LG Game 2 Question 10 Explanation, by LSATHacks
Unlike the previous questions, this one gives no prompt. So, you have to figure out which answer seems most plausible. There are two ways:
- Searching for answers that seem easier.
- Eliminating clearly wrong answers
It should be a quick pass in either step. If you can’t instantly figure out if an answer is easy or wrong, skip it. T _ _ W will be the easiest source of elimination. Let’s do that first.
- B is wrong. T goes fourth at the earliest.
- D is wrong. W can only go 5th to 7th.
That leaves us with A, C and E. To decide which is most likely possible, consider which restrictions the variables face. If a variable has few restrictions, then is it easier to place, and answer is more likely something that “could be true”.
A, C and E have R, U and X. R is comparatively easy as it has no rules. X is hard, because it has two rules: it can’t be beside W, and it must go beside U. In C, U is middle difficulty. It has one restriction: it must be beside X, so placing U 7th forces X 6th.
Therefore, A looks like the easiest answer, and we should try it first. I want to be very clear. If E had said “R is mentioned in chapter 7”, I would have tried E first. I’m doing A first because it seems easiest: you should often ignore alphabetical order on logic games and focus on plausibility.
So let’s try A. Start by placing T _ _ W away from R:
Why placing T _ _ W away from R? In the setup I showed how creating two open blocs of two spaces doesn’t work: XU and SZ are left to place. They’d each have to go in one bloc, but SZ can’t go together.
With T _ _ W away from R, we can place XU in the middle of T _ _ W, and place one of SZ in in first and the other in sixth. Note that the XU order keeps X away from W:
This diagram obeys all the rules!
So, R can go seventh. A is CORRECT.
As for the other two answers:
- E: X can’t go 6th because of W. W can only be 5, 6 or 7, and can’t be beside X. So, if X were 6th, then W would be beside X.
- C: is the same as E. Placing U 7th forces X 6th.
Another (less elegant) method of elimination for two answers on this question –> for C and E, I knew that if it was possible for U to be in position 7, then it would be possible for X to be in 6. Even without considering the W rule that prevents X from being in 6, I knew it was not possible for both answers to be correct, in which case, if one is incorrect, they likely both are. With that in mind, I also started by evaluating A to be sure it’s possible, rather than spending time trying to disprove C or E.