Logical reasoning PrepTest 106 · Section 1 · Question 11

Question prompt

Sharks have a higher 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

Facts

Valid or Flawed

NA

Question Type

Cannot Be True Questions

Answer Anticipation

When dealing with Cannot be True questions, we need an answer that contradicts the information in the stimulus. As such, we should read the stimulus with an eye towards statements that would be easier to contradict.
And here, we get a few! There are very strong comparisons:
Sharks have a higher cartilage:body mass than any other organism Sharks have a higher resistance to cancer than any other organism No treatment has work better than shark cartilage in treating cancer
These very strong comparisons can be contradicted with statements bringing up something that violates the comparison - e.g., an animal that is more cancer resistant than sharks are.
Note the slight difference in the way that the first two are phrased than the third. Those first two set sharks as having something higher than any other organism - in other words, they’re in first place, and no one ties them. That’s a little different than the third statement - since nothing works better than shark cartilage at treating cancer, something can work as well as shark cartilage at treating cancer.
The only other statement in the stimulus explains how the shark cancer resistance works, which isn’t really a statement that can be contradicted, so we shouldn’t expect an answer to deal with that.

Answer choices

  1. A
    No organism resists cancer Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    The stimulus states that sharks have “a greater” cancer resistance than “any other” organism, meaning that there can’t be any ties, and so the second half of this answer cannot be true. It is therefore correct. Note that if this answer were about the effectiveness of shark cartilage in treating cancer, then it would be possible based on the language in the stimulus.
  2. B
    The organism most susceptible Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    We don’t know anything about the organism most susceptible to cancer other than it has a lower percentage of cartilage than sharks, but that leaves open the possibility that it has a higher percentage of cartilage than some other organisms, and that these organisms don’t have cartilage that produces an anti-cancer substance.
  3. C
    The substance in shark Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    We learn only that shark cartilage has this substance. While sharks are more resistant to cancer than any other organism, that doesn’t mean other organisms can’t have some cancer resistance brokered by the same substance made by their own cartilage.
  4. D
    In the past 20 Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    We know that shark cartilage works at least as well as any other treatment, so it’s possible that there are a lot of treatments that work well. Even some of the ones that don’t work as well as shark cartilage might still work fairly well!
  5. E
    Some organisms have immune Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The argument doesn’t discuss the immune system, so this answer is out of scope and thus can’t contradict information in the stimulus.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 61%
  2. B 19%
  3. C 13%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 3%

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