LSAT Practice Questions — Analytical Reasoning
Diagraming Help — Questions 1-3
This question set involves matching each of seven objects (lamps) to three characteristics: material, shade color and style. As with any LSAT Analytical Reasoning set (or logic game), before attempting the questions ask yourself what you can deduce from the information. In this case, given that no wooden lamp has a brown shade and that a white shade can be paired only with a ceramic lamp, you can deduce that any wooden lamp must have a grey shade.
One way to organize all of the information is to draw a simple grid and fill in what you know based on the premises and conditions:
| shade (b,wh,g) | |||||||
| material (C,W) | C | C | C | C | |||
| style (m,t,r) |
| wh ↓ C | g ↑ W |
Notice the information depicted visually below the grid for ready reference. An arrow's direction indicates the logic:
- If wh, then C (if white shade, then ceramic)
- If W, then g (if wooden, then grey shade)
Diagraming Help — Questions 4-6
An effective way to approach this question set is to jot down basic alternative schedules. Given that floors are polished on Monday and two other days — all non-consecutive — three basic schedules emerge, as the following diagram provides (L = lunch, D = dinner, F = floors polished, W = plants watered). Notice that the diagram incorporates certain additional information about the plant-watering schedule as well (as explained below):
| L | L | D | L | D | D |
| M | T | W | Th | F | S |
| F | F | F | |||
| F | W | F | F | ||
| F | F | W | F | ||
As with any LSAT Analytical Reasoning set (or logic game), before answering the questions ask yourself what else you can deduce from the information. In this case, given that plants are watered on two non-consecutive days and never on the same day that floors are polished, under the second schedule plants must be watered on Tuesday (and on either Thursday or Friday, but not both), while under the third schedule plants must be watered on Friday (and on either Tuesday or Wednesday, but not both).
