LSAT is taking over my brain!

Have you ever spent so much time doing something that the activity invades your dreams? I have. It’s called the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), and it’s not pretty.

Imagine that blissful morning time when your subconscious straddles dreams and reality. Now imagine that your head is filled with bizarre logical reasoning equations - letters that buzz like mosquitos around your head. If A then C...If H then not E or not I...If E and I then not H...Ack!

Since there’s not much else going on right now, I thought I’d post a question off a past test. If you like puzzles, it might be entertaining:

From the June 1998 LSAT

Each of six people - Kim, Lina, Maricella, Oliver, Paulo, and Shigeru - plays exactly one of two sports - golf and tennis. If a sport is played by more than one of the six people, than the people who play that sport are ranked in order of ability from highest to lowest with no ties. The following conditions must apply:

• Oliver plays tennis.
• Lina plays golf.
• There is no golf player ranked higher than Lina.
• If Maricella plays golf, the Paulo and Sigeru play golf, Paulo ranking lower than Maricella but higher than Shigeru.
• If Maricella plays tennis, then Shigeru plays tennis, Sigeru ranking lower than Oliver but highter than Maricella.
• If Paulo plays tennis, then Kim plays tennis, Oliver ranking lower than Kim but higher than Paulo.

13. Which one of the following could be true?
(A) Maricella plays tennis and Shigeru plays golf.
(B) Paulo plays tennis and Kim plays golf.
(C) Kim plays tennis and Paulo plays golf.
(D) Paulo and Oliver play tennis, Paulo ranking higher than Oliver.
(E) Maricella and Shigeru play tennis, Maricella ranking higher than Shigeru.

14. Each of the following could be the lowest ranking tennis player EXCEPT:
(A) Shigeru
(B) Kim
(C) Oliver
(D) Paulo
(E) Maricella

15. Which one of the following could be a complete and acurate list of the people who play tennis, listed in order of rank from highest to lowest?
(A) Shigeru, Paulo, Oliver
(B) Oliver, Paulo, Kim
(C) Shigeru, Oliver, Maricella
(D) Oliver, Shigeru, Kim, Maricella
(E) Paulo, Maricella, Shigeru, Kim

16. If Shigeru plays golf, then each of the following are pairs of people who must play the same sport as each other EXCEPT:
(A) Paulo and Maricella
(B) Paulo and Shigeru
(C) Kim and Maricella
(D) Paulo and Lina
(E) Maricella and Shigeru

17. If Oliver is the highest ranking tennis player, which one of the following must be true?
(A) Oliver and Maricella play the same sport as each other.
(B) Paulo and Lina play the same sport as each other.
(C) Paulo and Oliver play the same sport as each other.
(D) Kim and Lina do not play the same sport as each other.
(E) Kim and Paulo do not play the same sport as each other.

18. Suppose the condition is added that Shigeru and Paulo do not play the same sport as each other. If all the other conditions remain in effect, then each of the following could be true EXCEPT:
(A) Maricella and Kim play the same sport as each other.
(B) Paulo and Kim play the same sport as each other.
(C) Paulo and Maricella play the same sport as each other.
(D) Kim and Paulo do not play the same sport as each other.
(E) Maricella and Kim do not play the same sport as each other.

Post your answers in the comments section and I’ll let you know how well you did.