underdawg's Full Review: David M. Killoran - Lsat Logic Games Bible: A Comp...
The Logic Games "Bible" by Powerscore is quite simply the best Logic Games instruction book I've ever used. And I've tried a whole bunch...
Background
After taking a few practice LSATs, and studying a bit from Master the LSAT I came to the conclusion that the other two sections were pretty easy for me, but I was TERRIBLE in Games. If you've ever tried them without any instruction whatsoever, you probably know what I'm talking about, unless you're a genius. The 35 minute section would take over twice as long to complete for me, and while my accuracy was pretty good, anyone can get high marks in Games if you just spend a lot of time and go through answer choices one by one, which is what I was doing.
So I got some more books. I tried Master the LSAT's logic games section first, which was terrible and often advised me to just go through the answer choices. Hardly an easy thing to do when you have 8.5 minutes per game. Barron's instruction was terrible as well. Fortunately, I stumbled upon Powerscore's book pretty early in my search and started using it the beginning of my junior year at Rutgers. Afterwards, I've tried REA and Kaplan books for extra practice, and only Kaplan was decent.
First things first. The Logic Games Bible is obscenely expensive at $64.99 and I was surprised by its thinness when I first got it (~200 pages). But it had pretty good reviews on Amazon, so I gave it a shot.
Does it work?
In a word, yes. The "Bible" is all about making the most informative diagrams you can have. None of their techniques seem all that revolutionary, but they all seem well-thought out and all are nice touches. For example, the book makes you write right on the page where the game instruction and questions are, just like an actual LSAT does. You don't get scrap paper on the exam, so you just better get used to writing in small spaces. Kaplan gives you a scratch sheet in their books. See, little things like that add up to make the best Logic Games book I've ever used.
The "Bible" is big on categorizing and sub-categorizing games, so you can quickly use the optimal kind of diagram for the game. I wasn't very into the sub-categorizing sections of the book. But anyway, their way of solving games works! You'll learn how to keep track of all the variables, mark down random variables, use the contrapositive to maximum benefit, and most of all, learn how rules and inferences interact and lead to further inferences. This last bit is really the key to the games section, in my opinion.
Also, in some games, the possible number of ways the variables can be set up within the rules are quite few, and in these games, the book recommends using "Identify the Template" and "Identify the Possibilities", by basically making a template diagram that efficiently displays all the possible solutions. It's hard to explain, but when properly used, it can make the questions for that game really just a snap. Their emphasis on Numerical Distributions can similarly lead to a really easy time on the questions.
The best part of the book is that EVERY example is from an actual LSAT, so you can see that Powerscore's methods work. I've seen some books cheat and choose one or two LSAT questions that actually work with their methods, but Powerscore ONLY uses actual questions, so you know they're not fudging. This is what makes the book so expensive.
Powerscore also has a book (Ultimate Setups Guide) which give you a diagram to work with for every released logic game from 1995-2002, and their methods work for 98% of the games! But sometimes, their methods take way too long to use. I've also found a better way to solve a few games, but I'll save that for another review.
I can't say with 100% conviction that Powerscore is the best Logic Games book in publication because I haven't tried them all, and out of the ones I have, I haven't stuck with all of them. But Powerscore certainly does work. I'm not a Games ace yet, but that's because I'm out of practice now. But quite often I can finish all the games in a section under 35 minutes, and sometimes I get ALL the questions right. Some games I can do in less than 4 minutes.
The writing style in this book is fine, and doesn't try to be funny like Kaplan writers do. Which I like because Kaplan writers have LAME senses of humor. The only writing quirk is that the author seems hellbent in proving that Powerscore methods are superior to others and makes fun of other methods pretty vehemently. This comes off as insecure and bitter, like the author got fired from Kaplan or something, but it turned out Powerscore methods really DO work, so it's ok. After all, he's not trying to win a Pulitzer Prize...
Fin
I think the best way to prepare for this section is to get both Powerscore books, learn the methods from the "Bible", and practice using a Real LSATs book and the Setup Guide and see how you do. Good luck and you can e-mail me from the one listed on my profile page if you have any LSAT questions, though I can't guarantee I'll know anything.
This how-to guide features a detailed methodology for attacking the much-feared Logic Games section of the LSAT. Well-known by college students and mu...More at Buy.com
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