Logical reasoning PrepTest 103 · Section 1 · Question 16

Question prompt

Henry: Some scientists explain Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed/Valid

Question Type

Point at Issue Questions

Stimulus Summary

H: Honeybees use scent to tell other bees how to get to food, so they don’t need to use dancing and there must be some other explanation for it. W: Most animals have more than one way to do something, like some bees that use both the Sun and landmarks to navigate, so the honeybees could use both dance and smell to leave trails to food.

Answer Anticipation

As with all Point at Issue questions, we should see if the second speaker explicitly disagrees with something the first speaker says. Here, Winifred starts her argument with, “Not necessarily,” in reference to Henry’s claim that the bees use their dance for something other than directing other bees to food. She goes on to highlight that even if the bees do use scent trails - a point of agreement between the two - they might also use dances to communicate the path. As such, they disagree over whether the honeybee dance serves as directions, with Henry believing it doesn’t and Winifred believing that it very well might. Winifred also talks about other animals, which Henry doesn’t. She then talks about bees that use the Sun and landmarks to navigate - another thing that Henry is silent on. So we’re left with the aforementioned disagreement over whether honeybee dancing serves as directions to food as the correct answer.

Answer choices

  1. A
    theories of animal behavior Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Henry doesn’t talk about other animals or general theories of animal behavior, so this answer is out of scope of his argument.
  2. B
    there is more than Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Henry believes that honeybees don’t dance to give directions, but we don’t know if he believes that they do so for another single explanation - he might believe they serve multiple non-direction purposes. Winifred similarly doesn’t commit to there being only a single explanation for the honeybee dance - she argues it might serve to give directions, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t also serve another purpose.
  3. C
    honeybees communicate the location Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    Henry concludes that there must be some explanation for honeybee dancing other than communicating the location of food, so he disagrees with this answer. Winifred argues that that isn’t necessarily true, meaning that she believes they might. This is therefore the point at issue between them, making it the correct answer.
  4. D
    the honeybee is the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Henry doesn’t talk about other bee species, and Winifred discusses only some species, so this answer is out of scope of both of their arguments.
  5. E
    the honeybee's sense of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This is, if anything, a point of agreement. Henry says that honeybees navigate by “leav[ing] a scent trail,” and Winifred agrees that scent trails are a supplementary means of communicating (which doesn’t mean she thinks it’s used for communicating the path to food, but it certainly leans in that direction).

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 6%
  2. B 35%
  3. C Credited 58%
  4. D -100%
  5. E 1%

Deeper help

Ask follow-ups on any step

Optional AI tutor mode will let you interrogate assumptions, compare answers, and drill weak patterns without leaving the page.

Human-written explanations stay primary; AI is an add-on when you want it.

Discussion

View all discussions Start a discussion