Logical reasoning PrepTest 107 · Section 3 · Question 4

Incorrect. Without discussing any effect that these shoes may have on the kids, there's no way to know if this answer speaks to the causality in the stimulus.

Incorrect. This answer is out of scope for two reasons. First, it's about adults, and we don't know that adults and kids are relevantly similar as far as foot arches are concerned. Second, whether or not there are benefits to flat feet (and thus whether flat feet should be "corrected") is out of scope as to whether these shoes do, in fact, change the shape of kids' feet.

Incorrect. Without tying these different groups into the wearing of special shoes, this answer doesn't add anything that affects the argument.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Weaken

Stimulus Summary:
Problem - Small children are generally flat-footed
Solution - Have them wear shoes that provide extra support

Answer Anticipation:
This stimulus falls into a common pattern—a problem is presented along with a solution. These questions frequently deal with causality, as the solution will generally have an effect on the problem. Additionally, treatments are inherently causal—if a treatment doesn't cause a given effect, then it wouldn't be very good! Weaken questions also generally deal with Correlation/Causation issues. Since all signs point to such an issue, we should start there!

Here, the problem is that small children have flat feet. The solution? Have them wear special shoes. This assumes that the special shoes increase the likelihood that the child will develop a natural arch. Since it's noted that this is a "traditional[]" treatment, it has presumably been correlated with the development of a natural arch in the past.

Since this argument does jump from a correlation to causation, we can weaken it using our standard approaches:
(1) Identify an alternative cause of the arch developing properly
(2) Showing counterexamples (cause without effect; effect without cause)
(3) Reverse causality (though it doesn't make sense to say that developing a proper arch causes a child to wear these special shoes, so this is almost certainly the wrong answer)

Answer Explanation:
This answer establishes a counterexample—as many children have the effect (development of arches) without the supposed cause as with that cause. This very much calls into question whether the special shoes do anything at all, while also suggesting an alternative cause—kids just age out of flat feet.

Key Takeaway:
Problem/Solution passages are generally causal. Arguments about cures/treatments are necessarily causal. Weaken questions tend to feature Correlation/Causation flaws. Knowing these trends can help you identify flaws in argument much faster.

Incorrect. Without tying this in to the shoes or flat feet, it's really unclear what this has to do with anything!