LG Game 3 Question 17 Explanation, by LSATHacks
This is a general “must be true” question. It’s easiest to solve this by process of elimination. All the answers are in the form “does not select”. So if you prove the person in the answer can select the office, then that answer is wrong.
It’s important to note that you just need a partial order to know an answer works. It’s impossible to have a contradiction in this game, as long as you don’t pick an office that has already been assigned. Everyone has four offices to choose from, so they will always have an unassigned choice they can take.
So these answers go in order of first choice, second choice, etc. up to the point of the office in question. Once you’ve proven that can happen, you don’t have to bother with the rest, since there’s always a possible scenario. e.g.
A: P picks Y, Jackson picks X.
B: J picks Y, P picks X, L picks W.
C: T picks X, L picks Z.
D: T picks X. (No reason someone can’t get their first choice if they go first).
(To verify these answers, just look at the overall chart, and follow the choices I listed, step by step. You’ll see they’re possible.)
E is CORRECT. For Paulson to pick X, the following would have to happen:
- Two people go before Paulson and take Y and Z.
- No one takes X.
There’s no way to do this. For example, J could take Y first, but then either L or T would take X, so Johnson couldn’t have it. And leading with L or T obviously doesn’t work, because they’d take X.
Hi Graeme,
I just wanted to point out there is a typo in your scenario for B. “J picks Y, P picks X, L picks W” doesn’t actually work. If I am not mistaken all three would need to pick before L, and P cannot actually pick X here.
There is also a minor typo on question 15 where you say “A, D, and E are out” instead of “B, D, and E are out.”
Thank you!