Free LSAT Logic Games | Linear | Difficult Version

UPDATE: See the explanation for this Logic Game's setup.

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LSAC could drive us crazy with a Logic Game based entirely on gods and goddesses whose names begin with the letter "A".

To be fair, LSAC has never done this before. In fact, you'll generally find that the variables in most Logic Games don't share the same first letter, allowing you to easily represent "apple" as "A", "banana" as "B", etc.

You've probably become so dependent on this norm that if you came across a game with multiple variables (people/places/things) possessing the same first letter, you wouldn't know what to do.

I know you're thinking:

This will never happen. There are dozens of PrepTests out there, and LSAC wasn't cruel in any of them in the way you've described. Stop giving them ideas!

True. LSAC hasn't ever made a game with all the variables beginning with the same letter. However, LSAC also hadn't ever written a game with virtually no room to diagram, but then the 4th Logic Game of the June 2009 LSAT came along. Since they already messed with the sacred diagram-drawing space, I wouldn't put it past them to start messing with the variables.

As for giving LSAC ideas, I'm sure they've already considered doing a game with all "X"s or "Z"s or something wicked like that. If they do, you'll now be ready for it.

How? Because you're about to do a Logic Game with multiple variables that start with the same letter. This game has 5 "A" variables and 2 "D" variables.

(There are no real Logic Games out there like this one, so I had to write my own. I know I always advise against using fake LSAT questions. However, I've modeled this on a few recent actual LSAT Logic Games, so I'm confident this is a fairly legitimate representation of what a Basic Linear Logic Game is like, if on the easier side.)

What's the magic technique to deal with a game like this? Believe it or not, it's nothing crazy. When you diagram the rules and draw slots, use the first couple of letters instead of only the first letter. This will allow you to distinguish between the variables without writing out their full names.

I know many of you are just starting out, so I've also posted an "easier" version of this logic game. It contains identical rules and associated questions - only the scenario and names of the variables are different.

However, I recommend you try out the more difficult version first just to get a sense of how reliant you are on having different letters for each variable.

Be adaptive. Think about ways LSAC could make Logic Games harder and be ready for whatever they throw at you.

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LSAC is obsessed with using cars and trucks as Logic Game topics (someone's childhood obsession, perhaps, like dinosaurs). Well, I loved mythology as a kid, so I'm subjecting you to gods and goddesses from Greek mythology in my Logic Game (non-Greek deities will be used in future Logic Games, not to worry).

(I consider both versions to be pretty easy. The only thing that makes this version especially "hard" is the variables themselves. Aside from that twist, upcoming Logic Games that I write will be significantly more difficult.)

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Here's the "hard version" of the game:

Seven Greek deities are fighting to establish a hierarchy of power on Mount Olympus. They are Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, and Dionysus. No other deities participate in the fighting, and the hierarchy will establish an ordering of the seven deities from most powerful to least powerful. No two deities will be equally powerful.

The hierarchy of power must be established in accordance with the following restrictions:

There must be exactly two deities more powerful than Dionysus but less powerful than Apollo.
Dionysus cannot be the least powerful deity.
Apollo cannot be more powerful than Artemis.
Demeter cannot be the next most powerful deity after Athena, nor can Athena be the next most powerful deity after Demeter.
Aphrodite must be either the 4th or 5th most powerful.

1. Which one of the following could be the hierarchy of power, from most powerful to least?

(A) Artemis, Demeter, Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Athena
(B) Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Athena, Demeter
(C) Demeter, Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Athena, Ares
(D) Artemis, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Demeter, Dionysus, Athena
(E) Athena, Ares, Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Demeter, Dionysus


2. If Dionysus is the fifth most powerful deity, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

(A) The second most powerful deity is Apollo.
(B) The third most powerful deity is Ares.
(C) The third most powerful deity is Athena.
(D) The sixth most powerful deity is Demeter.
(E) The seventh most powerful deity is Athena.


3. If Artemis and Apollo are the first and second most powerful deities, respectively, how many different hierarchies could there be?

(A) one
(B) two
(C) three
(D) four
(E) five


4. If Athena is the second most powerful deity, but Aphrodite is NOT the fourth most powerful deity, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

(A) Ares falls immediately before Aphrodite in the hierarchy.
(B) Ares falls immediately after Dionysus in the hierarchy.
(C) Apollo falls immediately before Ares in the hierarchy.
(D) Aphrodite falls immediately before Ares in the hierarchy.
(E) Aphrodite falls immediately after Demeter in the hierarchy.


5. If the condition that Dionysus cannot be the least powerful deity is removed, and Dionysus then falls to the bottom of the hierarchy, but all other conditions remain in effect, which one of the following is now a complete list of deities, any one of which could be third most powerful?

(A) Ares, Artemis, Athena
(B) Demeter, Ares, Athena
(C) Demeter, Ares, Artemis, Athena
(D) Demeter, Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis
(E) Demeter, Apollo, Ares, Artemis


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The text below contains the answers to the above Logic Game.

1. A
2. B
3. D
4. D
5. C

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Having trouble with this Logic Game? See a step-by-step explanation of this Logic Game's setup with the easier version of this game - that game contains identical logic to this one and is a bit easier because the letters associated with the variables don't repeat.

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Photo by sebastiagiralt

(Athena, the patron goddess of Athens, was said to have been born fully grown from the head of Zeus. Here Zeus sits on his throne holding his thunderbolt, as the goddess springs from his head in full armor. Hephaistos, who is usually present with the axe he used to split his father's skull, is absent, but Hermes and Apollo look on at left, and at right Ares and a goddess, possibly Aphrodite, observe the miraculous birth.)