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 Dave Killoran
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#94741
Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?f=282&t=7598)

The correct answer choice is (A)

Answer choice (A) is the correct answer. Here’s one hypothetical where this could occur:

G4-Q23-d1.png

Answer choice (B) reflects a conditional relationship:

G4-Q23-d2.png

H must always be featured on day 2 and/or day 7. When H is featured on day 2, G cannot be featured on day 2, and when H is featured on day 7, N is already featured on day 7. Thus, while H and G can sometimes be featured together, they cannot be featured together at all times, and therefore this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C) reflects a conditional relationship:

G4-Q23-d3.png

This cannot be true because G is featured on day 1, but H cannot be featured on day 1.

Answer choice (D) reflects a conditional relationship:

G4-Q23-d4.png

This answer choice is identical to stating that:

G4-Q23-d5.png

As shown by an analysis of day 1, this cannot be true and therefore this answer can be eliminated.

Answer choice (E) reflects a conditional relationship:

G4-Q23-d6.png

This answer choice is identical to stating that:

G4-Q23-d7.png

As shown by an analysis of day 1, this cannot be true and therefore this answer can be eliminated.
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 SherryZ
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#22195
Hi there, thank you for helping me out!

Could you tell me how to solve Q23 quickly??

Thank you very much!!

---Sherry
 Lucas Moreau
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#22196
Hello, Sherry,

For #23...unfortunately, some questions simply are not susceptible to fast solutions. Sometimes you really do have to "brute force" a question, exhausting all possible scenarios for each answer choice before moving onto the next one. If that sounds too troublesome time-wise, well...it's no shame to skip a question if it'll hurt you more to answer it than to leave it. I don't see any fast way of doing this question that doesn't involve manually going through every possibility, sorry.

Hope that helps,
Lucas Moreau
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 JaneBlueSky
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#31460
I got the correct answer A, but spent a lot of confusing time on choices D and E. Do D and E repeat the last rule "Rottweilers are not on any day that features Himalayans"? Why are they wrong?

Since D and E could not be both right, I chose another contender A instead.

What have I missed?

Thanks.
 David Boyle
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#31474
JaneBlueSky wrote:I got the correct answer A, but spent a lot of confusing time on choices D and E. Do D and E repeat the last rule "Rottweilers are not on any day that features Himalayans"? Why are they wrong?

Since D and E could not be both right, I chose another contender A instead.

What have I missed?

Thanks.

Hello JaneBlueSky,

Answers D and E do not exactly repeat the last rule, but they offer some "fake consequences" of it. (I.e., if Himalayans and Rottweilers hate each other, does that mean that one type appears wherever the other type doesn't appear?...or does it not mean that??) Answer D, diagrammable as R :arrow: H, would mean that day 1, with a greyhound ("G") from rule 1, would have a Himalayan, but rule 4 prevents this. And answer E, diagrammable as H :arrow: R, would mean pretty much the same thing as answer D, drawing from rule 4 and rule 1: i.e., there can't be an R in 1 because a G is there already.

Hope this helps,
David
 DesignLaw806
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#65586
Would this fall under the "uniqueness of answer choices"
David Boyle wrote:
JaneBlueSky wrote:I got the correct answer A, but spent a lot of confusing time on choices D and E. Do D and E repeat the last rule "Rottweilers are not on any day that features Himalayans"? Why are they wrong?

Since D and E could not be both right, I chose another contender A instead.

What have I missed?

Thanks.

Hello JaneBlueSky,

Answers D and E do not exactly repeat the last rule, but they offer some "fake consequences" of it. (I.e., if Himalayans and Rottweilers hate each other, does that mean that one type appears wherever the other type doesn't appear?...or does it not mean that??) Answer D, diagrammable as R :arrow: H, would mean that day 1, with a greyhound ("G") from rule 1, would have a Himalayan, but rule 4 prevents this. And answer E, diagrammable as H :arrow: R, would mean pretty much the same thing as answer D, drawing from rule 4 and rule 1: i.e., there can't be an R in 1 because a G is there already.

Hope this helps,
David
 George George
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#65608
@DesignLaw806 Yes. The LSAT has a requirement that answer choices don't duplicate one another. They call this "overlap." So, while (D) and (E) looked similar, they were in fact testing subtly different concepts (as explained above). Therefore, (D) and (E) - and the explanation of their differences - does fall under the rubric of "uniqueness of answer choices."
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 ivan.l99
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#103519
Without the initial set up, would there have been a good way to differentiate between choice D and choice A?
 Luke Haqq
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#103582
Hi ivan.99!

One thing that seems noticeable about these answer choices is that answers (B) through (D) all share a pretty similar structure. In addition, answer choice (A) has a unique structure. That is one thing that helps differentiate the answer choices, without drawing on the initial setup.

If you were testing out answer choice (A), the second and fourth rules seem potentially useful places to start. We know that H must be featured exactly 3 times over the week, and variables can't occur consecutively. H could be featured on days 2, 4, and 6, for example.

Since we want to see if exactly four breeds could be featured on three days, we could use, say, M for days 1, 3, and 5, and S for day 7 (or you could switch M and S around). We can't have all three kittens or puppies be featured three times, since that would require 9 days.

There are different constraints for puppies than for kittens, but the same rule about a variable not occurring consecutively still applies. There are again no problems if one alternates between 2 variables for the first six days, and has the other variable on day 7. G could be featured on days 1, 3, and 5, R on days 2, 4, and 6, and then N on day 7.

Put together, that combination of kittens and puppies works (it doesn't violate the final rule that R and H can never be featured together), thus answer choice (A) could be true.

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