Logical reasoning PrepTest 104 · Section 4 · Question 19

Question prompt

Most people feel that 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

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Strengthen with Necessary Premise Questions

Stimulus Summary

The news confuses most people
Potential causes - Info delivered too quickly, or Info poorly organized
The typical news broadcast doesn’t deliver info too quickly for most people
Conclusion - The cause of confusion is poor organization

Answer Anticipation

This argument uses a common method of reasoning - the elimination of alternatives. It’s meant to figure out what the source of confusion is for most people who watch news broadcasts. It brings up two potential ones. It then rules one out (info delivered too quickly), and concludes that the other (poor organization) is the cause.
Whenever an argument relies on this method of reasoning, it needs to do two things. First, it needs to establish that the alternatives it raises comprise a complete list of all potential alternatives. Then, it needs to eliminate all of the alternatives but one.
The argument here does eliminate one of the two alternatives, but it fails to establish that the list of alternatives is complete. It says that the cause “could be” certain things, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be anything else.
As such, the argument is assuming that the only potential causes of the confusion is the info being delivered too quickly or the info being poorly organized. Let’s find an answer stating that directly, or eliminating an alternative since the argument relies on all other alternatives being eliminated.

Answer choices

  1. A
    It is not the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    This answer eliminates an alternative potential cause for the confusion to the ones listed in the stimulus. If it’s the number of stories that causes the confusion, then it isn’t the organization, as the stimulus states. This answer is thus a necessary premise for the argument.

  2. B
    Poor organization of information Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    This answer is too extreme in stating that poor organization makes it “impossible” to understand the information. It’s only “most” people that feel confused, so the argument leaves room for some to understand and not feel confused by the broadcasts, and it thus doesn’t require it to be impossible to understand them.

  3. C
    Being exposed to more Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    What “would help” people be less confused is out of scope of what is making them confused in the first place.

  4. D
    Most people can cope Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The stimulus rules out one explanation for the confusion by talking about information density, but the argument relies on relative density. What matters is whether the broadcasts exceed the information density the average person can cope with, not that the average person can cope with a “very high” information density. The average person’s limit might actually be quite low, and news broadcasts just come in even lower.

  5. E
    Some people are being Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    If anything, this answer brings up an alternative explanation for the confusion - it’s not the speed or organization, but the sheer amount of information that’s causing the confusion. In raising an alternative, this answer undermines the argument, and so it can’t strengthen it as a necessary premise.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 67%
  2. B 22%
  3. C 3%
  4. D 6%
  5. E 2%

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Discussion

  • I chose C 1 reply

    Started by medasmx@protonmail.com

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