Q11

[CourtneyH949]

What is an efficient strategy for solving this problem? I drew a blank when I first solved this problem, and I now can only think of time intensive ways to solve it.

[Laura Damone]

I vote for question specific framing!

We know from our placeholder inferences that either M is out, or both O and P are out. Since M out leads to W out, and P out leads to S out, our placeholder is really robust:

M
W
/
O
P
S

When 11 places P out, that guarantees S out, but nothing else. So, I turn to my placeholder. Either I need M and W out, or I need all three of O, P and S out. The basic framework for the out groups is this:

Out
P
S
O



Out
P
S
M
W


In the bottom frame, the out group is full so everybody else goes in. In the top frame, we only have 1 out group slot left. That leads to the limited group space inferences that M and Y must be in, since each of them, if out, would pull W out, too, overfilling the outgroup. T, Z and W could go in or out.

So our complete frames are:

In Out
M P
Y S
__ O
__
Who's Left: T Z W

In Out
O P
T S
Z M
Y W

Answers A, B and C all have M out, so we're looking at the bottom frame but none of those arrangements are possible. Answer D is possible in the top frame. Answer E isn't possible in either because both frames have Y In.

Whenever a conditional question gives you a rule that doesn't start a cascade of inferences, think about question specific framing!

Hope this helps!