narrower categories depending on the number of variables featured in each game. While reviewing for this section, therefore, it is crucial that one be exposed not only to many logic games as one practices and develops one’s strategy, but to several logic games of each variety. Whether you need LSAT tutoring in Atlanta, LSAT tutoring in Houston, or LSAT tutoring in San Francisco, working one-on-one with an expert may be just the boost your studies need. 

In order to learn to solve logic games efficiently and quickly, one must develop one’s method of approaching each type of game by working through practice questions and fine-tuning the idiosyncrasies of one’s strategy; for on the Analytical Reasoning section, each test-taker’s approach can be very idiosyncratic indeed due to the myriad ways in which one can approach the material and jot down one’s work. In developing and testing such note-taking, it is highly important that one develop some sort of method to be able to differentiate between the initial conditions of a game and any proposed alterations or additions to these conditions specific to a particular question. After all, you don’t want to reach the final question on a logic game only to realize you assumed that an amendation introduced in the first question, specific to that question, was part of the initial conditions! This would derail your work for every other problem in the section, if not necessarily, then most probably. A reliable note-taking system is essential. Varsity Tutors also offers resources like free LSAT Analytical Reasoning Practice Tests to help with your self-paced study, or you may want to consider an LSAT Analytical Reasoning tutor.

Furthermore, at a certain point in one’s review, one must graduate from simply answering practice problems at one’s own pace to completing them under timed conditions in order to calibrate the speed at which one works to match that required by the conditions of the real exam. The time limit and the stress of exam day can turn manageable problems into challenging ones and challenging ones into insurmountable ones, so it is important to presuppose these conditions and anticipate them as much as possible during one’s review. In addition to the LSAT Analytical Reasoning Flashcards and LSAT Analytical Reasoning tutoring, you may also want to consider taking some of our LSAT Analytical Reasoning Diagnostic Tests.  

The LSAT’s Analytical Reasoning section may be extremely challenging, but the skills it tests and that you develop over the course of your preparation will be put to good use in whichever law school you choose to attend. Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools website offers a variety of study tools you can use as you work toward mastering logic games. You may find our LSAT Logic Games flashcards to be particularly helpful if you wish to drill questions associated with one particular type of game; furthermore, using our LSAT Logic Games flashcards to treat questions one at a time before considering them as sets associated with a single game can be a good first step in one’s review to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Our LSAT Logic Games resources can be valuable tools to augment your careful preparation and help you face your test’s logic games with confidence on exam day!