December 2010 Stained Glass game

[Pheezer]

Is this the toughest game you've ever seen or what? I couldn't do this game if they game me the whole 35 minutes. FML!

[LawSchoolGuy]

I saw a blog post about this that shed some light on the subject: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/quick-thoughts-on-game-2-from-december-2010-lsat-stained-glass-windows/

[Ashley O]

It's a tough game, for sure. The third one is crazy hard also.

In both those games if you don't spend a little extra time drawing inferences during the setup, you're dead.

 

[Mitch Cumstein]

Ha I remember hearing about both of those games (2 and 3) after the Dec test. In my opinion the 3rd game is tougher, but I know stained glass gave people fits.

I read that blog post LawSchoolGuy put up about stained glass and found some more info on that blog about the third game: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/quick-thoughts-on-game-3-from-december-2010-lsat-management-skills-conference/

Figured if you hadn't seen that it might shed some light on the proper setup/inferences.

[Pheezer]

Yeah, but is it the toughest ever? That was my question

[Ashley O]

I'd say top 10, but hardest ever? That's so subjective.

[scenariosolver.com]

The game is not that bad actually.  There are merely five scenarios to the game.  After they are created any question can be answered very easily.

[Ashley O]

The game is not that bad actually.  There are merely five scenarios to the game.  After they are created any question can be answered very easily.

I think there are more than 5. I know that the use of Y creates two directions for the game, but there are more than just 5 scenarios under those directions.

[Ashley O]

Umm, you're wrong. There are more than 5 scenarios.

Unless you mean something by scenarios other than solutions, in which case you should have stated that.

[LSAT Eliminator]

Umm, you're wrong. There are more than 5 scenarios.

Unless you mean something by scenarios other than solutions, in which case you should have stated that.

I'd have to agree.

Maybe the original poster agrees now too, since we haven't seen a response yet from him.

[Ashley O]

He won't respond. He's wrong.

This is why I hate so-called experts who show up and claim they know everything. Mostly, they don't.

[Pheezer]

So I guess I can safely say this isn't the hardest game of all time. It's still a bitch imho.

[Jeffort]

So I guess I can safely say this isn't the hardest game of all time. It's still a bitch imho.

Correct, it isn't the hardest LSAT logic game of all time, but it is a difficult one.

The hardest administered one of all time isn't in circulation anymore.  It was on the February 1989 test.

The game stimulus starts with "Five children, three girls and two boys are playing."

Four of the five indented rules start with the word "sometimes" and establish conditions including:  sometimes they arrange themselves in a circle for a game, sometimes they arrange themselves in pairs, sometimes they line up, sometimes they wear colored hats. 

[LSAT Eliminator]

I agree with Jeffort--that kids game is a nightmare straight from the Inferno. Most people have never seen it because its not in release, but every question is like a whole new logic game. Utter brutality.

[Jeffort]

I agree with Jeffort--that kids game is a nightmare straight from the Inferno. Most people have never seen it because its not in release, but every question is like a whole new logic game. Utter brutality.

Utter brutality is a good way to describe it!  On top of trying to get over the is this  reaction from reading the stimulus, each question stem is about the text size of an LR stimulus/argument with additional rules that only apply to that particular question.  One of them is about the children going in and out of cubicles and yelling out what they see before going back into a box with statements like 'I see a boy wearing a red hat'.

I attribute the creativity and insanity of that game to the fact that the LSAT question writers at the time were probably aware that major changes to the format of the test and how it is developed were underway (to convert it to the current format that started with the June 1991 test) and knew that test question development was being re-assigned to a different group of people.  Plus, I think the Grateful Dead might have been touring and doing shows in the PA area around the time the game was written!  

As difficult as the stained glass game and other notable recent ones are (mulch game!), be very happy that LSAC has put in a lot of effort over the years to further standardize the test and how it is developed to make it much more predictable in terms of what types of games and questions you are likely to be challenged with.