skip to Main Content

LSAT Grouping Games

Grouping is the second most common skill (after LSAT sequencing games) used in the Analytical Reasoning section of the LSAT. This is the first article in a series of articles covering LSAT Grouping Games. The series includes:

LSAT Grouping Games

Grouping is a task you do all the time. When you put your socks in one drawer and your T-shirts in another, you are grouping. When you and twelve friends are riding to the game in three separate cars, you are grouping.

Sometimes people confuse grouping with matching (which is covered in another lesson), or even with sequencing. Since you visualize and deal with each type of game quite differently, it’s important to be able to identify them quickly.

Once you’re familiar with the skills involved, grouping gives you easy points. By mastering sequencing and grouping skills, you’ll probably have about 75% of the games section in the bank.

Here’s a fast way to tell the difference among the main LSAT game types: 

Sequencing:

  • Key task: Putting things in order.
  • Rules: Each entity is relative to the others (taller, sooner, faster, fatter, etc.).
  • Example: Eight children in a classroom stand in order of height.

Grouping :

  • Key task: Putting things in groups.
  • Rules: Attributes are items that are used only once.
  • Example: Put certain paintings in certain rooms in the museum.

Matching :

  • Key task: Assigning characteristics.
  • Rules: Attributes are features that can be used more than once.
  • Example: Determine which blocks are small or large, and red or blue.

Of course, some games are hybrid games that combine several skills in one game. A common type of hybrid game combines sequencing and grouping. For example, you might have to assign children to different school rooms and then rank them by grade order. Naturally, when you have rules of different types, it makes it more difficult to make inferences. That makes hybrid games a little bit harder than a straight sequencing or grouping game.

Always remember to preview the entire section before just jumping in with the first game. The first game might be the hardest and you could spend a lot of time on questions you’re not sure about. Look for games you like doing first and build your confidence with them before tackling the harder games.

Two Types of LSAT Grouping Games

There are basically two types of grouping games, selection and sorting.

Selection means you have a large group or pool of entities and you must choose a smaller group based on certain rules. Another way to think of it is that there are only two groups: on the list, or off the list. Pure-play selection has the following two characteristics:

  • You have only one group, room, or box you’re putting things in, and,
  • You’re not going to use everyone on the list

Sorting means you’re going to take your list of entities and divide them into separate groups. Pure-play sorting has the following two characteristics:

  • You have multiple groups, rooms, or boxes you’re sorting things in, and
  • You’re going to distribute every item on the list

Naturally, the LSAT doesn’t stop there. You could also have grouping games that require you to select and then sort the items. Here are examples of the differences:

  • Selection: which five out of a list of ten astronauts gets to go on a space shuttle mission.
  • Sorting: assign all five astronauts to one of three different shuttle missions.
  • Combination: select five out of a list of ten astronauts and assign them to one of three missions.

LSAT Grouping Games Setups

Let’s take a look at some basic grouping setups so that you’re familiar with typical grouping games. Consider what makes the following setups grouping games, as opposed to grouping, matching, or hybrid games.

A clerk at a hardware store has to sort ten items into three boxed customer orders—Atkins, Brower, and Carter. The items are four yardsticks, two hammers, one screwdriver, and three wrenches.

     Each customer ordered at least one yardstick
     No customer ordered more than one hammer
     The customer who ordered the screwdriver ordered at least on wrench
     Carter did not order the screwdriver

What makes this a grouping game? You have three boxes (A, B, and C) and you only get to use the attributes (screwdrivers, hammers, etc.) once. If the attributes were things like large, medium, and small, and you could use them more than once to describe each box, it would be a matching game. The rules tell you how to group the items or attributes. Further, this is a game of sorting because you’re going to use all the items and there is more than one group or list.

What would the LSAT typically ask you about this type of game?

  • Which items go in which box?
  • What items cannot go in the same box (or must go in the same box)?
  • What is the maximum number of items that can go in a box?

Let’s look at another game:

Five executives–Albertson, Brinegar, Collins, D’Arnet, and Evans–have each reserved the board room for five consecutive afternoons. During the reserved times, each executive will make a presentation to one or more of the following departments: marketing, legal, and finance. No other departments will attend the meetings.

We’ve thrown you a curve here. This looks like a grouping game because each of the executives has their own day, separate from the others. You’re going to assign different departments to different days, and instead of calling the days, “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,” you’re going to call the days, “Albertson, Brinegar, Collins, D’Arnet, and Evans.” But, this isn’t a grouping game at all. This is a matching game, because you are using the attributes (the departments) more than once. With grouping you would have one set of attributes that are items you use once, and one set of entities. You could probably deal with the visualization as a grouping game because you’re dealing with putting things in rooms, but that’s where the similarity ends.

Now that you’ve seen an introduction to LSAT Groups Games, let’s take a look at LSAT Grouping Sketches.