Linear games

[lorein21]

Game #9 June 1992 questions 1-6
page 3-46 of Lesson 3 Homework section

I'm having trouble figuring out how to set up this game. It's taking me too long and for question 2 I dont see why It cant be E and the answer is C. I also got question 3, 4 and 6 wrong so I'm doing something wrong with the set up. Please help? thank you.

Lorein

[Adam Tyson]

Hey Lorein. This game does tend to cause some confusion, mainly because some students make a false assumption that John has to get at least one of every grade. Question 2 should make clear that that's not required - if he passes everything, that means he doesn't get any "E" grades.

The setup on this game is linear, with the grades as the base - A through E - since those are the variables that have the most inherent order to them (A is higher than B, which is higher than C, etc.). The rules are:

a [GP] block (sorry, that's the best I can do on my keyboard). This is a combination of the first and last rules - G and P are consecutive and G is before P.

a double block of either [IR] or [RI] (they are consecutive, but we don't know which order)

E > H

In question 2, we know that John doesn't get an E in anything, and G comes before both I and R. So what must be true? You liked answer choice E, but what if I told you that John got an A in Geology, B's in Economics, Italian and Physics, and C's in History and Russian? No D's at all, and all the rules have been obeyed (GP, IR, E>H, with G>IR). This makes answer choice D correct (not C, by the way). If he had no B's, your GP block would be at C and D, and then where with the IR or RI block go? If no C's, GP would be an A and a B, but again, where would you put IR or RI? Remember, he doesn't get an E in any class.

Try that setup on the rest of the questions, and let me know how you do. Good luck!

Adam
LSAT Instructor, Charlotte, NC