Welcome to the Junbi Logic Games Course

Back to: LSAT Logic Games

Welcome to our introduction to LSAT logic games. We are confident this is the absolute best way to get started on the LSAT.

Before we dive into the lessons, we thought you might want to get acquainted with your hosts for the course, so here is a brief background:

Junbiprep.com- Who We Are

Dee and I are long-time LSAT instructors who are dedicated to helping you realize your true potential on the LSAT.

Although different paths led us to the LSAT, we have a few notable things in common. First, we both managed to hit a high score on the LSAT. Dee got a 175, a 99.5th percentile score. I got a 173, a 99th percentile score.

We also both really liked the LSAT. I know that sounds strange, but it’s a really impressive test. It makes the other standardized tests seem laughably easy.

Further, even though we didn’t know each other when we took the LSAT, there were some remarkable similarities in the way that we both approached the test. We each attacked the LSAT in a more organized and methodical way than we had done with anything up until then. We managed to bring a level of focus to it that has helped us on all our endeavors since.

More and more, I discovered that other high scorers had this same experience. Before law school, I tutored the LSAT and taught LSAT classes. At U Chicago, I met many more successful test takers all bunched together. One thing always sets the high scorers apart: bringing a level of intensity to their studies that surpasses the average effort by leaps and bounds.

Still, when Dee and I were studying, it was a major pain to direct these efforts in a productive way. I had to wade through a sea of junk information before I could find a consensus on legitimate strategies for prepping. I didn’t know how long I might need to study or which techniques were considered the best, or the million other little tips that can come in handy. To figure it out, I had to listen to 10,000 trolls on the forums. I also ended up just buying every resource that was out there because I didn’t know what was what. It was expensive and most of it turned out to be garbage that just ended up in the trash.

I developed this course to cater to the intense self-studiers and save them the trouble we had to go through. The existing prep companies are teaching to the middle, so they can get the most students. The ones who, like us, were seriously motivated to do their best, often feel they get nothing out of these courses that they can’t learn on their own faster and more effectively.

Yes, high scorers do emerge from the one-size-fits-all courses that big companies offer. However, the truth is that they were probably going to eventually score high no matter what they did. We want to make the process faster and less painful for these motivated students, and our material is geared towards that. The Junbi Logic Games Course is the first step in that vision.

Beyond that, we think we can make you into this extra-motivated kind of student that succeeds even if you never fit into that category before. Believe me, before the LSAT, we didn’t know our potential and hadn’t really brought true focus to anything. Even if you’ve never done it, you can start now like we did.

What We Are Going To Do Differently Here

This course introduces logic games by helping you become a consummate master of the most basic game type: basic ordering. Although it tends to get seriously neglected by other prep companies, this game type is the real barometer of whether you will be successful on the LG section.

If you can learn to really master this particular type of game, mastering the LG section as a whole is an easy matter.

We believe it’s best to develop your skills fully in this basic ordering setting before adding the small layers of complexity that you’ll see on other game types. Too many LSAT students never develop this foundation and are left struggling after jumping into too much too quickly. Usually following a failed attempt at the LSAT, they have to go back and build a solid foundation.

I would say once you have basic ordering down, you have well over 75% of the skills needed to crush the section. It is the foundation for everything else you will do and tests all the mental tasks that need to operate quickly in order to become a high-scorer.

The material in this course is over twice as long as anything else you will find on the subject of basic ordering, yet I am confident you will find it all concise, clear, and necessary. So why the big difference?

For one thing, most companies offer their books as a loss-leader in order to get you into their live courses, where they actually make the money. In the book, they don’t actually want to teach you to the point of total confidence, otherwise, you won’t need the class.

This is not a bait and switch. Everything you need to know to handle these games is here in the course. Not only that, it is fully illustrated with carefully chosen examples that start training you to think like an LSAT expert.

Another reason the course is longer is that we don’t discount your intelligence. If something can broaden your understanding of what you are learning and why you are learning it, we add it in there, even if it’s a difficult concept. We are going for complete understanding here.

Perhaps most importantly, we have full, detailed walkthroughs to show you the techniques and strategy applied to all of the basic ordering games from the published preptests 7-38. This is about half of the total games of this type to ever appear on the LSAT. This way, you aren’t left guessing how we would do these games—you can see it over and over until it is truly absorbed.

Spend time and develop comfort here with us on basic ordering games, and you’ll never feel completely helpless on a logic game ever.

Required Materials

You can begin the course and start learning the fundamentals of logic games without any additional material.

However, to get the most out of the course, you are going to want to get your hands on every published preptest from PT 7 to PT 38. This is all essential material for any serious prep student (you’ll want them all for prepping on other game types and questions types, including LR and RC), so you might as well get them now.

PTs 7-38 will be your drill bank, the LSATs you use to drill and learn LSAT questions untimed. PT 36 to the most recently published LSAT (currently 89) will be used for doing timed sections and fully timed, simulated tests later in your prep.

We don’t include the preptests in the course because if we did, the course would cost A LOT more. These LSATs are more expensive for us to license than they are for you to buy directly from LSAC, the makers of the test. Companies that do include them include just a handful of examples because of the expense (or else charge you way more to access the test through them). We wanted to talk about every single basic ordering game, so you buy them cheaply, and we explain them.

Generally, they can be obtained most cheaply on Amazon. Here is a link where you can find every single LSAT ever published, including 7-38: https://www.lsac.org/lsat/lsat-prep/prep-books-ebooks

If you don’t feel like getting all of these right away (for example, if you are still deciding whether to take the LSAT at all), then start out with this inexpensive compilation published by LSAC: 10 Actual, Official PrepTests. This is ten full tests for a cost of about $2 each, and it will contain about 1/3 of the games we cover in the game explanations (walkthrough) sections of this course.

How Long Will This Course Take?

You could probably burn right through it, including doing every game from the walkthroughs section, in a couple of weeks of intense daily study. However, we recommend taking more time than that to really let the concepts sink in, review as needed, and complete all the games in the walkthroughs.

Remember, going slow here is okay (and encouraged), especially at first. This is your foundation. Get a solid start, focusing first on mastering basic ordering games, then everything else you learn in the LG section will come much more quickly.

Big Picture LG Introduction

Here is where you get acquainted with what the LSAT expects you to be able to do when you solve logic games. Our orientation aims to help you understand why games are the way they are, and what you will need to do to get better at them.

We take a close look at game structure, then introduce you to the tools and techniques that expert LSAT takers use to make this difficult section easier on your brain: diagramming.

Most importantly, we reveal the big secret as to how all games function. This will leave you with a clear understanding of your task when you attack games. While games are going to appear at first as an endless mass of possibilities, we’ll show you that they are all just variations on the same basic game.

To round out the section, we give you a step-by-step plan of attack that can be applied to any game.

Basic Ordering Introduction

After the big picture is in focus, it’s time to move to the nuts and bolts. These are the tools you need to face any rule the LSAT gives you for how to arrange pieces. In detailed illustrations and examples, we give you time-honored, battle-tested methods for representing these games and solving them quickly and efficiently. Here’s a peek at the lessons in this section:

Conditional Rules

First, we take a comprehensive look at the subject that typically gives people the most trouble on the LSAT: conditional rules. We talk about it in plain English, but also bring you to an advanced understanding that other courses never reach.

Unbalanced Games

Not all basic ordering games are alike. Here, we start incorporating some of the added issues that you’ll face on ordering games and add some flexibility to your approach. Every new concept is illustrated with examples. We address unique features of these games, so you are fully equipped to handle any ordering scenario presented.

In/out Games

Next, we move to the second of the two major game types, grouping, where we sort pieces into groups. We start out with two groups and learn to handle more and more complex conditional rules.

3 or more Group Games

Next, we teach you how to handle even more groups with confidence.

Combination Games

The final game type is a combination of ordering and grouping. This game type will use everything you have already learned, so it is the perfect test of mastery.

Game Strategy

With all the techniques in place, it’s time to return to the big picture. In the strategy section, we hone in on the details of answering the questions with the greatest possible speed and accuracy.

Game Explanation Walkthroughs

As you learn game types, we’ll give you the opportunity to watch us solving games of that type. To succeed on the games section, you don’t need to invent anything new. Copy the strategy of a master, and it is just a matter of time and practice before you are a master yourself. No one else gives you as much opportunity to look at exactly how we would solve a game using the strategies you have learned.

Again, welcome to our highly logical introduction to LSAT logic games. We’re excited to have you with us! Let’s get started…