Guessing Trick/Answer Choice Testing Strategy - Ch 3 Game #3 - question 5

[menkenj]

Game #3 - question 5 - I unlocked this question quite easily without worlds and thought I would share. I learned this technique from taking actuarial exams and the test construction seems to have some similar methods in how answer choices are displayed.
For #5, instead of immediately creating worlds, I weighed the answer choices of which would be the most likely to fail given the restriction of Z being first. L/O. Then from there I saw there were 2Ls and 1 O in the choices. Often with questions like this the correct answer will be one of the 2 Ls. From there I picked the most extreme --- L being 4th leaves fewer spaces for O. Then quickly tried to create a world where Z is first and L is 4th. Nope. Perfect and super fast!

This technique works more than it doesn't in my experience and it can be super helpful if you don't have time for worlds. It may arguable be even faster than worlds in this case. You would have had to only try two scenarios to get to the right answer.
It also can be helpful if you have little time at all and need to guess, you can make an educated guess. In this particular question, you would have had a fifty chance, even if you had only choose between the 2Ls, and not picked the answer that was more "extreme." That's so worthy knowing if you can remember this trick, it saves SOOO much time when it works!

Note, this may not apply to all Cannot Be True questions -- my guess there may be a few where this technique wouldn't work so well but I haven't done them all yet. Will let you know once I do.

[menkenj]

FYI, the same strategy can be used in the snakes and lizards game of PT27 question #10.
In this case the variable to consider is the numerical distribution. Having an empty habitat forces greater restriction on the placement of reptiles so this would narrow your choices to D & E to evaluate.
You can create hypotheticals from here.

[Adam Tyson]

Thanks for sharing, menkenj! And for any of you wondering, "worlds" is another name for what we at Powerscore call Templates. That's where you sketch out a few broad approaches to the game that combine to cover all possible solutions. A very useful strategy for your main diagram when the number of possible outcomes is very restricted by the rules, such as a large block of variables that must be in the same group, or a long sequence that can only fit in the base two or three ways. Templates are only rarely a good idea when attacking specific questions - the idea is that you already have those drawn out before you started looking at the questions, and they should provide enough information to answer every question without the need to do any further diagramming. They take a little time at the beginning but usually result in a much faster trip through the questions!

[menkenj]

Thanks for sharing, menkenj! And for any of you wondering, "worlds" is another name for what we at Powerscore call Templates. That's where you sketch out a few broad approaches to the game that combine to cover all possible solutions. A very useful strategy for your main diagram when the number of possible outcomes is very restricted by the rules, such as a large block of variables that must be in the same group, or a long sequence that can only fit in the base two or three ways. Templates are only rarely a good idea when attacking specific questions - the idea is that you already have those drawn out before you started looking at the questions, and they should provide enough information to answer every question without the need to do any further diagramming. They take a little time at the beginning but usually result in a much faster trip through the questions!

I agree with your assertion. However, in the power score bible for this question, the answer key writes "Question #5 is probably the most difficult question, and the only effective way to attack the question is to use hypotheticals. Hopefully, by quickly answering questions #1 through #4 you will build enough time to comfortably work through question #5." p197

My post here is a challenge to the Bible's assertion that hypotheticals is the ONLY effective way to solve this question. I present this strategy as a way to figure out which answer choices to prioritize in testing, rather than building a complete hypothetical game board for the entire question.

Do you propose there is a third way?

[Adam Tyson]

Nope! That was good work, and I just wanted our readers to understand what you meant by "worlds." Glad you found another way that works for you!

[menkenj]

Nope! That was good work, and I just wanted our readers to understand what you meant by "worlds." Glad you found another way that works for you!

Thanks for responding! And thanks for the clarification! I tend to mix them up myself sometimes.

[rabberditscabbern]

Can you explain why M cannot be added third or last, I'm having a hard time conceptualizing this??

[Jon Denning]

Can you explain why M cannot be added third or last, I'm having a hard time conceptualizing this??

Thanks for posting, and welcome to the Forum!

Let's start with why M can't be last, as that's a universal truth in this game (independent of the conditions outlined in the questions).

From the final rule, we're told that M is before T or K, but not before both. What that means then is that one of either T or K must come AFTER M, and thus M can never be in the final position: putting M last would mean T and K are both ahead of it, and that would explicitly violate what this rule tells us. [The real takeaway from this rule is that we have two possible sequences with those three letters, with either T — M — K, or K — M — T; note that in both M is neither first nor last in the overall setup]

And what about M in 3? Well we know from the first rule that M in 3 is a trigger: M in 3 puts L in 6 (last). Normally that's fine, of course, but with question #5 we're given the additional condition that Z is 1 (first), and that changes things! From the second rule of the game, if Z is 1, then L is before O...meaning L absolutely CANNOT be last (O comes after it). The deduction then is that if L isn't last, then M cannot be in 3, since M in 3 would force L into the last spot. That's why for this question we can't have M in 3.

So M not in 6 is a global Not Law and should be in your main diagram; M not in 3 is specific to question #5 and could be shown in any local diagram you made for it (a sketch of just #5), but you wouldn't want to assume that for the rest of the game.

I hope that helps!