#24 - Local, Could Be True, Suspension

[Dave Killoran]

Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=11733)

The correct answer choice is (C)

If no ticket is P, then each month has one R, one G, and one Y. This information immediately eliminates answer choices (A) and (B).

Answer choice (C) can be proven correct by the following hypothetical:

J91_Game_#4_#24_diagram 1.png

This hypothetical shows that it could be true that none of the line 2 tickets are green. Therefore, answer choice (C) is correct.

Answer choices (D) and (E) cannot be true because they would leave identical colors on the same line, a violation of the second rule.

[medialaw111516]

What's the best way to attack these rule suspension questions. I usually just skip them and guess for time's sake, but I'm trying to refine my technique if I end up with some extra time on test day.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi MediaLaw!

Suspension Questions get a bum rap but they're not inherently difficult questions! They're essentially the same as other Local Questions, except that instead of adding a rule, you're eliminating a rule (in some questions you're doing both, but that also doesn't necessarily mean it's a tricky question!). The first step is to just cross out that rule and any inferences you made using that rule on your diagram. This is more complicated if it's a key rule that resulted in lots of inferences, but again, not inherently difficult. Then you just answer the question with that rule eliminated!

Students often try to make these questions more complicated than they actually are and it is definitely disconcerting to suddenly be getting rid of a rule that you've been using the entire game. But I've seen several Suspension Questions where eliminating the given rule actually makes the question easier to answer! This is definitely a good example of that. This question gets rid of purple as a ticket color option. Previously, we had 4 possible colors but only 3 sets of tickets each month (all lines had to be a different color each month, according to rule #3) so we were overloaded and we had to keep track of which colors were in for each month and which was out. With purple out as an option, we no longer know what color January's line 2 tickets are, but we now have 3 colors for 3 lines each month and we're more balanced! So that means that both January and February are going to have GRY tickets in some order. That's all we need to know to automatically eliminate (A) and (B). We can also quickly get rid of (D) and (E) because if we have GRY for both January and February and the two months can't have the same color tickets on the same line (rule 2) then each of the 3 colors is going to have to be on 2 different lines.

So my advice is to not be afraid of Suspension Questions and don't feel like you need to automatically skip them. You may find that some Suspension Questions are actually fairly easy!

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey