Logical reasoning PrepTest 103 · Section 3 · Question 11

Question prompt

Lindsey has been judged Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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 with Necessary Premise Questions

Stimulus Summary

Linsey - Her songwriting is disjointed and subjective
Opposing point - Linsey is a bad songwriter
Argument - Modern novelists viewed as good write in a subjective/disjointed manner, so Linsey isn’t necessary a bad songwriter

Answer Anticipation

This argument features a rebuttal of an opposing point, so we should make sure that we’re focused on the argument that the author is making instead of that opposing point.
Here, the opposing point is that certain characteristics make a songwriter bad - she writes subjective and disjointed lyrics.
The argument concludes that this view is “ill founded” because those same characteristics apply to novelists that are considered good writers. So the argument here is relying on what is true of novelists to reach a conclusion about a songwriter.
See where we’re going here?
The argument works by using a counterexample to show the invalidity of an opposing argument. However, that counterexample is an analogous/comparable situation. To serve as a true counterexample, we’d need another lyricist. Since the argument jumps to a different situation, it’s relying on novelists and lyricists being relevantly similar. Let’s find an answer bringing that up.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Disjointed and subjective writing Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    Right off the bat, we get an answer that discusses “comparable effect[s].” Since the argument relies on what’s true of novelists to reach a conclusion about a songwriter, it’s assuming that these two types of writers are relevantly similar, at least as far as the impact of subjective and disjointed has on the quality of their writing. This answer says that, making it a necessary premise (and correct). If these characteristics don’t have a comparable effect in novels and songs, then the counterexamples raised by the argument are out of scope, and it falls apart.

  2. B
    Some readers do not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    The argument relies on these modern novelists being good writers, so some people thinking that they’re not good writers is definitely not something the argument relies on.

  3. C
    Song lyrics that are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    First, narrative structure is unmentioned and out of scope. Second, this is about other song lyrics, not writers, so it’s not dealing with the premise of the argument.

  4. D
    A disjointed and subjective Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    What matters to the argument is that novels and song lyrics are similar in this respect, not that they’re different from all other types of writing. This answer is out of scope.

  5. E
    The quality of Linsey's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The argument doesn’t actually make a determination about the quality of Linsey’s lyrics. The conclusion is that the opposing point is ill founded, not wrong - meaning that it’s not supported by the premises, not that the opposite is true. As such, what would allow for better judgment on Linsey’s songs is out of scope.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 88%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 2%

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Discussion

  • Why not A? 1 reply

    Started by Abigail-Okereke

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