An amusement park roller coaster includes five cars, numbered 1 through 5 from front to back. Each car accommodates up to two riders, seated side by side. Six people—Tom, Gwen, Laurie, Mark, Paul and Jack—are riding the coaster at the same time.
Laurie is sharing a car.
Mark is not sharing a car and is seated immediately behind an empty car.
Tom is not sharing a car with either Gwen or Paul.
Which of the following groups of riders could occupy the second car? . (A) Laurie only (B) Tom and Gwen (C) Laurie and Mark (D) Jack and Tom (E) Jack, Gwen, and Paul
Analysis
The correct response to Question 1 is (D). As is typical for the first question in a game, you don't need a diagram to handle this one. Each answer choice other than (D) violates the premise or one of the rules. (A) violates the rule that Laurie is sharing a car. (B) violates the rule that Gwen is riding in either the third or fourth car; (B) also violates the rule that Tom is not sharing a car with Gwen (although either rule violation suffices to eliminate this answer choice). (C) violates the rule that Mark is not sharing a car. (E) violates the premise that each car can accommodate up to two riders.
TIP: The most efficient way to handle questions such as this one is consider one rule at a time, scanning the answer choices for violations of the rule.
