PT 17 S1 Q3

On Wednesday a physician will have exactly one appointment with seven patients—P, ... ...

If U's appointment is immediately after T's appointment and immediately before R's appointment, then which one of the following must be true?
(A) Q's appointment is at some time before P's appointment.
(B) ...
(C) ...
(D) ...
(E) ...

*This question is included in Sequencing: Lesson Set 1 (of 5) - Intro

 
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Posted: 11/25/2011 09:13
Hello,
I am not following why the solution is what it is. Sure S is before P but Q must be number one so it must be before P. What am I over looking?
The scenario 1 would be R as third making S second and T fourth followed by U making 6th and 7th W/P making only Q for 1.
Contributor
 
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Posted: 11/27/2011 01:38
Christina,

Let's start by taking a look at the Stem Rule. It creates the following block:
[T, U, R]

Now let's look at how this affects everything else.

Rule 4 says we have either [S, R] or [R, S].
Since we have [T, U, R], we can't have [S, R].
So we must have [R, S].

Now let's combine our blocks:
[T, U, R, S]

Now let's look at Rule 2. We know that U must be before P. So P must come after our block, like so:
[T, U, R, S]...P

Finally, we know that we have Q...W (Rule 1).
But since this Rule doesn't influence the order of any of the variables in the block we've created, it PROBABLY won't be a factor in determining the correct answer.

Now, let's evaluate the answer choices using our block:
[T, U, R, S]...P

It should be clear right away that (B) is correct.
Since there can only be ONE correct answer, and since (B) is definitely correct, you really don't have to prove all of the other answer choices wrong. (But you can if you've got time.)
 
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Posted: 11/27/2011 13:39
I think it makes more sense now. Is there any books or additional reading that would help me organize these rules better? Thanks very much for your time
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Posted: 11/28/2011 01:50
Christina,

As for learning how to organize the Rules, your best bet is really just to practice.

Think of each game like a puzzle. The passage (the main body of text) will tell you what kind of puzzle your dealing with (sequencing, grouping, etc.). The Rules will give you a description of the puzzle pieces you'll be trying to fit into place.

Your goal here is to get good at recognizing how each puzzle piece relates to the other pieces. This requires thinking one step at a time, and it requires a lot of PRACTICE. There is just no way around the practice part.

The good news is that you can get really good at the LG section if you put in the practice. The bad news is that it can be frustrating. Start with the free games. Do each of them more than once.

Obviously, you won't get as much out of a game the second time around, since you'll know what the answers are. But take the time to walk yourself through the logic, one step at a time. Also take the time to figure out why the wrong answers are wrong. Once you start to get a feel for the step-by-step nature of the games section, start tackling additional games.

I wish I could tell you that there's a book/guide with a top-secret approach that will make the games section easy. Unfortunately, the only secret is practice.

Hang in there. Once you start to get the hang of it, it gets easy fast.