Setup and Rule Diagrams

[avengingangel]

Hey! So I am taking a PS Online Course, and flew through this logic games homework, getting all but one questions correct, with the exception of this game (that i originally skipped over). I got like 3 or 4 questions wrong or something crazy. I have yet to work through and see why I got each one wrong, but I just wanted to seek advice on general test taking strategy, and how to discern that this one would be difficult. It seemed like it was just a regular ole pure sequencing game, until I got to the first question and really struggled. I then took quite a bit of time on the remaining questions, and again, getting many of them wrong (even though I thought I was correct). Are there any characteristics in the stimulus of this game that would/should indicate to me that this will be tricky / time consuming / difficult ?? I can't quite pin-point what I found so challenging about the game, as opposed to the others in this set that I completed with ease. Thanks!! (Oh, & i diagrammed it correctly)

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi avengingangel,

Great question. First, sounds like you're really getting the hang of things and are spending the time you need to do all the homework questions--keep up the awesome work! Second, there are some types of games that tend to be tricky for everyone, but beyond those, what "clicks" for a person and what is more challenging is pretty individual. I think your best bet is to really be thorough with your review of this game, to try to identify what about it was tricky for you. Were you rushing? did you miss inferences? Was there a particular rule you misapplied? Figuring that out can help you get better at spotting the ones that will be more challenging for you in the future!

[abutz]

Hi there! I got the right answer for this clown car question, but I was wondering why answer E is incorrect and could not be true. Couldn't y be the 8th spot?

[abutz]

I am having such trouble with the local questions in games. I am not sure why. In game #5, the clown car one, local question number 5, I am so confused how to get to the answer. I feel like I waste so much time in putting things in different places and never get to the right answer. What are the steps to figuring out this local question? And question 6? For some reason it isn't clicking

[Christen Hammock]

Hi Abutz! I'll answer Question 5 in this post and Question 6 in another post to make sure no one gets them confused!

When I get stuck on questions like this, I try to draw myself an extra diagram so that I don't get lost in the options. Don't be afraid to take a second on local questions to get your bearings and rethink the inferences with the information the question adds. For this question, our anchor is that Q is in space 5.

__ ___ ___ ___ __Q__ ___ ___ ___

If you go back to your original diagram (which was beautifully drawn by another user a few posts above yours, for reference!), there are four clowns that must go before Q: our R-T-V sequence, and Z. If Q if 5th, that means there are only four slots before Q! All of those slots are going to be filled up by R,T,V, and Z. So who's left? There are three variables that must go after Q: S, Y, and W. So knowing that, our possibilities look something like this:

(R-T-V, Z) -- Q -- (S, W, Y)

Note that Z could be in any of the four spots before Q, and that S,W,Y could go in any order, as long as they're all after Q. With this in mind, the answers become easier to work through. You probably won't even need to write extra mini-diagrams!

A. Z could be the first clown to get out of the car (or the second, third, or fourth clown!). Since this is an EXCEPT question, A is wrong because it could be true.

B. T could be the second clown to get out of the car. All T needs is at least one spot before for R, and one spot after for V. B is wrong because it could be true.

C. V could be the third clown out! In that scenario, the order would be R-T-V-Z-Q-(S,W,Y).

D. This cannot be true. We know that W has to come after Q, because we need all of the slots before Q to be filled by R,T,V, and Z. This is the right answer!

E. Y could be sixth, seventh, or eighth out of the car!

[Christen Hammock]

Abutz -- here is the explanation Question 6, another local question!

Question 6 is quite similar to Question 5. It asks what must be true if R comes out second.

___ __R__ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Let's ask ourselves what we know about the other clowns if R is in the second position. Simple counting works wonders on questions like these! Referring back to our diagram, we know that almost every other clown has to come after R. R must come before T, which must come before V, which must come before S, Y, and Q. There's also a direct line to the right between R and W. In fact, the only clown that doesn't have a direct line between it and R is Z. That's our first clue! Since there's only one space before R, we know that Z must go there.

__Z__ __R__ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

The remaining variables are a little bit trickier! Here's what we know. There are six spots remaining. According to our diagram, some of the remaining variables have relationships with each other and must go in a particular order. For example, T - V - S, Y, and Q. W is a floater! W's only relationship in our diagram is with R, so W could go anywhere in the remaining spots.

At this point, you're probably starting to feel frustrated because it looks like there are so many options left. Before you go through every single possible ordering, though, I would look at the answer choices to see if there are any you can eliminate! In this case, that proves to be a time saving strategy!

For example:

A. It certainly doesn't have to be true that S comes at some point before T. In fact, this is something that can't ever be true--you didn't even need to create a local diagram to answer this question!

B & C -- Both of these answer choices ask us to lock W in before or after the variables that we know come after R (here, T and V). We don't know exactly where T and V will end up, but we do know that W can go anywhere in the final 6 slots! We can eliminate B and C without any additional information.

D - Y could get out of the car before Q, but this isn't something that must be true! If we look back to our diagram, there is no relationship between Y and Q, other than the fact that they both have to come after V.

E - This is something that we know must be true without even drawing additional mini-diagrams! The only solid inferences we have so far are that 1) Z must come first, before R; and that 2) everything else has to come after R. Thus, Z must come before W.