Exactly eight boats- Jewel, Kashmir, Neptune, Ojibwa, Pacific, Spain,

Question

Exactly eight boats- Jewel, Kashmir, Neptune, Ojibwa, Pacific, Spain, Tornado, and Valhalla--arrived at a dock. No boat arrived at the same time as any other boat. The boats arrived in an order consistent with the following conditions:

Tornado arrived before Spain but after Jewel.
Neptune arrived before Tornado.
Kashmir arrived after Jewel but before Spain.
Spain arrived before Ojibwa.

If Valhalla arrived before Neptune but after Pacific, which one of the following could be true?

(A) Tornado arrived before Valhalla.

(B) Kashmir arrived before Pacific.

(C) Ojibwa was not the last of the boats to arrive.

(D) Spain arrived before Valhalla.

​​​​​​​(E) Spain was not the seventh of the boats to arrive.

unraveled · Answer

J/P ----> V ----> (N/{K}) -----> {T} ----> S ----> O

Here N and K can interchange position and so do K and T as it is not clear between K and T which arrived first or later.
K can come just after J as well but certainly T cannot.

IMO Answer B.

adhin31 · Answer

The visual description you have presented still does not make it clear how  Kashmir arrived before Pacific. Was anyone able to come up with better reasoning ?

GaganB · Answer

The abbreviations for 8 boats are J, K, N, O, P, S, T, V.

First, let's use the question stem to infer the arrangement as much as we can:
Tornado arrived before Spain but after Jewel -  J ..... T...... S 
Neptune arrived before Tornado -  N .... T 
Kashmir arrived after Jewel but before Spain -  J .... K.... S 
Spain arrived before Ojibwa -  S.........O  
Valhalla arrived before Neptune but after Pacific  P .... V... N 
 (Ojibwa is in the 8th position since J,T,N,K,P,V all are before S; and S is before O, that makes Spain as 7th)

Let's look at the answer choices now -
We figured out that Spain - 7th position, and Ojibwa - 8th position -- We can eliminate C and E .
A - Tornado arrived before Valhalla - We know Valhalla arrived before Neptune, and Neptune arrived before Tornado - So this choice can be eliminated.
B - Kashmir arrived before Pacific - Can't directly infer anything, so hold and let's see if choice D can be eliminated.
D - Spain arrived before Valhalla - We know this is not true since Spain occupies 7th position. Hence, eliminate.

We are left with B and we'll pick that.

Bonus - The arrangement is J - K - P - V - N - T - S - O

adhin31  - Hope this helps.

egmat · Answer

Hi adhin31,

I see exactly why the earlier diagram is tripping you up. unraveled wrote the start as  "J/P" , which makes it look like Jewel and Pacific are glued together near the front. Once you read it that way, of course Kashmir (which must follow Jewel) seems stuck  behind  Pacific too. But that grouping is misleading.

The key question is: what actually forces Pacific's position?

Look at every rule that mentions Pacific. There's only one: the added condition  P < V < N . So Pacific is just the head of its  own  chain (P - V - N - T - S - O). Nothing ties Pacific to Jewel or to Kashmir.

Now look at what constrains Kashmir:

-  J < K  - Kashmir must come after Jewel.
-  K < S  - Kashmir must come before Spain.

That's it. Kashmir only has to sit  somewhere  after Jewel and before Spain. It is  not  required to come after Pacific.

So you have two independent "threads" - Jewel-Kashmir on one side, Pacific-Valhalla-Neptune on the other - and you're free to interleave them. Just slide Jewel and Kashmir in  front  of Pacific:

Jewel - Kashmir - Pacific - Valhalla - Neptune - Tornado - Spain - Ojibwa

Check it against every rule: J<T ✓, T<S ✓, N<T ✓, J<K ✓, K<S ✓, S<O ✓, and P<V<N ✓. Every condition holds - and Kashmir is before Pacific. Since the stem only asks what  could  be true, this one valid order is enough. That's why  B  works.

The takeaway:  when a boat appears in only one rule, don't assume the diagram locks its order against boats from a  different  chain. Ask "what actually constrains this element?" - here, nothing puts Pacific ahead of Kashmir.

Answer: B

Exactly eight boats- Jewel, Kashmir, Neptune, Ojibwa, Pacific, Spain,

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Exactly eight boats- Jewel, Kashmir, Neptune, Ojibwa, Pacific, Spain,

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards