Logical reasoning PrepTest 106 · Section 2 · Question 1

Question prompt

Critic: People today place Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

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

People value respect for others, and mocking those who fail to live up to ideals serves the basis for comedy, so comedians that exaggerate such disrespect being popular isn’t surprising.

Answer Anticipation

This is a pretty complex argument for a question #1! As with all Strengthen with Necessary Premise questions, though, we can start with the conclusion and work backwards. Here, the conclusion states that the current popularity of comedians that disrespect others isn’t surprising. Why does it not think this is surprising? Well, the basis for successful comedy is the exaggeration of failures to live up to ideals. What ideals are we talking about here? Respect for others. So mocking those that fail to live up to these ideals by exaggerating their disrespect would serve as the basis for good comedy. Where’s the assumption? The successful comedy involving the exaggeration of failings is predicated on “people fail[ing] to live up to the very ideals” that are in high esteem. There’s no indication that people are failing to live up to these ideals at a level that would lead to comedy based on it being successful, so we should look for an answer establishing that this is the case.

Answer choices

  1. A
    People who enjoy comedians Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The argument relies on the exaggeration of failings to uphold values that people do hold in high esteem, so this answer cuts against the argument.
  2. B
    Only comedians who display Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    The argument is meant to explain the success of comedians that include disrespect in their acts, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be other types of comedians out there. They may exaggerate the failings to uphold other values besides respect for others.
  3. C
    Many people disapprove of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The argument is about the success of these comedians, so people not liking them cuts against the conclusion.
  4. D
    People who value an Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    The argument requires that some people fail to live up to the ideals that they hold in high esteem, but it never establishes that to be the case. As such, this is a necessary premise, because if people always live up to their values, then there’s nothing to mock!
  5. E
    People today fail to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The argument does require that people fail to live up to their ideals, but this comparison to the frequency that they do so compared to the past is out of scope - the past doesn’t matter to the argument.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 17%
  2. B 10%
  3. C 4%
  4. D Credited 64%
  5. E 4%

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Discussion

  • B v. E 1 reply

    Started by Silvia

  • Explanation 3 replies

    Started by JayDee8732

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