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LSAT TESTWELL > Puzzles > Flashcards

Puzzles Flashcards

1
Q

Magic Question

A

“How many ways can this (rule or part of a rule) happen?”
How many distinct arrangements/outcomes are possible?

MQ forces you to mentally play out the rule in light of what you already know, and to discover its real impact when actually applied

Start with one “extreme”, count your way via one smallest-possible-increment at a time til you get to the opposite extreme

Ask it for every rule in every puzzle

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2
Q

Common Element

A

Anything (character, position, set, attribute, issue) that is mentioned in two or more different rules, that is mentioned in two or more different answers, or that is true in common among all the different legal outcomes.

Anything that is true among all the different legal ways a rule can play out in context is something that MUST be true generally.

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3
Q

Most efficient way to do puzzles

A

Work puzzle out as far as possible before starting to answer questions at all

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4
Q

“or”

A

“OR BOTH” (unless otherwise specified)

“either / or” = “at least one of…”
In puzzles, args, and passages

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5
Q

“unless”

A

“if not”

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6
Q

“Work the puzzle out…”

A

“…further, sooner.”

It will always be more efficient to do so. This will pre-answer at least a third of the questions.

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7
Q

“Your picture”

A

There’s no such thing as “the” picture for any given puzzle type. You have to experiment with 2-3 diff pictures for each type to find the one that works for YOU. (Then that’s your picture for that puzzle type.)

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8
Q

A good picture…

A
  1. is a “storage medium”
  2. is easy to manipulate
  3. shows the connections among rules and characters
  4. does the work for you (pre-answers as many questions as possible)
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9
Q

A question ELIMINATES a rule or REPLACES it with another rule

A

You have to REDRAW THE WHOLE PICTURE FROM SCRATCH, rule by rule

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10
Q

“Issues”

A

Categories of information.

All Puzzles have 2+ issues

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11
Q

An OverView will tell you…

A
  1. What the Puzzle’s issues are

2. How you personally want to think about (arrange) those issues

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12
Q

Numbers

A

Implicit in every puzzle, if only in the form of how many characters there are and how many places or connections there are that each character takes or makes (number of “data points”)

Almost always an issue…and likely to be the defining issue in any Puzzle that mentions numbers explicitly.

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13
Q

Steps of an OverView

A
  1. Read the intro paragraph
  2. Skim the rules
  3. Skim at least the Questions, and preferably the Answers too

Looking for what type of info you have and what type of things you’re being asked for. Will help you choose the best picture type.

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14
Q

Ordering Family puzzles

A 
Absolute Ordering
Relative Ordering 
Schedule Ordering
Table Ordering
Multiple Ordering
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15
Q

Matching Family puzzles

A

1-Issue Matching
2-Issue Matching
Multi-Issue Matching
Assignment Matching

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16
Q

Grouping Family puzzles

A

2-Bin Sorting
Multi-Bin Sorting
Selection

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17
Q

Mapping Family puzzles

A

Connection Mapping
Physical Mapping
Conceptual Mapping

18
Q

Coding (L6) issues

A

Characters (symbols, abstractions, things, people) are placed or moved around in pre-set patterns of movement

usually involve cumulative generations of movements

19
Q

Number-Crunch/Spreadsheet (L6) issues

A

Numbers of types of characters usually with 2 different attributes, have maximum, minimum, or fixed values, usually with numeric relationships among the values.

Can look just like Selection puzzles but with number values in most or all answers

20
Q

Relative Ordering (L4) issues

A

Characters (people, places, things, events) are lined up in places relative to one another, but not in absolute/concrete positions

(at least until enough characters get “fixed” to permit concrete placement in some questions)

Label each character’s range of possible locations, by asking the magic question for each character (how many must be before/ahead of them, how many characters must be after/behind them)

21
Q

Schedule Ordering (L4) issues

A

Events are lined up in time, with each block of time (day, hour) subdivided

22
Q

Table Ordering (L8) issues

A

Characters (people or things) are placed in order around a table or anything else that wraps around

May or may not have absolute positions

23
Q

Multiple Ordering (L8) issues

A

Same characters (people, things, events) are lined up in 2-5 separate sequences

24
Q

1-Issue Matching (L5) issues

A

Characters (people, places, things, events, abstractions) each have or do not have a characteristic or attribute (diseases respond/don’t respond to various treatments)

or do or do not perform an act (technicians repair-don’t repair types of machines)

or do or do not have an act performed (movies get/don’t get reviewed by several reviewers)

1-issue matching puzzles can be done as bins instead.
(Better to do as sorting/bins if there’s exactly one appearance of each character. Better to do as matching/grid if there could be 0, 1, or multiple appearances of each character.)

25
Q

2-Issue Matching (L5) issues

A

One MAJOR issue of characters (people, places, things, events, abstractions), which may or may not be in an ordered sequence,

do or do not have 2 different characteristics or attributes;
or do or do not perform 2 different acts;
or do or do not involve 2 different types of people.

These two MINOR issues of attributes/acts/classes are less related to each other than they both are to the major issue of characters/positions in the sequence

Have to be done in grids. Major issue characters or positions get listed across the top, and each minor issue takes up one row of the grid underneath. Normally can’t be filled in with checks/x’s.

26
Q

Multi-Issue Matching (L8) issues

A

Same as 2-issue but with 3+ issues, each more related to the characters than to each other

27
Q

Assignment Matching (L5) issues

A

Characters (people, places, things, events, abstractions) are each associated with two attributes, characteristics, acts, or people

Two FIXED issues, one on each dimension of the grid, and one MOBILE issue, which populates it

Each outcome has a different unique 3-way combo for each of the characters, as in the end of a game of Clue

Hints as to what should be the fixed/mobile issues:

  1. look at the other questions’ Answers (mobile issue normally the last word of the answers, or the word after the verbs)
  2. look at the Canary question’s Answers (though sometimes misleading)
  3. issue with the most different members is usually mobile

Usually helpful to draw rosters for both each COLUMN and each ROW

Any common elements are determinate (as long as there are no duplicate appearances)

28
Q

2-Bin Sorting (L5) issues

A

Characters (people, places, things) are separated into two groups (“bins”), which can be just collections, physical locations, or abstractions

Any sorting/bin puzzle can be done as a matching/grid instead.
(Better to do as sorting/bins if there’s exactly one appearance of each character. Better to do as matching/grid if there could be 0, 1, or multiple appearances of each character.)

Characters could each be in just one bin at a time (more common) or in both bins or neither

29
Q

Multi-Bin Sorting (L5) issues

A

People, places, things are separated into three to five groups (“bins”).

Any sorting/bin puzzle can be done as a matching/grid instead.
(Better to do as sorting/bins if there’s exactly one appearance of each character. Better to do as matching/grid if there could be 0, 1, or multiple appearances of each character.)

Characters can each be in only one bin at a time (more common) or in both bins or neither

30
Q

Selection (L8) issues

A

Characters (people, places, things, abstractions) are each “chosen” or not chosen

May or may not sort characters into categories, with number limits attached

31
Q

Connection Mapping (L8) issues

A

Characters (people, places, things) are linked or not linked, by one or more types of 1-direction or 2-direction connections

32
Q

Physical Mapping (L8) issues

A

Places, people, things are placed in physical locations relative to one another

33
Q

Conceptual Mapping (L8) issues

A

Events or states of being are related by interlinked if-then network

34
Q

Roster

A

Cast of characters

Crossing off as needed

If characters appear more than once, might be better to draw each appearance separately

Include blank spaces as characters

Categories of characters: use subscripts/superscripts, shape code, capital/lower case…

35
Q

Limiting Factor

A

Any rule, character, issue, or combination of any of these that makes things happen, prevents things from happening, allows things to happen, or that otherwise makes any useful connections occur

Any combination of rules that happens 4 ways or fewer

36
Q

The Magic Question

A

For each rule (and for each element/character within each rule)

“How many ways can this happen (in the context of what we have already played)?”

Gets the rules to show their connections

Magic number: 4 or fewer

If something can happen only that many ways, that connection is a Limiting Factor

37
Q

Splittable puzzle

A

Half or more of the puzzle’s characters or data points are accounted for

Will generally generate a 30+% time savings

38
Q

“Could be true” questions

A

Predict wrong answers to Could questions (“lies”) from your picture

If it was legal for any other question (even ones with “if” conditions), then it’s legal for this question (unless this one has an “if” condition)

39
Q

Brute force trial-and-error

A

When you need to do this, start with answers that contain more Limiting Factor content (more likely to be right)

(Before doing this, always try to predict the answer, e.g. from prior work or knowledge of connections between rules)

Fallback is to start from the bottom answers, up

40
Q

“Complete and accurate list” questions

A

If you haven’t already gotten at least half of the data points necessary to answer this question from prior pictures, skip the question and return to it once you have more prior pictures

(Fake C&AL questions are basically just like regular “could” questions)

41
Q

Toughest puzzle placement

A

Last LESS THAN 25% of the time.

Never a mistake to walk away (from any individual question or any entire puzzle)!

42
Q

Canary questions

A

Usually the first question.

Apply the rules individually to eliminate all but one legal answer
(rule-by-rule elimination is almost always the fastest approach)

LSAT TESTWELL (4 decks)

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