#22 - Local

[Jon Denning]

Question 22 is a Could Be True with the Local condition that I's second visit is to T. What might that mean?

I visiting S and T may not seem to tell us much, but if you're focused on numbers and the fact that we've used our two Is then we know more than you might suspect. Take our completely open city, M. We now have G, F, and H to fill those two spots. However, since we can't have F and H fill them, we know G must take a spot on M!

And of course as soon as G goes to M then H must go to T, which fills T: H and I are there.

We still have to place at least one F, and this is where the inferences dry up, but still...not bad:

? ? H
G I I
M S T

Since it's a Could Be True question I'm focused on those two ?s that I've shown, looking for an answer that deals with those elements of uncertainty.

And it doesn't take long: answer choice (A) is correct, since G and F could both visit M. That's allowed by the diagram above, and would still give options for the second S visit (either H or F could fill that spot).

The other answers are all impossible:

Answer choice (B): I goes to S and T, so this is out.

Answer choice (C): I goes to S and T, so this too is out.

Answer choice (D): T is filled by H and I, so no room for F. This is out.

Answer choice (E): Even if H is our double, one of H's visits is to T, so this answer is out (would lead to three H visits).

Not too bad...

[EmiliaGrace]

Could you explain further why B and C are impossible? I worked out all the answer choices and I knew A would work. Are we supposed to just pick that one and move on?

[Alex Bodaken]

EmiliaGrace,

Thanks for the question! Let me see if I can work this out for you, and then we can talk strategy more generally.

(B): Gleeson and Ibanez visit Manila.

If this is the case, our game board looks like:

G __ __
_I __ I_
M S T

That also triggers our GM HT rule, meaning we must place H in Tokyo. Now our board looks like this:

G __ M
_I __ I_
M S T

Okay, so we have Sydney to fill. One spot can be filled by F since we haven't used Fan yet. Now our board is:

G F M
_I __ I_
M S T

But what about the other Sydney spot? We can't use Fan because we can't use the same person twice in one city (each city must have two managers visit), we can't use Gleeson because one of our rules is that Gleason can't visit Sydney, we can't use Haley because one of our rules is that Fan and Haley can't go to the same city, and we can't use Ibanez because we've already used our two Ibanez's. Therefore, this combination isn't possible.

(C): Haley and Ibanez visit Manila

If this is the case, our initial game board looks like:

H __ __
_I __ I_
M S T

We know that we need a G in Tokyo, because G has to go somewhere and it can't be in Sydney. So let's add that:

H __ G
_I __ I_
M S T

We now have almost the exact same problem as in answer choice (B). We can put F in one of the Sydney spots, but the second spot can't go to any of the other three people for the same reasons as before. That makes this solution impossible as well.

Now, to speak more broadly about moving on when you find the right answer vs. checking each solution...

So much of this, of course, comes down to time - if you have 5 questions left but 2 minutes, you should move on once you think you have the right answer, no question. That being said, it is generally easier to disprove answers to questions like these (by proving that certain answer choices are impossible and eliminating them) than to prove the correct answer...so if you have the time, I would spend a little trying to prove the others wrong to be sure. But of course, it is all about where you are in the test, how confident you are in your answer choice, and what you have left.

Hope that helps!
Alex