#11 - Global, Could Be True, List

[Dave Killoran]

Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?f=175&p=88237#p88237)

The correct answer choice is (B).

This is a partial List question, where only certain presentation positions are presented instead of the entire slate of presentations (as in question #6). The partial, almost random, nature of the list makes these questions somewhat harder than traditional full List questions. Nonetheless, the first step is to consider the rules. The second step is to examine the remaining answer choices and consider the variables in each that are yet to be placed and look for conflicts.

Answer choice (A) can be eliminated because from the first rule M can never be presented first.

Answer choice (C) can be eliminated because G is presented before J, but there is no room for L to be presented after G, a violation of the second rule.

Answer choice (D) can be eliminated because when P is presented fourth and L is presented fifth, the first rule is violated because there is no room for M to be presented ahead of L but after P.

Answer choice (E) can be eliminated because V is presented before G, but there is no room for P to be presented after V, a violation of the third rule.

Answer choice (C) is thus proven correct by process of elimination.

Overall, this question is the second hardest of the game, after question #9.

[glasann]

Hi - I understand why B is correct, however can you please talk through how you'd approach it in a time-efficient manner? I was testing all answer choices (and just got lucky that I only had to get through 2 test scenarios).

Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi glasann!

Even though this question only gives you a partial list of the order, I would still approach it like a traditional List question: use one rule at a time to eliminate answer choices.

Start with the most fixed rule, the first one: P M L.
If P is before M, M cannot be 1st, so answer choice (A) is eliminated.
If M is between P and L, we cannot have P 4th and L 5th, so answer choice (D) is eliminated.

Now onto the next rule: G is before both L and J or G is after both L and J. Basically, this rule means that G cannot be between L and J.
If G is 5th and J is 6th, there is no room for L to also be after G, so answer choice (C) is eliminated.
If G is 5th and L is 6th, there is no room for J to also be after G, so answer choice (E) is eliminated.

The only answer choice we're left with is (B)--and we didn't even need to use the last rule or do any additional diagramming!

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[glasann]

These questions with incomplete answer choices always end up being time sucks for me. Do you have any tips on attacking these quickly?

I understand treating it like a normal list question by using each rule to eliminate answer choices, but do you have any tips for these incomplete ones specifically?

Thanks!

[Robert Carroll]

glasann,

As the responses above show, treating these like normal List questions at first is a good idea - you'll often notice that you can actually eliminate some answers without any more trouble than a normal List question. Even if it doesn't get rid of all the wrong answers, it reduces your work. So don't overcomplicate these - when you need to adopt an alternative strategy, do so, but you'll probably kick out a few wrong answers with a normal strategy anyway.

So start with that. Beyond that, note that this isn't the first question of the game, and even if it were, you could do it last. Look at minidiagrams you've done, or answer choices you've already selected as possible, and if what happens in an answer has already happened, pick the answer that says that! In fact, I think that answer choice (B) for this question is possible in the minidiagram for question 9. Similarly with question 10. Extending this idea, even if a minidiagram hasn't done everything the answer says exactly, you can try to adapt old diagrams that are close into new diagrams that exactly match the answer.

There's one more thing to suggest - I actually did templates for this game from the start, so I can just look at an answer for question 11 and ask "Is this partial arrangement consistent with everything in any one of my templates?" If I answer "yes" to that question, that's the correct answer.

Robert Carroll