Logical reasoning PrepTest 103 · Section 1 · Question 7

Question prompt

The cumbersome spears that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Strengthen Questions

Stimulus Summary

Early Bronze Age - Spears were the principal weapons, and they prevented widespread casualties Late Bronze Age - A lot of warrior tombs show that the casualty rate was high Explanation - Between the early and late Bronze Age, the tribes developed new weapons that caused a lot of death

Answer Anticipation

The argument here takes a look at a timeline, comparing the Early to the Late Bronze Age. Specifically, it establishes that there were more warrior tombs in the Late Bronze Age than in the Early Bronze Age. What does the argument put forward as an explanation for this increase? The development of new methods of warfare designed to inflict a lot of casualties. Is there any evidence of this? Not outside of the higher number of tombs. The only other thing we learn was that the Early Bronze Age saw the use of spears, which didn’t cause mass casualties. When an argument puts forward an explanation, we should always consider whether there are other viable explanations. Here, there are. Maybe the warriors were killed because of some disease, or maybe it became more common to bury warriors in their own tombs. Since we’re trying to support one explanation, we should look for evidence backing it up or evidence against an alternative explanation.

Answer choices

  1. A
    A royal tomb dating Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer, at best, reinforces what we already knew about the use of spears in the Early Bronze Age. As such, it doesn’t add anything to the argument.
  2. B
    There is evidence that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    If anything, this suggests that the Late Bronze Age saw people survive battle, which undercuts the argument that there were mass casualties during war.
  3. C
    Scenes of violent warfare, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer connects violent warfare to the Early Bronze Age which, if anything, suggests there might not have been an increase in casualties by the Late Bronze Age.
  4. D
    Some tombs of warriors Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Armor would make battle less deadly, and there’s no indication of what types of weapons were found.
  5. E
    The marks on the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    This answer presents evidence that weapons different from those used in the Early Bronze Age were present in the Late Bronze Age, and those weapons were dangerous enough to leave marks on bone. As such, it presents evidence that the Late Bronze Age might have seen new methods of warfare (bows and arrows) that were designed to inflict many casualties.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 3%
  4. D 10%
  5. E Credited 81%

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