#10 - Local, Suspension

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is E.

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[jailenea]

Can someone explain why E is correct and what the fastest way to get there is? R being 5th in place of L/N isn't yielding much information alone for me. I was testing every answer choice but had to guess (A) as I ran out of time.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi jailenea!

Answer choice (A) does initially look appealing. When one combines the 4th and 5th rules, it becomes clear that you can't have all three of I, R, and O at the same time. Thus it might seem that if R is in the 5th interview spot, then only one of I versus O will be chosen but not both. However, it's possible that neither of them is chosen, which is why (A) is ultimately incorrect.

Regarding (E), that answer choice states that T must be interviewed 4th. The 4th and 5th rules are again helpful here. In addition to suspending one of the rules, the question stem also tells that R is in spot 5. Because of that, we know that neither I nor O will be interviewed. This is because if you have I and R, then I must come after R, and if you have O and R, then O must come after R. In both cases, I and O must come after R, but there's no space since R is in the final spot.

With I and O eliminated, then we know the remaining variables are all used, since 5 of 7 will be interviewed. That is, we're left with G, L, N, R, and T. Based on the rules, there is only one possible ordering of these variables:

G, L, N, T, R

G must be first if G is used. L seems like it could be in spots 2 or 3, but we know that it must be in 2 because we need room for the NT block, since both N and T are used.