Logical reasoning PrepTest 103 · Section 3 · Question 17

Question prompt

Parents who wish to Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

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

Errors in Reasoning Questions / Sufficient & Necessary Questions

Stimulus Summary

Want a musical kid? Give them musical education
Formal training is often a part of this
Therefore - Parents who want musical kids must give their kids formal training

Answer Anticipation

Look at that strong language in the conclusion! Parents “need to ensure” that their kids receive formal musical instruction. Whenever you see such strong language in the conclusion, you should check to see if the language in the premises is equally strong.
Here, when discussing a good musical education, the language is close, but not quite as strong as this conclusion. It says that parents “should” get their kids a good musical education, but it doesn’t say that they need to. And when discussing formal instruction, the language is even weaker, saying that it’s “often” a part of musical education.
Since the conclusion is stronger than the premises, this argument has a Weak Premise flaw.
Now, we could head to the answers now, but the stem is phrased in a particular way - it asks us to find something that the argument fails to consider. Since it treats something that is “often” a part of musical education as if it were a necessary part (“need to ensure”), it’s failing to consider that a good musical education frequently happens without formal training.

Answer choices

  1. A
    parents might not be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The conclusion is that the parents “need to ensure” their kids receive a certain type of education. That could be done by finding someone else to provide that formal training!

  2. B
    some children might not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    What the child wants is out of scope of this argument, which is about what parents should do if parents want musical kids.

  3. C
    there are many examples Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The argument concludes that formal instruction is a necessary part of musical education, not a sufficient part of it. As such, the argument isn’t failing to consider that some people with such training are not musical, which would counter the view that it’s sufficient.

  4. D
    formal instruction might not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    This answer plays off of the shift in certainty between the premises and conclusion. While formal instruction is “often” a part of good musical education, that doesn’t mean that it’s a necessary part, as the conclusion treats it. As such, the argument is failing to consider that it might not always be a part of such an education, as this answer states.

  5. E
    some children might become Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    First, this answer is about a good musical education, not formal training. Second, similar to (C), this answer counters an argument about what’s sufficient for musical ability, not necessary for it, as in the conclusion.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 6%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 11%
  4. D Credited 73%
  5. E 9%

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