
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
An auditorium with $15$ rows of seats starts with $8$ seats in the first row. Each successive row has two more seats than the previous one. Students taking an exam are permitted to sit in any row, but not next to another student, and additionally, no student can sit in the last seat of each row. Determine the maximum number of students that can be seated for the exam.
A) 130
B) 140
C) 150
D) 160
E) 170

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
user