To Create Worlds or Not to Create Worlds (LSAT)

I've learned over the years teaching the LSAT that as a teacher of this test you've got to be open to the idea that different students are going to need to approach the test differently. Strikes me as a mistake to preach one way with this test, so I try not to do that. 

With the logic games, some teach the following approach: After reading the rules and prior to answering the questions, create a variety of possible scenarios so that when you do come to a question that requires that scenario it'll be all set up for you. You'll just need to look over that previously-created scenario and maybe adjust it a bit for the given question. I've heard this called creating worlds, or creating forms, or creating templates, or etc.

The purpose of this post is not at all to claim that this approach is wrong. In fact, it might be the perfect approach for some. But it's not my approach when teaching the games because it's not the way that I work through the games. I can only teach what makes the most sense to me. 

Getting through the games in the time allotted is tough. I'd rather save that time that some spend creating these templates and use those minutes to answer questions. But of course, this isn't without risk. There's a benefit to those templates and so my approach requires that you remember the rules so that you can create those templates when needed as you come to a question that requires them.

In other words, working memory is an essential component of doing well at the logic games, and I teach students how to improve working memory (through dedicated practice, no gimmicks) so that you don't need to rely on creating possible templates prior to answering the questions. 

A simple example to illustrate the above:

Let's say it's a sequencing game with 5 slots. "x cannot go first or second."

Creating worlds would mean at that moment before addressing the questions creating three boards:

_ _ x _ _ 

_ _ _ x _ 

_ _ _ _ x

Then the next rule reads, "if y is first, then z must be last. 

There would be some other rules but for the purpose of this illustration, we can end there. 

Rather than creating those 3 worlds up front I work with students on remembering them so that when we come to a question we can use them as needed. 

Assume at some point during the game, you come to a question that reads "which of the following must be true if y is first. 

Now, we'll go ahead and create a few scenarios based on the rule we remember about x. 

y _ _ x _ z

y _ _ _ x z

We don't need to create that third scenario for this question because x cannot go last if y goes first (z has to go last). 

We would then use the other rules to fill in these 2 templates and get to our answer.

The crux of my approach is to save time. We're still creating worlds, but we're not doing it up front. Instead we're doing it on an as-needed basis when the question calls for it. This is just one of many approaches to the LSAT logic games! I've found that when you do this well, timing is far less of an issue. You can actually finish the section with time to spare which can seem like an impossibility to those just starting out.