LSAT PrepTest 44 Section 3 Question 14 Explanation | Logic Games

I didn't write the following blog post. It was already on the blog when I took over the URL. The following blog post may contain mistakes. -Steve

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This Logic Games question is from the October 2004 LSAT.

The question asks which site can't be one of the ones F visits. We'll use a diagram made up of a simple table and symbols (F, O, G and 8, 9, 10 here). To answer this question, we should find all the places F can visit and the one site F can't visit. So, let's just put F in as many places as possible in order to eliminate as many answer choices as possible. We want to eliminate as many choices as possible by violating their rule in our diagram.

We know G visits one site from 10 (the 10th century). We also know that if a site is from 8, it's visited by O (the rules say both these things). So, F goes with 9. The 3rd site, the rules say, was discovered more recently than 1 or 4, so let's make G be the 3rd site (since the 10th century is the most recent).

Now, we want to put F in as many spots as possible for the reasons we went through above, and looking at the rules, we see there's no reason why we couldn't put F and 9 in all the remaining spots, so please do so by drawing a slot diagram.

The question should now be easy to answer...we disproved A, B, D, and E, since we put F in all those spots, so C is correct. No right answer choice can conflict with our correct diagram, so we can eliminate all but C.

Remember:

1) Use a diagram made up of a table and symbols (more than one kind, if needed, like FGO and 8-9-10) to answer most questions. This will solve almost any LSAT game quickly and easily. No need for different diagrams for different types of games, except in very rare cases.

2) Eliminate answer choices by violating as many of the propositions of the answer choices as possible (in this case, that F can't be in a certain spot...prove otherwise as much as you can).