Logical reasoning PrepTest 104 · Section 1 · Question 24

Question prompt

Folklorist: Oral traditions are 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

Principle Questions / Strengthen Questions

Stimulus Summary

Oral vs. Written Tradition:
The former improves the memory, whereas the latter degrades it The latter can grow unwieldy and confusing, whereas the former removes useless and irrelevant info
Conclusion - Oral traditions are sometimes better than written ones

Answer Anticipation

Principle (Strengthen) questions generally reach a judgment based on the description of a situation. Here, the judgment is that one thing is “preferable” to another, based on a comparison of those two things.
The stimulus concludes that oral traditions are “often” better than written ones. To justify such a conclusion, the stimulus would need to establish the criteria to determine what makes a tradition better, and then compare the two traditions over those criteria. In general, it’s the criteria that are principles, and the comparisons that are details. That pans out here.
The premises establish two points of comparison - memory, and brevity. Oral traditions improve memory, whereas written traditions degrade it. And oral traditions lead to the removal of useless/irrelevant information, whereas written traditions lead to it proliferating.
However, the stimulus never establishes that either of these criteria are relevant in determining which of two traditions is better! As such, the correct answer will likely do so, establishing either one (or both) as the relevant consideration.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Accuracy in communication breeds Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Both oral and written traditions could be accurate, so this answer doesn’t distinguish one over the other and allow a conclusion of “preferable” to be reached.

  2. B
    Literate populations need to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    There’s no indication that this isn’t also true of illiterate ones.

  3. C
    Tradition is of greater Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Both of these are characterized as “traditions,” and there’s no discussion of one resulting in a greater accumulation of knowledge.

  4. D
    Economy of expression is Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    Oral traditions lead to eradicating useless and irrelevant information, making them economical with their expression. Written traditions lead to proliferation of language that can be confusing - that sounds like verbosity. This answer provides a reason to prefer oral traditions to written ones, helping to justify the conclusion. It is therefore the correct answer.

  5. E
    Ideas that cannot be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    First, this answer is about ideas that should be discussed, not the means by which they’re discussed (i.e., oral or written tradition), so it’s out of scope. Second, ignoring that, this answer doesn’t line up with an argument about what’s preferable when it says that something should never be used/discussed.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 15%
  2. B 11%
  3. C 8%
  4. D Credited 57%
  5. E 9%

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