Q4

[pmorales]

Please help,

Question 4 asks:

If John receives a higher grade in physics than in economics and receives a higher grade in history than in Italian, exactly how many of his grades can be determined?

Choices:

A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
E) 6 - Correct

My trouble:

If physics is higher than econ then we get a mini chain of:

G-->P-->E-->H, (G and P are consecutive)

We are also told that John recieves a higher grade in history than Italian. Adding to our chain:

G-->P-->E-->H-->I

Now we know that Italian and Russian are consecutive, but not which is higher.

So, doesn't it stand to reason that John's grade in Russian could either be below Italian (and meaning his grades would run from A to E respectively from geography to Russian), or his grade could be above Italian (i.e. the same as his grade in history).

But we don't know which of these two scenarios is the one that actually happens. How does the LSAT determine that John's Russian grade is in fact worse than his Italian grade, and therefore determine the placement of all 6 of his grades?

Thank you for your help!

[ohthatpatrick]

Hey, there. I think I understand your confusion.

The problem with your explanation is that there are 6 subjects, but only 5 grades. We HAVE to do some doubling-up.

You're suggesting that one of our options is:
G - P - E - H - I - R

But there aren't six grades. You'd have to go from A to F with that scenario.

When we get to this point
G - P - E - H - I
we know that those five have to be
A, B, C, D, E, respectively.

We still have to place R, either in 4th or 6th. But there IS no 6th place, so R must be in 4th place with H.

We refer to games of this ilk as "Mismatched Ordering" because the lack of a 1:1 ratio of things/spots often throws us for a loop.

When you read the setup and see 6 things, 5 spots, start asking yourself questions about the min/max for any given column. In this game, columns could have anywhere from 0 - 3 things.

Hope this helps.