Logical reasoning PrepTest 104 · Section 1 · Question 10

Question prompt

Sales manager: Last year 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/Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed/Flawed

Question Type

Cause & Effect / Weaken Questions

Stimulus Summary

SM: Total meals sold went up last year compared to the year before, so people like our food.
A: Actually, per restaurant, we sold fewer meals, if you look at restaurants open both years, so people like our food less.

Answer Anticipation

The question stem here asks us to weaken the Accountant’s argument, so let’s be sure to focus on that.
What does she argue? It actually falls into a common pattern - Phenomenon/Explanation:
Phenomenon - For restaurants that were open both years, meal sales went down
Explanation - People like our food less
Whenever a Weaken question falls into this pattern, we should start by thinking about alternative explanations. Here, it’s possible that the “desirability” of the meals to people went down, but that’s not the only possible explanation. It could be that other restaurants advertised more, or people dined out less, or the restaurants were closed for a period of time because of construction or a natural disaster. Any alternative explanation for the decline in sales will serve to weaken this argument, so let’s find one.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The company's restaurants last Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer can seem to provide an alternative explanation, but there are a few issues. First, there’s no discussion of how those new dishes were selling! If they were poor sellers, then then being removed from the menu should be a good thing. And if they were top sellers, then that would help the argument by suggesting that sales went down because people could no longer order their favorites - i.e., the desirability of the food went down.

  2. B
    Prior to last year Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    This trend continued for the restaurants that were open both years in question. Additionally, this doesn’t explain why the trend was downward, so it can’t serve as an alternative explanation.

  3. C
    Those of the company's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer eliminates an alternative cause - pricing. Additionally, this answer is about restaurants that didn’t feature in the Accountant’s arguments, since she addresses the ones that were open both years and did see a decline in sales.

  4. D
    Sales of the company's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    In talking about the most expensive meal, this answer might affect an argument about profitability, but not about overall sales.

  5. E
    Most of the company's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    This answer provides an alternative explanation for the decline in sales. It’s not that the food became less desirable, as the Accountant argues. Rather, it’s that the areas with the restaurants were undergoing a recession, and thus people would have less money to go out to eat.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 9%
  2. B 4%
  3. C 7%
  4. D 4%
  5. E Credited 77%

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