LSAT 73, Logic Game 3, Question 15, LSATHacks

LG Game 3 Question 15 Explanation, by LSATHacks

At first glance, this question was difficult. There’s no obvious way to eliminate answers. It feels like you must use brute force.

But there is always a short way. The trick is to look at what rules affect the Trents. Only the final rule:

• Trents need stables, OR Yandells need the inn.

Next, think of the answers in terms of “easy” and “hard”. Does the answer make it easier to fulfill the rule, or harder? Easy and neutral answers are unlikely candidates to be correct, whereas hard answers are usually correct.

Easy answers give the Trents the stable. They help fulfill the rule.

Neutral answers don’t give the Trents the stable, but leave the inn alone. They don’t affect the rule.

Hard answers don’t give the Trents the stable, and they do give the Trents the inn. This contradicts the rule.

D is CORRECT. If the Trents have the inn, then the Yandells don’t have it. So this answer violates rule 3.

I’ll explain my approach from a different perspective. I knew that rule three was important, since the question mentions the Trents. I knew that rule three mentioned S and I. So I looked for answers that affected those variables. D was the likely candidate, since it mentioned I, and also didn’t give the Trents S.

This is a bit hard to explain since it’s an intuitive process, but basically you want to approach the answers from the perspective of the rule and whether the answer helps or hurts the odds of fulfilling the rule. Then once you identify a good candidate you can examine it more closely.