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How can I do these questions faster? I have been bailed out by just using process of elimination and having one of the first few answer choices not conflict with the original rule set. Is there some more efficient approach out there?

abdistotle wrote:How can I do these questions faster? I have been bailed out by just using process of elimination and having one of the first few answer choices not conflict with the original rule set. Is there some more efficient approach out there?

I was wondering the same thing...

There are a few subsets of what most people call Rule Substitution/Replacement questions:

1) Add a new player (Jabrohn)
Go back to square one, redo your setup with the extra player, make deductions anew.

2) Rule removal questions
Go back to square one, rewrite the still-relevant rules, and make deductions anew.

3) Rule change questions (where you replace one rule with another rule given to you)
Go back to square one, rewrite the still-relevant rules and the new one, and make deductions anew.

4) True rule replacement questions ("Which one of the following, if substituted for the rule that ___________, would have the same effect on the game?")
These generally (though not always) replace two-part rules (i.e. "H is before L, and H can't be first).
The correct answer will:
1) Tell you H is before L
2) Tell you H can't be first
3) Tell you nothing else.
Spend a second to think about what might give you one of these two rules (for instance, if there's a rule that says L must be immediately before M, then saying "H must be before M" has the same effect as "H must be before L".)
Then, if nothing comes to you or that doesn't give you an answer, evaluate each answer choice along the three metrics listed above. It's usually easy to evaluate over 1 and 2, but much harder over 3 (whether the rule tells you something new). I generally rule out the 3 answers that either miss 1 or 2, and then go back to evaluate which one tells me something new.

bp shinners wrote:There are a few subsets of what most people call Rule Substitution/Replacement questions:

1) Add a new player (Jabrohn)
Go back to square one, redo your setup with the extra player, make deductions anew.

2) Rule removal questions
Go back to square one, rewrite the still-relevant rules, and make deductions anew.

3) Rule change questions (where you replace one rule with another rule given to you)
Go back to square one, rewrite the still-relevant rules and the new one, and make deductions anew.

4) True rule replacement questions ("Which one of the following, if substituted for the rule that ___________, would have the same effect on the game?")
These generally (though not always) replace two-part rules (i.e. "H is before L, and H can't be first).
The correct answer will:
1) Tell you H is before L
2) Tell you H can't be first
3) Tell you nothing else.
Spend a second to think about what might give you one of these two rules (for instance, if there's a rule that says L must be immediately before M, then saying "H must be before M" has the same effect as "H must be before L".)
Then, if nothing comes to you or that doesn't give you an answer, evaluate each answer choice along the three metrics listed above. It's usually easy to evaluate over 1 and 2, but much harder over 3 (whether the rule tells you something new). I generally rule out the 3 answers that either miss 1 or 2, and then go back to evaluate which one tells me something new.

This seems like it may work. I will try this today! Thank you

Seriously consider making an educated guess and moving on.

Right now, I am at the point where this is all that is holding me back from scoring perfectly on this section. I have never been a fast game-completer but my approach works. I do agree with the quickly move on and come back to this question approach. It is just one point, and for people who don't have time on their side with this test, you need to cut your losses in the end. Hopefully I can speed up a bit more to leave myself room to just tackle this one question with brute force for 3+ minutes at the end of the section