Unit 8 · Detecting Reasoning Errors
Junior Golf Championship — Spot the Logic Error
Lesson 1 of 34
When someone counts up two groups to get a total, always ask: could the same person or thing belong to both groups at once? If yes, the total might be too high — that is the Overlap Fallacy.
Prize/award overlap questions appear regularly across NSW Selective and OC papers — easy marks once you know to look for the hidden shared member.
The examiner checks whether you can spot that two prize categories are not necessarily filled by different people, meaning the speaker's arithmetic can collapse when there is overlap.
A rule awards prizes (or points, or titles) to members of Group A and separately to members of Group B. A speaker counts them as separate people to reach a total. One option identifies that the same person might qualify for both groups.
Best approach: Read the prize rule carefully. Identify all groups that earn a reward. Ask whether one person could qualify for more than one group. If yes, the speaker has double-counted. Ignore options about feelings, fairness, or total competition size — those are off-topic distractors.
Question
In the Junior Golf Championship, prizes are given out to the players who finish first, second, and third, and to anyone who gets a hole-in-one.
Sam said: "Well, I know that one player scored a hole-in-one this year. So that means that four players will get prizes."
Which one of the following sentences shows the mistake Sam has made?
Select an answer to see the explanation.
Give Your Child the Best Chance at Selective Entry
Join NSW families preparing their children for the Selective Schools Placement Test with the most realistic online Selective practice tests available. First tests free—no credit card required.
Claim Your Free Selective Practice Tests