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- SamanthaW170
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Vinny Gambini
- Posts: 7
- Joined: February 07th, 2018
Q17
I got this answer right by moving through the answer choices one by one - writing on diagrams, and then figuring out that E doesn't work. Would there have been a better strategy to identify which answer choices were more likely to be correct (or which elements to look for, etc.)?
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- ohthatpatrick
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Atticus Finch
- Posts: 4661
- Joined: April 01st, 2011
Re: Q17
In revisionist history, there often seems like there was a "smarter way", but I would emphasize up front that even for super-experienced test takers, there are still a bunch of questions that boil down to plug and chug.
On these brute force questions, there MIGHT be some legitimacy to the conspiracy theory that we should work from (E) up (I've never done the research on whether they bury the answer towards the bottom to make us do more work).
The first thing I would do on this problem is check all my previous scenarios (including Q18, because I do all the "If" questions before I do any of the other questions, other than Orientation).
With the scenarios we had for Q15, Q16, and Q18, we probably had some could-be-true that would eliminate an answer on Q17. (as it turns out, we didn't really have any useful previous work)
In this case, our work for Q15 could have stuck in our heads as a reason that (E) was wrong. When Q15 says we need to do a row that's "W _ S", we would think, "well it's gotta be screen 1 or 2.
Let's try it in screen 1.
S1: W / S
S2: __ / __
S3: / __ /
Since R can't be in 2, it must be
S1: W / S
S2: __ / __
S3: / R /
which forces M and H into the same row. We'd cross this out and then try W / S in screen 2.
When we start Q17 and we scan our previous work for the sake of previous scenarios that could eliminate answers, we'd see this crossed-out "broken" scenario and be reminded that W / S doesn't work in S1.
The fact that throughout the game, we end up splitting up the H/M enemies by putting an H/M in one row and a M/H in another row, we might also have the sneaking suspicion that there would be nothing inherently bad about switching H for M (as choices A and B do, and as choices C and D do).
Hope this helps.
On these brute force questions, there MIGHT be some legitimacy to the conspiracy theory that we should work from (E) up (I've never done the research on whether they bury the answer towards the bottom to make us do more work).
The first thing I would do on this problem is check all my previous scenarios (including Q18, because I do all the "If" questions before I do any of the other questions, other than Orientation).
With the scenarios we had for Q15, Q16, and Q18, we probably had some could-be-true that would eliminate an answer on Q17. (as it turns out, we didn't really have any useful previous work)
In this case, our work for Q15 could have stuck in our heads as a reason that (E) was wrong. When Q15 says we need to do a row that's "W _ S", we would think, "well it's gotta be screen 1 or 2.
Let's try it in screen 1.
S1: W / S
S2: __ / __
S3: / __ /
Since R can't be in 2, it must be
S1: W / S
S2: __ / __
S3: / R /
which forces M and H into the same row. We'd cross this out and then try W / S in screen 2.
When we start Q17 and we scan our previous work for the sake of previous scenarios that could eliminate answers, we'd see this crossed-out "broken" scenario and be reminded that W / S doesn't work in S1.
The fact that throughout the game, we end up splitting up the H/M enemies by putting an H/M in one row and a M/H in another row, we might also have the sneaking suspicion that there would be nothing inherently bad about switching H for M (as choices A and B do, and as choices C and D do).
Hope this helps.
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