Logical reasoning PrepTest 106 · Section 1 · Question 9

Question prompt

Political commentators see recent 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

Most people disagree with political commentators, so they’re wrong.

Answer Anticipation

This argument features an opposing point (the political commentators) that the argument claims is wrong. What does it base that on? Polls.
When we’re looking at polls, there are a few flaws that are fairly common. The most common is a Sampling flaw, but there’s no reason to believe the sample here is unrepresentative or too small. Second is a Correlation/Causation flaw, but the conclusion here isn’t causal, so we shouldn’t spend a lot of time considering that.
Third is a Percent vs. Amount flaw, but the poll tells us something about a percentage (“most” = over 50%), but there’s no shift to an amount.
Finally, the last flaw is a Perception vs. Reality flaw when the poll asks people’s opinion. That is present here. And while the conclusion is also about an opinion - whether the political commentators’ view is right or wrong - we can’t throw out one opinion as wrong just because a different opinion disagrees with it.
Let’s find an answer stating that it reaches a conclusion that a viewpoint is mistaken just because a majority of people believe it to be mistaken.

Answer choices

  1. A
    the term "policies" is Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    There’s no indication that the term “policies” is being used in a different manner each time it shows up, so there’s no ambiguity. A term doesn’t have to be explicitly and fully defined to be used in a specific enough manner for the purposes of an argument - imagine needing to define every term in every argument!
  2. B
    the political commentators discussed Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    They don’t need to be identified by name - we know their profession, and that’s enough.
  3. C
    a claim is inferred Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    The view of the political commentators is said to be false (“fundamentally mistaken”) because a poll showed that most people disagree with it, as this answer states. It is therefore the correct answer.
  4. D
    the claim that the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The premise is that a majority of people believe the commentators are wrong, not that they are wrong. This answer describes a Circular Reasoning flaw, but that’s not the flaw here.
  5. E
    it is assumed that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The argument uses a poll to show majority opinion - that’s not a Part vs. Whole flaw.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 1%
  3. C Credited 88%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 3%

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