Logical reasoning PrepTest 106 · Section 2 · Question 16

Question prompt

Private industry is trying 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

Private industry is attracting scientists with salaries 50% higher than the government offers, and all government scientists could find private sector jobs Therefore - Unless government scientists are motivated by a sense of public duty, the government will lose its scientists (i.e., they’ll leave the public sector for the private sector)

Answer Anticipation

As with all Strengthen with Necessary Assumption questions, we should start with the conclusion and work backwards to see what support exists for it. Here, the conclusion is a prediction that the government scientists will leave the public sector and take private sector jobs. To prove this, the argument would need to show that there’s some relevant benefit that would drive scientists in that direction. Does it? Yep - the private sector jobs pay a lot more - salaries are 50% higher. That’s a hard raise to turn down! However, the argument would also need to show that the scientists are driven solely by a desire to maximize their salaries for this to determine that they will take jobs in the private sector, and it fails to do so. So the argument is assuming that there isn’t another reason that the scientists would stick with public sector jobs - and we should look for answers that rule out potential alternative reasons. But there’s one caveat there - the argument has already ruled out two of those reasons! The conclusion is qualified by saying it applies only if the scientists aren’t motivated by a sense of public duty, so it’s not assuming that they don’t have one. It also states that all of the government scientists would be able to find private sector jobs, so a lack of available positions (or qualifications that would let them get jobs) also isn’t preventing them from switching. As such, we should look for answers that rule out other potential reasons for the scientists sticking with the public sector jobs besides availability of positions and a sense of civic duty.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Government research scientists are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    While this is another reason that people would switch to private sector jobs, they already have a reason to do so - the higher salaries. There doesn’t have to be yet another reason to switch for the conclusion to hold!
  2. B
    None of the research Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    This answer is trying to get you to think that the highest-paid researchers are the most skilled, and thus if they’re paid more than the private sector pays, then they wouldn’t switch. However, there’s no indication that the government scientists with the highest skills are also the ones with the highest salaries, so this answer misses the mark.
  3. C
    The government does not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The stimulus already established that there are enough positions available that “none” of the government scientists would struggle to find a job, so the relative number of positions between the government and private companies doesn’t affect the argument.
  4. D
    The government does not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    This answer rules out a reason that the scientists might stick with the government job instead of the private sector job. If the government positions offer benefits and conditions that are worth more than the additional salary, then it’d make sense to stick with those jobs, undermining the conclusion. This answer is therefore a necessary premise.
  5. E
    Research scientists employed in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    If anything, this is a reason that the scientists would stick with the government jobs instead of switching over. Since this answer hurts the argument, it can’t be a necessary premise.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 6%
  2. B 17%
  3. C 6%
  4. D Credited 71%
  5. E 0%

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