You Derive Me Crazy: Rock and Logic Games (LSAT Logic Games Series)

by Matt Shinners Nov 11, 2015

No matter how good you get at Logic Games, finding those difficult inferences will always be a challenge! In our “You Derive Me Crazy” blog series, we’ll take a look at some of the higher-level inferences that repeat on the LSAT, ensuring that you have all the tools necessary to tackle anything the LSAT throws at you on test day. 🎓💼

What do iconoclasm and music appreciation have in common? You’ll be exposed to both of them through my blog posts!

Last week, we featured some music by Britney. This week, I’m going to go old school and discuss what I like to call Meat Loaf frames.

I’ll wait while you watch the video.

What can an aging rocker with the voice of an angel teach us? Well, a lot about love. But also, shockingly, we can learn a bit about logic games from him, as well!

Think about the following game:

Jay is deciding which of his cars to keep, and which to sell. He has red, yellow, green, and blue cars, which he named A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The following constraints apply:

1. He’s keeping exactly two blue cars
2. C and D are both red
3. E and G can’t both be blue
4. B is yellow

So, what’s our goal?

Figure out which cars he’s keeping, and which he’s selling. The colors seem to be a throw-away, until we get to the rules. There, we see a lot of information about the color of cars. These rules are the game trying to tell us that the colors are important.

Reading through, it should be apparent that the blue cars seem to be the most constrained – Jay’s keeping exactly 2 of them, and C, D, and B can’t be those cars. Also, there could be a blue car in the E/G set, but they can’t both be blue.

So what can be blue? A, E/G, and F. Three possibilities (well, four with the option, but it can only be one at a time); two slots.

Whenever you have to pick two options out of three, you can make three frames. And that ain’t bad.

For this game (a spiritual brother to the infamous mauve dinosaur game), I’d almost certainly set up three frames:

1. A and E/G are the blue cars
2. A and F are the blue cars
3. E/G and F are the blue cars

With this, you’d be ready to tackle a game that has stumped LSAT prep-ers since it was released.

And if you’re looking to read up on more framing opportunities, read through our archives so that it’ll all come back to you, now. Which was almost a Meat Loaf song – a court had to stop him from recording it. Which means a court can stop Meat Loaf, but a tricky inference won’t stop you!

Looking for more resources to aid in your LSAT journey? Check out our prep options here, or try a free trial class here.  📝

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Matt Shinners is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in New York City. After receiving a science degree from Boston College, Matt scored a 180 on his LSAT and enrolled in Harvard Law School. There’s nothing that makes him happier than seeing his students receive the scores they want to get into the schools of their choice. Check out Matt’s upcoming LSAT courses here!