#4 - Global, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=10343)

The correct answer choice is (D)

In this question, the templates provide great assistance, and can be used to determine the following:

• R = can be assigned only space #3 or #4
  S = can be assigned any space except #6
  T = can be assigned only space #1 or #2
  V = can be assigned any space
  X = can be assigned only space #5 or #6
  Y = can be assigned only space #2 or #3

Thus, the correct answer is four, and answer choice (D) is correct.

[rneuman123@gmail.com]

why does x have to be 5th or 6th? I mean, while all of my hypotheticals during the game suggested as much, but is there a way to see it right away?

[Adam Tyson]

It's about the interplay of all the rules in this game. Rules 1 and 3 give you a sequence of T-Y-R; couple that with rule 4 and you find that the T-Y-R sequence must take up three of the first 4 spaces, because R cannot go any later than 4th.

Now, we add in rule 2, that X must be after S. X cannot go in the first 4 because, if he did, the first 4 would be T, Y, R and X, and S would be after X, violating that second rule. S could be in the first 4, pushing X to either space 5 or 6, or else S could be 5th and X 6th.

When in doubt, try it out - see if you can come up with a solution that does not have X in 5 or 6 but still satisfies all the rules. If you can't find one, then you know it's true that X must be in one of those two spaces.

Have fun with that! They are, after all, games!

[jenna_d]

For me, this question was about the wording which was unfortunate because LG is always my best section. I don't understand the "limited to one of only two possible spaces" - that says to me that the employee is only eligible for one space and for that I put "none." What are they trying to say here exactly? Thanks!

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Jenna,

You ask a good question! While wording confusion also come up in LR stems on occasion, when you see a confusing question stem in LG, it tends to be more irritating (probably because there are 50 or so LR questions and only 22-24 LG).

In this case, they wanted you to identify all of the employees that had just two placement options. For example, R can only be assigned to space #3 or #4, so R has only two options, and would qualify for this list. T, X, and Y also have exactly two placement options, and thus the correct answer ends up being 4: R, T, X, and Y.

That said, let's break down what they meant with their phrasing here. We know from the game scenario that each employee will be assigned only one space, so the reference to "one" in this question stem refers to that. The phrasing around that reference—"limited to...only two possible spaces,"—is thus the key to determining what they meant.

So why didn't they just state this more clearly, perhaps along the lines of: "How many of the six new employees have only two possible placement options?" Partially it is because that presentation doesn't conform to the language they used in the game scenario (such as "assignment of a parking space") and partially because I don't think they wanted to make it clearer. They seem to occasionally intend for their language to be less than perfectly clear, which is a trait I find irritating and unfair. My view is that in LG you should test students on how well they understand the game and the variables, and that you should not try to cause issues by being unclear with the language being used (leave that for LR and RC). They feel otherwise, and have made it clear that testing language interpretation is fair game in LG just as much as in the other sections.

So, I share your annoyance at their lack of clarity, but this kind of stuff does happen occasionally. They've been doing it for years and shows no signs of stopping.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[jenna_d]

Thank you Dave! Let's hope the questions are more clear on my actual test day!