- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8950
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Wed Jun 01, 2016 4:21 pm
#25926
Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=5457)
The correct answer choice is (E)
From our initial set of Not Laws, it is apparent that answer choice (E) is correct: W cannot lecture second. If W lectured second, then P would have to lecture first. This alignment would occupy two of the first three positions, leaving no room for T and S.
Let’s imagine, however, that you arrived at this question without the requisite Not Laws on the second position. After all, many students do not see this inference during the setup. If you were tempted to use the “plug-and-chug” approach of testing which four variables could be second, you were not alone. Unfortunately, this approach is quite laborious and notoriously inefficient. It is no accident that the correct answer choice (E) is at the very bottom of the list, forcing unwitting students to “plug-and-chug” through each and every answer choice before arriving at the correct one. There has to be a more efficient approach here.
When your main setup does not contain the information to answer a Global Cannot Be True question immediately, your first step should be to examine prior work. Question #6 contains a complete solution to the game, and P gave the second lecture in that solution. Thus, answer choice (A) is eliminated. However, four answers still remain in contention, so what is the next step?
One approach would be to jump to some of the Local questions and solve them first. In doing so, you stand to accumulate a set of hypothetical solutions showing which variables could be second. This will likely eliminate at least some of the remaining answer choices from consideration. For instance, question #9 establishes that S lectures second. Without even solving that question, we can use it to eliminate answer choice (B) in question #8. You can also use questions #11 and #12, though you will need to solve them first. The local diagram for question #11 shows that V could lecture second, helping us eliminate answer choice (D). Likewise, the local diagram for question #12 shows that T could lecture second, eliminating answer choice (C).
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=5457)
The correct answer choice is (E)
From our initial set of Not Laws, it is apparent that answer choice (E) is correct: W cannot lecture second. If W lectured second, then P would have to lecture first. This alignment would occupy two of the first three positions, leaving no room for T and S.
Let’s imagine, however, that you arrived at this question without the requisite Not Laws on the second position. After all, many students do not see this inference during the setup. If you were tempted to use the “plug-and-chug” approach of testing which four variables could be second, you were not alone. Unfortunately, this approach is quite laborious and notoriously inefficient. It is no accident that the correct answer choice (E) is at the very bottom of the list, forcing unwitting students to “plug-and-chug” through each and every answer choice before arriving at the correct one. There has to be a more efficient approach here.
When your main setup does not contain the information to answer a Global Cannot Be True question immediately, your first step should be to examine prior work. Question #6 contains a complete solution to the game, and P gave the second lecture in that solution. Thus, answer choice (A) is eliminated. However, four answers still remain in contention, so what is the next step?
One approach would be to jump to some of the Local questions and solve them first. In doing so, you stand to accumulate a set of hypothetical solutions showing which variables could be second. This will likely eliminate at least some of the remaining answer choices from consideration. For instance, question #9 establishes that S lectures second. Without even solving that question, we can use it to eliminate answer choice (B) in question #8. You can also use questions #11 and #12, though you will need to solve them first. The local diagram for question #11 shows that V could lecture second, helping us eliminate answer choice (D). Likewise, the local diagram for question #12 shows that T could lecture second, eliminating answer choice (C).