400-820-0859LSAT频道在此与大家分享LSAC官网上公布的LSAT分析推理样题（三），希望对大家备考LSAT分析推理有所帮助。
Passage for Question 4
A charitable foundation awards grants in exactly four areas—medical services, theater arts, wildlife preservation, and youth services—each grant being in one of these areas. One or more grants are awarded in each of the four quarters of a calendar year. Additionally, over the course of a calendar year, the following must obtain:
Grants are awarded in all four areas.
No more than six grants are awarded.
No grants in the same area are awarded in the same quarter or in consecutive quarters.
Exactly two medical services grants are awarded.
A wildlife preservation grant is awarded in the second quarter.
Question 4
If a wildlife preservation grant and a youth services grant are awarded in the same quarter of a particular calendar year, then any of the following could be true that year EXCEPT:
A medical services grant is awarded in the second quarter.
A theater arts grant is awarded in the first quarter.
A theater arts grant is awarded in the second quarter.
A wildlife preservation grant is awarded in the fourth quarter.
A youth services grant is awarded in the third quarter.
Explanation for Question 4
This question deals with the awarding of grants during the quarters of a calendar year. As an aid in visualizing this problem, we can set up a simple table with columns representing the four quarters. Since the fifth condition in the passage states that “[a] wildlife preservation grant is awarded in the second quarter,” we know that all possible solutions for any question based on the passage must include a wildlife preservation grant awarded in the second quarter, which we can represent like this:
1234
W
The particular question here begins with the added supposition that “a wildlife preservation grant and a youth services grant are awarded in the same quarter of a particular calendar year.” One possible way this could be satisfied is to have a youth services grant awarded in the second quarter in addition to the wildlife grant awarded in that quarter:
1234
W
Y
Another possibility would be to have a wildlife preservation grant and a youth services grant both being awarded in some quarter other than the second quarter. Given the condition that “[n]o grants in the same area are awarded in the same quarter or in consecutive quarters,” the only quarter in which a wildlife preservation grant could be awarded in addition to the second quarter is the fourth quarter. So the only alternative way to satisfy the added supposition is if both a wildlife preservation grant and a youth services grant are awarded in the fourth quarter:
1234
W W
Y
So far, then, we’ve determined that for this question there must be a youth services grant awarded in the second quarter or the fourth quarter.
Each of the incorrect answer choices for this question is a statement that could be true. The question asks you to identify the exception; that is, you need to find the statement that cannot be true. The correct answer choice is (E), which states: “A youth services grant is awarded in the third quarter.” This could not be true without violating the third condition, which specifies that “[n]o grants in the same area are awarded in the same quarter or in consecutive quarters.” We saw above that a youth services grant must either be awarded in the second quarter or the fourth quarter. On either possibility, awarding a youth services grant in the third quarter would result in two consecutive quarters where the youth services grant is awarded:
1234
W
YY
or:
1234
WYW
Y
In both cases, two youth services grants would be awarded in consecutive quarters, in violation of the third condition.
To see that each of the other answer choices could be true, it will suffice to construct a possible outcome for each one that is consistent with the supposition given in the question and the conditions in the passage. Consider the following possible outcome:
1234
TM
W
YTM
A quick check of the conditions shows that this satisfies all of the conditions for the problem:
A wildlife preservation grant and a youth services grant are awarded in the same quarter of a particular calendar year.
Grants are awarded in all four areas. (The table includes at least one of each of the four letters—M, T, W, and Y.)
No more than six grants are awarded. (The table contains exactly six entries.)
No grants in the same area are awarded in the same quarter or in consecutive quarters. (In the table above, only T and M are repeated, and neither repetition appears in the same or consecutive columns.)
Exactly two medical services grants are awarded. (The table contains exactly two M’s, in columns 2 and 4.)
A wildlife preservation grant is awarded in the second quarter.
Notice that in this possible outcome, a medical services grant is awarded in the second quarter (answer choice (A)) and a theater arts grant is awarded in the first quarter (answer choice (B)). So answer choices (A) and (B) are both incorrect.
Now consider the following possible outcome:
1234
MT
WMW
Y
A check of the conditions shows that this satisfies the supposition and all of the conditions. In this outcome, a theater arts grant is awarded in the second quarter (answer choice (C)) and a wildlife preservation grant is awarded in the fourth quarter (answer choice (D)). So answer choices (C) and (D) are also incorrect.
This was a difficult question, based on the number of test takers who answered it correctly when it appeared on the LSAT. The most commonly selected incorrect answer choice for this question was response (A).
