2015 Round 1 – Question Breakdown and Style Guide (120 Marks, 120 Minutes)

Round 1 Section 3 - Case Study Information Pack

Section 3: Case Study – Three’s a Crowd

Relates to Questions 28-39
25 Marks available in this Section

INTRODUCTION
You have recently purchased a two player card game, which is described below. Being an Excel
enthusiast you have decided to produce a model which allows you to score the game.

SCORING A PLAYER’S HAND

The cards each feature one of a green cat, a red cat, a green dog or a red dog.

A round in the game is played as follows:

Each player is dealt three cards (a hand) from which they must make the highest possible and lowest
possible scoring pair (one card will obviously be used in both of these pairs). The score for the hand is the
sum of these two scores.

• A pair in which the colour and animal both match is worth 4 points

• A pair in which the colour and animal are both different is worth 3 points

• A pair in which the animal is the same and the colour is different is worth 2 points

• A pair in which the colour is the same and the animal is different is worth 1 point

In the case study workbook there is a list of 250 hands, with the three cards in columns A, B and C.
Cards are described as [colour, animal] within a cell.

WINNING THE GAME

The winner of a round is the player with the highest scoring hand. If both players have the same score
there is no winner.

The winner of a game is the first player to win five rounds. For the avoidance of doubt, once a player has
won five rounds, the game is over.

Prepare your model and then use it to answer the given questions.
For Questions 28 to 38, select your answer from a multiple-choice list.
The information for scoring a hand applies to Questions 28-36.
The information for winning the game applies to Questions 37-38.
When finished, please upload your workbook (Question 39).