Logical reasoning PrepTest 107 · Section 1 · Question 11

Question prompt

It is well known 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

Main Point Questions

Stimulus Summary

Common knowledge - Species adapt to their environment
Assumption - Only highly evolved species adapt their environment
Pivot - This characteristic is quite common
Example - Plankton

Answer Anticipation

With Main Point questions, you want to use what you know about argument structure to find the answer as quickly as possible.
Here, the argument starts with something that is “well known” - anything that is well known (not believed) is going to serve as background. It then pivots (“but”) to an assumption from this common knowledge, which must serve as an opposing point.
That’s backed up by the following statement pivoting (“However”) to an opinion of that assumption - the characteristic believed to be rare is actually quite common. An Author’s opinion of an opposing point is almost always the main point of the argument.
From there, it goes into an example of an organism with that characteristic - plankton. Since examples serve to support a main point, it’s looking like the second pivot is the main point. And while the example itself has a conclusion (“Thus”), it’s about the example, so that’s a subsidiary conclusion.
While we’ve identified the main point, we’re not done yet. The main point - that “this characteristic is actually quite common” - refers back to an earlier concept, so we should substitute the original concept in. The characteristic in question is altering the environment to aid in survival, so let’s find an answer reflecting that characteristic being quite common.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The Earth would be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer is an implication of the intermediate conclusion, not the main point.
  2. B
    By altering their environment Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Another answer about plankton - the example supporting the main point, not the main point itself.
  3. C
    Improving their own chances Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    This answer reflects the general point backed up by the example of plankton. This answer correctly characterizes the characteristic discussed in the conclusion, and gets at the idea of it being actually quite common by stating that it’s not limited to a subset of species. It is therefore the correct answer.
  4. D
    The extent of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Plankton served as an example to support a more general conclusion, so this answer isn’t the main point.
  5. E
    Species such as plankton Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Be careful! We can’t rule this answer out because it talks about plankton since it talks about “[s]pecies such as plankton” - that refers to plankton as an example, mirroring the argument. However, the rest of this answer goes off the rails, bringing up information that doesn’t line up with the argument, so we can rule it out.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 9%
  3. C Credited 85%
  4. D 1%
  5. E 1%

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