LG Game 3 Question 14 Explanation, by LSATHacks
For acceptable order questions, go through the rules and use them to eliminate answers one by one.
Note that I use the rules themselves. I don’t use my diagrams for these questions. Reading the rules again for this question will help you memorize them, and it’s also more efficient.
Note that there are three things that are unique about this question:
- There are a lot of rules on this game, so some rules don’t eliminate anything.
- To eliminate one answer, you have to make a drawing and think about multiple rules.
- Normally, the correct answer serves as a useful, correct scenario. Here, to achieve that effect you have to fill in first shift.
There are a lot of rules on this game, so some rules don’t eliminate anything. And
Rule 2 eliminates C and D. Louise needs to go twice in a row.
Rule 3 eliminates B. Grecia has to go twice in shift 1. Here, she goes once during shift 2.
E is tricky to eliminate. It helps to try drawing shift 1 as well. Let’s start with K, since they have to go Tuesday and Friday:
Next, you need to put H with J. Only Thursday is open:
Now we need to place the two G’s. But only Monday and Wednesday are open, so G and L would be on the same day. That violates rule 6, so E is wrong.
A is CORRECT. It violates no rules. Unusually, on this question it’s worth drawing out a working scenario for A. This serves two purposes: you’re sure you’re correct, and you have a full working scenario that lets you eliminate answers on the other questions:
Note that H/J on Thursday are reversible. We can also exchange H and J between Monday and Wednesday. Keeping this flexibility in mind will help you use this diagram for future questions.
The diagram above solves half the game, if you remember that H and J are reversible.
It’s true. You can do a lot if you have a correct scenario and know which elements can be moved around.
Here’s a version of the diagram drawn that emphasizes what’s interchangeable. You can add notes like this if it helps you visualize:
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Hey Graeme, once you eliminate the choices that clearly violate the rules, you’re left with A and E. The next step is to create a mini diagram to test whether the available answer choices are permissible. During the test, let’s say that you plug in A into the diagram, and it clearly works, will you spend that extra time drawing out E to verify it’s wrong, or will you proceed to the next question?
You have K to the left of 1, where I think you mean to have L crossed out as not being allowed for shift 1.
K is to the left of 1 because we can infer at least one K has to go in the morning shift.
isn’t that not correct? you could have a diagram that has:
1: H G J H G
2: J K L L K
this has both K’s on the second shift
Why is that inferred?
When you say “Next, you need to put H with J. Only Thursday is open” – couldn’t we also put J on H, on Wednesday morning, instead? It would yield the same consequence, putting G with L, violating the last rule.
No that’s not possible because both J’s are being used in the afternoon shifts: E’s order is LLHJJ. Both J’s have already been used up so the only way to satisfy Rule 5 is to put H on Thursday with J.