Logical reasoning PrepTest 104 · Section 1 · Question 15

Question prompt

Tony: Few anarchists have 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/Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed/Valid

Question Type

Methods of Reasoning Questions

Stimulus Summary

T: There are a lot fewer violent anarchists than violent members of other ideologies, so people thinking anarchists are violent are wrong.
K: There are a lot more people in other ideologies, so the proportion of anarchists that are violent might be higher than the others.

Answer Anticipation

Whenever a Methods of Reasoning question features a rebuttal, we should start with a couple considerations:
Does the second speaker agree or disagree with the first speaker’s conclusion? If she disagrees, does she think it’s wrong or unsupported? Does the second speaker agree or disagree with the first speaker’s premises? Logic/assumptions? Does she bring up a new consideration?
Here, Keisha disagrees with Tony’s conclusion, but she doesn’t think that it’s wrong - just that there might be a link that he thinks doesn’t exist. And she doesn’t question his premise - rather, she brings in the new consideration of the relative number of anarchists vs. other ideologies.
So Keisha believes Tony’s conclusion might be wrong based on the new consideration of proportion vs. numbers (which, in essence, points out a Relative vs. Absolute flaw in his logic).

Answer choices

  1. A
    She shows that Tony's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    Keisha does argue that his conclusion is questionable when she says that there is “possible” a connection between anarchism and violence. And she does so by bringing up the possibility that, while the number of violent anarchists may be low, the proportion may be high. This answer describes her rebuttal, so it’s the correct answer.

  2. B
    She attempts to undermine Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Keisha talks about proportion, whereas Tony talks about absolute numbers. It is possible that the number of violent anarchists is low while the proportion is high, so Keisha’s premise isn’t incompatible with Tony’s.

  3. C
    She questions the accuracy Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Keisha doesn’t question whether the number of violent anarchists is low, just whether that means the proportion is low, as well.

  4. D
    She presents evidence that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Keisha and Tony only discuss violence, not other significant qualities.

  5. E
    She indicates that Tony Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Keisha doesn’t question Tony’s definition of who falls into the violent category and who doesn’t, or who is an anarchist and who isn’t, so this answer is incorrect.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 87%
  2. B 9%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 1%
  5. E 1%

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Discussion

  • Why A? 1 reply

    Started by smilde11

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