December 2007 LSAT Section 2 Question 21

If Pavlovich and Tsudama are teammates, then for how many of the individuals can it be exactly determined where his o...

AndrewArabie on March 12, 2023

I feel like even saying 3 is generous

If P is with T then I know S is first and N is third so initially I thought we could determine two variables because I thought P was a given. Then when I saw I got it wrong I thought "Oh they must want P as well" so I selected three. But that was still wrong so I guess they want T as well? But that is in a rule. I don't have to determine that. I hate these questions because I never know what to count. I know Emil has already told me exactly which variables to count but I can never remember if the variables given in the rules are among the variables I should count.

Replies

Create a free account to read and take part in forum discussions.

Already have an account? log in

Emil-Kunkin on March 13, 2023

I hate to give what likely feels like a squishy non answer, but when figuring out who/what to count it will depend on how the question is phrased. Here were asked how many of them will we be able to figure out exactly where their team places, so the right thing to count is any person for whom we know which number their team finished.

My process would be to start with PT, and since N is lower than P, N must be on the third place team. We also know that since G cannot be last or second, team G must be first, so S is in first.

1 S (team g)
2 P, T (Team F/H)
3 N (team F/H)

I don't think we know which of M or O go in 1 or 3, so we are only able to place four of our six with confidence.

AndrewArabie on March 13, 2023

Thanks Emil. I think I'm just going to count all the variables on the board unless the question stem says "how many *other* variables." I feel like that is safe enough.