Setup and Rule Diagrams

[Dave Killoran]

What was it that I missed in the information for the set up that should have been my clue about what type of game this is? So lost!

Hi Media,

This is certainly an unusual game, and I recommend that you closely read the various PowerScore comments above, especially mine. Take some time learning about this game because while it is tough, it is also one of those "a-ha" games that once you get it, it will help you in the future on other games.

In answer to your question above, this is what tells you it's linear: "From highest to lowest, the possible grades are A, B, C, D, and E." Right there, you have an ordered variable set, and that is the essence of linearity. It may have confused you that they gave you that variable set second, after the courses, but nonetheless that's a base with order (just like days of the week, or performances in show, etc). At that point, the courses then fit on top of those grades.

Part of the confusion here is that in real life people often think about "what grade did I get in each class," but this isn't real life and we have to follow the cues we get from the scenario, especially anything with order. With that in mind, this becomes a game of, "How many A's did I get, and in which classes? How many A's did I get, and in which classes?" and so on.

The takeaway: look for the elements that send a game in a particular direction, the first question of which is: is there anything with order to it? If so that will likely be a base and the game is probably Linear. If not, we are probably,looking at Grouping."

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[Devindkj]

Is it ok to infer that there must be two different grades? Since there are two pairs that have to be consecutive and another rule restricting the order. It isn't much, but wanted to make sure that it isn't possible for all of them to be one grade.

[Dave Killoran]

Is it ok to infer that there must be two different grades? Since there are two pairs that have to be consecutive and another rule restricting the order. It isn't much, but wanted to make sure that it isn't possible for all of them to be one grade.

Yes, you can infer there are at least two different grades! Well done

[Jay]

Hello. I'm having trouble understanding this Game.
I came up with the right initial diagram, as presented in the first comment above.
However, I failed to solve any of the questions.

For number # 1, for me, it seems there is no answer. Here is why. please note that [ ] indicates block.
# 1 's conditions say that

[E [GH]
I ] --- [HG] --- P

and R --> E

I came up with a number of templates from this.

Template # 1:

[E H G
I] R P R
--- --- --- --- ---
A B C D E

Template # 2:

[E G H
I] R P R
--- --- --- --- ---
A B C D E

Template # 3:

[E G H
I] R P R
--- --- --- --- ---
A B C D E

Template # 4:

[E G H P
I] R R
--- --- --- --- ---
A B C D E

Template # 5:

[E H G P
I] R R
--- --- --- --- ---
A B C D E

Template # 6:

[E H G P
R I] R
--- --- --- --- ---
A B C D E

the list goes on...

From these templates, I couldn't find any correct answer choice in number #1.

The similar problems occur in other questions, but let me focus on number # 1 first and then see if I can solve other questions based on your answer.

Thanks in advance! I always truly appreciate the sincere answer I've received.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Jay,

I'm having a little trouble reading the templates in your post, but in general I would take a simpler approach on the first question of this game. Let's take it step by step:

Step 1: Since the question stem asks you to assume it, you must assign Russian to the E grade.

Step 2: Since the general rules require the Italian and Russian grades to be consecutive, you must assign Italian to the D grade.

Step 3: Since the question stem requires you to assume John receives the same grades in Italian and Economics, you must assign Economics to the D grade.

Step 4: Since the general rules require the Economics grade to be higher than the History grade, you must assign History to the E grade. This is the answer to the question (answer choice C).

You won't know exactly where the Geology and Physics grades are assigned here, so you can eliminate all answers that refer to Geology or Physics (they can get multiple grades, so they don't have to be any specific grade). Answer choice B cannot occur, because that would make History the same grade as Economics (violating the rules).

Here's what I diagrammed for this question:

Screen Shot 2020-02-03 at 11.55.42 AM.png

In general, I think a templating approach is more of a distraction than a help on this game. I would simply diagram each local question on the game using the information from the question stem as the starting point, then applying the general rules to those new conditions.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[oommenj2]

Hi, can you please explain how we get the answers for number 2 and 3? I'd appreciate your help

[Stephanie Oswalt]

Hi oommenj2,

Thanks for the post! You can find full explanations for those questions at the links below.

#2- https://forum.powerscore.com/lsat/viewtopic.php?t=15731
#3- https://forum.powerscore.com/lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14939

Thanks!

[saygracealways]

Hi Dave (or to any other PowerScore instructor who sees this post)!

When solving this game, I chose to diagram the six courses as the base because they're fixed variables and must all receive a grade, whereas the five different possible grades aren't fixed (so there's a possibility that John receives only the minimum of 2 grades).

I understand that Dave explained above that the reason why we should diagram the grades and not the classes as the base is because the grades are an ordered set ("from highest to lowest") which denotes linearity, but could you please explain why my thought process for setting the base as the courses is erroneous? Would my thought process be useful in determining which variable set should be the base in Grouping/other games?

Also another question -- even if I were to correctly diagram this game using the grades as the base, I don't really think the diagram would be useful due to the plethora of possibilities and the lack of global inferences that can be drawn. Does that mean there is a possibility that global diagrams may not be useful in linear games?

Hope my questions make sense here. Thank you!!

-Grace

[Paul Marsh]

Hi Grace! I wouldn't say your thought process is necessarily erroneous, but you're making life harder on yourself.

From the PowerScore Bible regarding Linear Games: "Always choose a base which has an inherent sense of order. Variable sets with an inherent sense of order are always chosen as the base because they provide a logical framework within which to place all other variable sets. Certain types of variable sets are always chosen as the base - days of the week for example. [If you do not do this], throughout the questions you will have to keep in mind an extra fact: the order of the [variable set with an inherent sense of order]. Since choosing the variable set with the inherent sense of order as the base eliminates this problem, it is the superior choice".

Basically, for Linear games it is always easiest to use the variable set with the inherent sense of order as the base.

For pure Grouping games, there generally isn't going to be a variable set with an inherent sense of order like that. Instead, we're usually sorting a larger number of variables into a smaller number of groups (e.g. these 9 kids are going to these 3 summer camps - the 3 summer camps make sense as the "base" groups). So typically the "base" group will just be the smaller variable set. In the rare instance where the two variable sets are basically the same size (e.g. a newspaper is assigning each of its 5 photojournalists to one of 5 possible countries), then I think your line of thinking would be helpful - if we knew one of the variable sets was "fixed" then that would be a good Grouping game "base". Like the example I just mentioned: since a photojournalist can only be assigned to one country, that variable set is fixed and would likely be an easier variable set to use as the groups (i.e. "base") than the variable set of "countries".

So to sum up: for all Linear Games, pick the variable set with the inherent sense of order as your base. For almost all pure Grouping Games, we just want to pick the smaller variable set as the "groups" / "base", but in the rare instance where this isn't an option your thinking about using the fixed variable set as the base can be a helpful guide.

As for your final question - it is always possible (in every type of Logic Game) that our master diagram won't have much in the way of helpful inferences. That doesn't mean it's not useful; it's still a helpful visualization of the game and a collection of all our rules into one place. Even a bare-bones diagram should be referred to frequently.

Hope that helps!

[saygracealways]

Hi Paul, thank you so much for your detailed explanation!