This is an explanation of the fourth logic game from Section III of LSAT Preptest 67, the October 2012 LSAT.
There are three newly developed zones (1, 2, 3) in Milville. You can place subzones – housing, industrial, retail (H, I, R) – in each zone. You can only make designate up three subzones of each type.
Game Setup
If you found this game very hard, don’t worry: you’re not alone. This game truly confused many LSAT students.
I’ve thought about it, and decided it’s mainly a problem of language. Zones, subzones, designate? What the hell are those?!
Well, here are the three zones:
That’s not so complicated. They’re really just the places you out variables. That’s something you’ve seen on dozens of other games.
‘Subzones’ are just the variables. Here’s an example of the zones with some subzones filled in:
There are no limits to the number of subzones you can put in a zone, except those limits which we’ll see in the rules.
Zones are just groups, subzones are just normal letters
I won’t be using zones/subzones again for the rest of the walkthrough. I feel they make this game unnecessarily complicated. The Zones are just groups! And the subzones are just normal letter you put in groups. I’ll call them variables.
In some ways, this game has few restrictions. There are no rules that force you to place any variables in the diagram. A completely blank diagram is acceptable!
All the answers depend on catching violations of the game’s four listed rules, and the restriction that you can have at most three of R, H or I.
The first rule is simple. R can’t go first.
The rest of the rules are a bit unique. There’s no standard way to draw them, so you can just make up whatever drawing works best.
I often use the word ‘max’ in these situations. The specific form you choose doesn’t matter, as long as the rules are clear. Standard diagrams are only important for rule types that repeat.
Here are rules 2-4, as I drew them:
Here are the contrapositives of rule 3 and 4. I don’t normally draw these when doing games myself, but if you haven’t yet mastered seeing contrapositives in your head, you should draw contrapositives for rules.
That’s it. There’s no way to make deductions. Instead, you should make a clear list of the rules, and commit them to memory if possible.
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MemberAriella says
What does it mean when it says, “a total of no more than three subzones can be designated for each…”
I took it as there could be max 3 subzones per zone, but that is obviously incorrect.
TutorLucas (LSAT Hacks) says
We know that there are three major development zones, and that within each zone there are subzones that can be designated for housing, industrial, or retail use; each subzone can only be designated for one of three uses.
The rule that you’re referencing means that when we look at Millville’s three new development zones as a whole, a total of three subzones can be designated for housing, a total of three for industrial, and a total of three for retail.
E.g. If Z1 has two subzones designated for housing, then there can only be one other housing subzone in Z2 and Z3–they both cannot have a housing subzone.