Hi Christian,

Are you able to provide a screenshot of the actual problem and explanation? A link to the exercise set or article this is on would also be helpful.

Based on what you've given me, I think the "two spots" is correct. To me, "one spot" ahead of R would mean X is directly before R. "Two spots" indicates (to me) that there is a space between the X and the R.

Hello Evan, and thank you for your response. You are right, I misinterpreted the meaning of " x is two spots earlier than R..."

I believe it was hard for me to spatially map such rule in my mind. Would you say that this rule "X_RM" is so because we are counting "X's" position as one spot as well? It'll make sense.

My apologies for my mistake and many thanks for the clarification. 

Link: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/lsat/lessons/analytical-reasoning/a/analytical-reasoning--overview-article--multiple-scenarios
Under: "When to use scenarios... 1. Pairs and groups"