Logical reasoning PrepTest 107 · Section 4 · Question 13

Question prompt

Plant Manager: We could Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed/Flawed

Question Type

Point at Issue Questions

Stimulus Summary

PM: A new process pollutes less, but the equipment is expensive and so is running the process, so it’ll cost a lot but not make money.
S: Yes, but one of your facts is wrong - the new process is fuel-efficient.

Answer Anticipation

Normally, when we’re identifying a point at issue between two speakers, they disagree on the conclusion. Here, however, that’s an explicit point of agreement between the two! The Supervisor agrees with the conclusion - it’s one of the points that she disagrees with.
And she tells us what that is - the new, closed furnaces are “extremely fuel-efficient.” How does that intersect with the Plant Manager’s argument? What does he say about the closed furnaces and fuel efficiency?
He doesn’t say anything explicitly about it, but he does say that the new process (with the closed furnaces) costs more to run, which would include fuel costs. The Supervisor must be disagreeing with something the Plant Manager actually said (since she says that she does), so she must believe that, taking fuel costs into account, the new process actually is cheaper to run than the current process - otherwise, there’s not an explicit point of disagreement between them!
Let’s find that as an answer - they disagree over whether the new process costs more to run than the old one.

Answer choices

  1. A
    whether the new copper–smelting Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The Supervisor speaks only to the economics of the new process, not whether it’s more environmentally friendly, so this answer is out of scope.
  2. B
    whether the new copper–smelting Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    The Plant Manager believes the new process “costs more to run.” The Supervisor disagrees with this point, highlighting the extreme fuel efficiency of the new process, suggesting the fuel costs will be lower and thus the cost to run it will be lower. This is the point at issue between them, so it’s the correct answer.
  3. C
    whether the new process Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Neither speaker explicitly states that the new process should or shouldn’t be used - just that it will cost a lot and not make money. That said, they agree on that overall conclusion, so even if the economics do determine whether it should be used, this is a point of agreement.
  4. D
    whether closed copper–smelting furnaces Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The Supervisor believes that the new closed furnaces are more fuel-efficient than open ones, but this answer is broader than that in talking about all closed furnaces. Additionally, the Plant Manager doesn’t discuss the fuel efficiency - he could believe that they’re more fuel efficient but still cost more for other reasons (e.g., that the copper must be reheated, which might be labor intensive).
  5. E
    whether cooling and reheating Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The Supervisor doesn’t discuss the costs of cooling and reheating the copper, so this is out of scope of her argument.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 9%
  2. B Credited 58%
  3. C 3%
  4. D 21%
  5. E 9%

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