Festival Organizer example

[nmaugust]

Underneath Step 4 ("Look for next level...)
It is stated that "while Thursday itself has no restriction, Friday must feature a jazz group,which isolates thursday to some extent" Also if there is a way to force A in front of Friday, that would result in A playing Thursday.

I am quite confused as to why the inference that forcing A infront of Friday is one that stands out or could be identified at all. After all, there can be other placements, but how do we know to identify that placing A in front of Thursday is a goal we should pursue? Given that A ~could~ go on Thursday, Friday or Saturday (though I understand the lack of "forcing in the last two options), how would one identify that A is the important variable, and that it need be placed on Thursday from the get go?

[Dave Killoran]

Underneath Step 4 ("Look for next level...)
It is stated that "while Thursday itself has no restriction, Friday must feature a jazz group,which isolates thursday to some extent" Also if there is a way to force A in front of Friday, that would result in A playing Thursday.

I am quite confused as to why the inference that forcing A infront of Friday is one that stands out or could be identified at all. After all, there can be other placements, but how do we know to identify that placing A in front of Thursday is a goal we should pursue? Given that A ~could~ go on Thursday, Friday or Saturday (though I understand the lack of "forcing in the last two options), how would one identify that A is the important variable, and that it need be placed on Thursday from the get go?

Hi nmaugust,

Thanks for the question! This idea actually plays on something LSAC does with the test, especially with what I referred to as an isolated spot and blocks. On the most basic level, though, you are taking points of restriction and forcing the appropriate variables to avoid those restrictions, which is really the gist of how a lot of these questions work.

Specifically, it's because they first ask directly about Thursday, so we have to figure out how to fill that day. That pushes the emphasis in that direction. Next, and this is key, which two groups are most restricted in this example? D and A. So connecting them seems promising. And between those two, D has issues towards the end of the week and A has issues towards the start of the week. With restrictions like that, a relationship that pushes D backwards and A forwards is likely to yield some problems that might (and do) result in a solution.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[lsatstudent22]

Hello! I had a question about the second justifying questions (festival organizer) example that asks about the group playing Thursday (a similar question was asked before but I needed more clarification!):

Why was Ariadne chosen to be the initial variable focused on? While I do understand that A has a known restriction and so it could be a good starting point to work with (is this the correct?), would the same be true with Dorado, then? As in, could you start with D as the initial focal point (since it also has a restriction of some sort), and if not, how would one know not to do this and to start with A?

Thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

You COULD have started with a focus on D here, lsatstudent22! Using the same rationale, we could have begun with the idea that D would be forced into Thursday if it could not be Friday or Saturday, or that something else might be forced onto Thursday if we knew how it related to A. In essence, you're really focusing on both variables here, and thinking about how the relationship between them might solve this question. Ultimately, whether you began by thinking about D or you began by thinking about A, you should come to the same prephrase: putting D after A will force A to Thursday. But reversing that would not force D to Thursday since it could be on Friday (unlike A).

[Jon Denning]

Hello! I had a question about the second justifying questions (festival organizer) example that asks about the group playing Thursday (a similar question was asked before but I needed more clarification!):

Why was Ariadne chosen to be the initial variable focused on? While I do understand that A has a known restriction and so it could be a good starting point to work with (is this the correct?), would the same be true with Dorado, then? As in, could you start with D as the initial focal point (since it also has a restriction of some sort), and if not, how would one know not to do this and to start with A?

Thank you!

Hi lsatstudent22 - thanks for the question! The way I see this question and its solution as presented in the book's explanation is that a logical starting point would be to consider both A and D, as they're the only two variables about which we have any information/restrictions. That is, we know D is limited to Thurs-Sat, and A is limited to Thurs, Sat, Sun, so if we can somehow create a situation where they influence one another it's reasonable to expect that's more likely to lead to a fixed Thursday outcome than something involving B and C, both of which are wide open. If it feels like the book places a greater emphasis on A that's only because A is the variable that would be forced into the position in question...but D's role in that relationship is equally important (as you correctly note!).

Of course, that's not a guarantee that they'll be involved! But it's always useful to anticipate, best you can, the most probable candidates to play an active role when considering questions like Justify in LG

Nice work!

[lsatstudent22]

Ah yes that makes a lot of sense, thank you both for clarifying!