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 Dave Killoran
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#46595
Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=6851)

The correct answer choice is (A)

Because this question asks for the answer choice which could be false (i.e., is not necessarily true), the answer choices which must be true can be ruled out.

The initial condition in the question stem produces the following setup:
D98_Game_#2_#11_diagram 1.png
This condition leaves only habitats 1, 2, 4, and 5, available for the remaining reptiles. the second condition in the question stem establishes that no snake is housed in a habitat next to another snake. Because there are four snakes, and the maximum number of reptiles housed in a habitat is two, we can infer that two of the snakes are housed in habitat 1 or 2, and the other two snakes are housed in habitat 4 or 5:
D98_Game_#2_#11_diagram 2.png
Answer choice (A) is the correct answer choice because none of the rules would preclude the placement of snakes in one or both remaining odd numbered habitats.

Answer choice (B) is incorrect, because it must be true that there are no male lizards—if there were any, they would be forced to be next to female snakes, which is not allowed.


Answer choices (C) and (E) must be true based on the numerical distributions in this game. There are four snakes and three lizards, with only four habitats to hold them. Since lizards and snakes cannot be housed together, the distribution must be as follows: two habitats with two snakes each, one with two lizards, and one with one lizard.

Answer choice (D) is incorrect, because if the snakes must be separated, each snake habitat must be next to a lizard habitat. Therefore it must be the case that the lizard habitats are not next to one another. Since it must be true, answer choice (D) is incorrect.
 gmsanch3
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#82426
Hello, I mistakenly read the last part of the question as “Cannot be false” which my mind told me immediately to look for MBT... I answered E which is a MBT but C is also MBT and now I’m not sure what I did or how I read this so incredibly wrong. I do this often. I read questions or stimuli wrong and then get the question wrong. Do you have any guidance with this? What can I do/practice... sorry I’m just really frustrated with myself right now. Any advice?
 Robert Carroll
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#82546
g,

Read carefully everything, even the things you think you understand well. There's really nothing more to it than that. Repeating in your own mind why you like or don't like an answer can help reinforce what you're looking for - here, I might say about an answer "This answer is definitely true, so it must be true, so it cannot be false. And I'm looking for the one answer that COULD be false, so I know this answer is out." This will make more explicit why you like or don't like an answer, and if your basis for liking or not liking the answer doesn't match what the question is actually asking about, you should be able to notice that more easily in your internal monologue.

Robert Carroll
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 crispycrispr
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#86297
I'm wondering why (B) is wrong. If 3 is empty, why couldn't there still be two male lizards housed in #4 and one female lizard in #5, and two female snakes each in 1 & 2, so that (B) could be false?
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 KelseyWoods
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#86305
Hi crispycrispr!

Read that question stem carefully:

"If habitat 3 is empty, and no snake is housed in a habitat that is immediately next to a habitat containing a snake, then which one of the following could be false?"

We can't have snakes in both 1 and 2 because we can't have any snakes in adjacent habitats.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey
 mollylynch
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#103294
Hi, I don't understand how A could be false if all the snakes are going into even slots and that follows the rules.
 Adam Tyson
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#103298
You're thinking about whether A MUST be false, Molly, but this is about what COULD be false. Answer A could be false because some snakes could be housed in odd-numbered habitats. For example:

1: SS
2: LL
3: Empty
4: L
5: SS

This solution puts all the snakes in odd-numbered habitats (1 and 5), so answer A would not be true in this situation. Thus, answer A COULD be false!

Every other answer here must be true, no matter which reptiles go into which habitats. There is going to be a single lizard by itself; the snakes will be in two pairs; the lizards cannot be male (because then there would be at least one male lizard next to at least one female snake); and the lizards are not next to each other, but are always next to snakes.

Read the question stem carefully so as to avoid those misunderstandings!

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