Logical reasoning PrepTest 107 · Section 1 · Question 5

Question prompt

Barnes: The two newest 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

Strengthen with Necessary Premise Questions

Stimulus Summary

Newest employees - Tasks are too complex and salaries too high for people without experience
Therefore - Their salaries and duties should be reduced

Answer Anticipation

The conclusion here recommends that the new employees have their salaries and task complexity reduced. Whenever an argument makes a recommendation in the conclusion, it needs to establish the criteria by which that recommendation will be made, and show that it applies to the recommended action.
Here, the argument does establish the criteria for recommending a reduction in salary and task complexity - if a worker is inexperienced/a typical new employee, then they shouldn’t have tasks of this complexity or a salary this high.
However, it doesn’t establish that the new employees are inexperienced, or that they are the normal new employee. It’s possible that these employees were hired because they have extensive experience, and thus their tasks and salary are justified.
Since the argument recommends reducing their salaries and lowering their task complexity, it’s assuming that these new employees are inexperienced, so let’s find an answer reflecting that.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The duties of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Barnes’ argument doesn’t rely on the new employees having the most complex tasks in the organization, just more complex than they should have. If anything, in recommending that the complexity be reduced, she’s assuming that there are tasks that are less complex.
  2. B
    It is because of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Barnes' argument considers both salary and task complexity, but it doesn’t tie those together.
  3. C
    The two newest employees Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    This answer establishes that the two newest employees meet the criteria Barnes establishes in her premises. The new employees have salaries too high for the normal new employee, and tasks too complex for inexperienced workers. So she’s assuming that they are normal, inexperienced new workers. If these new employees are experienced at their occupations, then the high salary and complex tasks may be warranted, so this is a necessary premise.
  4. D
    Barnes was not hired Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Barnes’ starting salary is out of scope of whether the new employees are paid too much.
  5. E
    The salaries of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    If anything, this answer weakens the argument by suggesting that the salaries of the new employees are reasonable/competitive and thus shouldn’t be reduced.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 9%
  2. B 13%
  3. C Credited 76%
  4. D 1%
  5. E 1%

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