Logical reasoning PrepTest 104 · Section 4 · Question 18

Question prompt

Book publishers have traditionally Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

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

Weaken Questions

Stimulus Summary

Phenomenon - Publishers are publishing fewer books they think have merit but not sales potential
Explanation - Publishers are more interested in profits than publishing good books

Answer Anticipation

There are two intersecting elements here that we should analyze together.
The first is the argument pattern - it falls into the Phenomenon/Explanation pattern. When this happens, answers generally deal with alternative explanations. The second is a conclusion that discusses motive - what the publishers are interested in. But just because an action has a certain outcome (publishing more profitable books than good books) doesn’t mean it was motivated by a desire to move in that direction!
Since this is a Weaken question, we should consider any answer that suggests an alternative reason for the decline in “prestige” books. And since we know assigning motive to an action based on the outcome is flawed, we shouldn’t expect that alternative to necessarily deal with the motivations of the publishers!

Answer choices

  1. A
    Book publishers have always Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The conclusion is relative in two ways - it discusses a current interest in making money versus a previous interest, and it discusses the interest in making money versus publishing good books. As such, this answer that doesn’t discuss a relative interest in making money doesn’t necessarily affect the argument, since it doesn’t compare this interest to other time periods or other goals.

  2. B
    There has been a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    This answer brings up an alternative explanation for the phenomenon noted. Publishers are publishing fewer good books. That could be because there are fewer good books being written, rather than the publishers putting money over quality. In bringing up a reasonable alternative explanation for the phenomenon in the stimulus, this answer weakens a conclusion attempting to explain it.

  3. C
    In the past, often Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    It being unexpected means that the profit couldn’t have been a primary motive behind publishing them.

  4. D
    There have always been Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    This answer is about the authors, not the publishers, and we don’t even know if these authors wrote books that publishers were interested in, making this answer out of scope.

  5. E
    In recent years, profits Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Just because profits are down doesn’t mean that publishers are more or less interested in making profits!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 10%
  2. B Credited 51%
  3. C 27%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 8%

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