Logical reasoning PrepTest 105 · Section 2 · Question 15

Question prompt

A report of a Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

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

Errors in Reasoning Questions

Stimulus Summary

Survey - Ask all residents 19 and older whether they graduated from high school Conclusion - Center City is in the top 10 for dropout rates City school: Based on our numbers, yours are off

Answer Anticipation

This is a tricky question stem to figure out exactly, but we’re looking to criticize a report. That suggests that the argument is flawed, and we’re looking for a reason that it’s flawed, so let’s approach this as an Errors in Reasoning question. With that noted, what, exactly, are we trying to find a flaw with? Well, we’re looking to criticize the reasoning used by the survey report to reach its conclusion. So we need a flaw in the survey. Arguments based on surveys are frequently flawed because they have Sampling flaws, or Correlation/Causation flaws. There’s no causality here - no indication what’s causing the dropouts to happen - so let’s skip that and start with the Sampling flaw. What group is mentioned in the argument’s conclusion? It’s the people who dropped out from Center City schools. Is that the same group that’s included in the survey? It is not. The survey spoke to city residents who were 19 and older, but there’s no indication that these people went to Center City schools, or are representative of them. It’s certainly possible that a majority of them moved to Center City after dropping out of schools elsewhere because, say, Center City has more job opportunities for dropouts. Let’s find an answer reflecting the potentially unrepresentative nature of the survey’s respondents.

Answer choices

  1. A
    take into account instances Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The survey ranked cities for having the highest dropout rate, not the highest high school dropout rate, so it didn’t need to take this distinction into account.
  2. B
    ask residents whether they Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    The survey asked whether people graduated from high school, and they would answer, “Yes,” whether that took two years or four. As such, it’s not a flaw to have failed to ask about this.
  3. C
    distinguish between residents who Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    The argument uses a sample of residents of Center City, but it draws a conclusion about students who went to Center City schools. Those are distinct groups, so the survey isn’t necessarily representative. This answer therefore points out a flaw in the argument based on that survey, so it’s the correct answer.
  4. D
    predict the effect of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    They survey wasn’t meant to make any predictions about the future, so it’s not flawed in failing to do so. Arguments don’t need to reach every possible conclusion they might put forward in order to be valid!
  5. E
    consider whether a diploma Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The argument is about the dropout rate, not whether the diploma conveys any specific knowledge. In fact, in drawing a conclusion just about those who didn’t finish school, what information a diploma signals is out of scope - as no one in the dropout group has one!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 10%
  2. B 3%
  3. C Credited 85%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 0%

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