Logical reasoning PrepTest 102 · Section 4 · Question 16

Incorrect. While the people the Essayist has met are either intelligent or wise, there's no indication that these individuals are representative of people overall. As such, most people could be neither of these things, and the Essayist is living a life sheltered from most people.

Incorrect. This answer is the flipside of (A). While the people the Essayist has met are either not intelligent or not wise, that doesn't mean that these individuals are representative of all people. As such, most people could be both of these things, even if the Essayist's circle is filled with people missing at least one.

Incorrect. No one the Essayist knows is both wise and intelligent, so we have no counterexamples to this statement. It could therefore be true.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Cannot Be True

Stimulus Summary:
Wisdom and intelligence are desirable, but neither guarantees the other.
Essayist's experience - People she's met have at least one, but not both

Answer Anticipation:
Just like the last question, this one is asking for what could be true EXCEPT—in other words, four answers could be true, and one can't be true, so this is a Cannot Be True question. That means we're looking for an answer that contradicts the information in the stimulus. Answers that aren't supported or are out of scope could be true and are thus wrong here.

With that established, let's look at the given statements. The first one establishes two characteristics as desirable—it's hard to imagine how that statement could be contradicted without explicitly stating they're not. Additionally, the second statement is weak—it states one thing doesn't guarantee another, which is another way of saying they don't always go together.

However, we then get some specific examples—the people met by the Essayist are either intelligent or wise, but they're not both. While the people that she's met are limited, and there's no indication that they're representative of people overall, they do exist. As such, they can serve as a counterexample to a broad statement in the answers.

As such, we should look for answers that wise but unintelligent/intelligent but unwise don't exist.

Answer Explanation:
The Essayist has met people who are just wise, or just intelligent (but not both). As such, these people the Essayist has met serve as counterexample to this answer, and thus it can't be true, making it the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
When a Cannot Be True question brings up some examples, the correct answer will often be a statement that those examples serve as counterexamples to. Think about what type of statement would be countered by the provided examples, and then look to the answers for that statement.

Incorrect. The Essayist has met people who are intelligent and not wise, so this answer, if anything, is supported by the stimulus.