Information Ordering
Information Ordering asks you to arrange steps, events, or items into the correct sequence according to stated rules. It appears as scheduling problems, procedure ordering, and timeline reconstruction.
Concepts to master
- Fixed constraints: steps that must come first, last, or immediately before another.
- Relative constraints: A before B, but not necessarily adjacent.
- Immediate constraints: A directly before B.
- Exclusion constraints: A and B cannot be adjacent or in the same slot.
- Transitivity: if A is before B and B is before C, then A is before C.
Traps that appear
- Confusing "before" with "immediately before."
- Ignoring a constraint while building a sequence that looks tidy.
- Assuming an order the rules never stated.
- Failing to re-check all constraints after filling the last slot.
Worked example
Rules: (1) The report is written after the interview. (2) The interview is immediately after the scene walk. (3) The briefing is first.
Chain what is fixed: briefing → scene walk → interview → report. Rule 2 links walk and interview tightly; rule 1 places the report after the interview; rule 3 anchors the start. Every remaining item slots in only one way.
Rule of thumb
Write the constraints as symbols (A<B, A→B for immediate) and build from the most restrictive one. After you finish, run through every rule once more against your final order.