Logical reasoning PrepTest 112 · Section 1 · Question 12

Question prompt

The consumer price index Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Errors in Reasoning Questions

Stimulus Summary

The CPI tracks the cost of goods and is used to change government retirement benefits. It doesn’t take into account the cost of producing goods which can be decreased with technology, so benefits sometimes pay more than the true change in costs.

Answer Anticipation

Don’t get lost in the economics of this! It’s an Errors in Reasoning question, so focus on the logic instead of any math or economic theory you may know.
The conclusion here is that government benefits sometimes increase by more than costs do. Why is that? Because the measurement they use to determine how costs go up - the CPI - doesn’t take into account technologies that make the production of goods cheaper.
But there’s a switch there - between the CPI, which measures the costs that consumers pay for goods, and the costs of producing those goods. What matters for benefits and consumers is the CPI cost - how much they’re paying. It doesn’t matter to them how much profit the company making the goods is earning, or how little they can pay to produce it, unless the decrease in production costs is then passed on to consumers. And if it is, then it’d be reflected in the CPI.
So the argument jumps from the cost to consumers to the cost to producers, and so we should look for an answer highlighting this jump.

Answer choices

  1. A
    fails to consider the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Since the conclusion is just about what “sometimes” happens, there being some years where there is no change has no effect on the argument.
  2. B
    fails to make explicit Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Since the rest of the argument doesn’t rely on any specific areas of goods, it’s not a flaw for the argument to define this.
  3. C
    presumes, without providing warrant, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The conclusion isn’t about people getting more or less money than they should, just more or less money than is warranted by changes to the CPI, so them using money to buy rare goods is out of scope.
  4. D
    uncritically draws an inference Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The conclusion is about what is “sometimes” true, so that could be speaking about instances in the past.
  5. E
    makes an irrelevant shift Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    This answer highlights the shift that the author makes, going from a discussion of costs to consumers to one of production costs. If technology makes production cheaper, that doesn’t matter to consumers unless it results in changes to prices, in which case the CPI would capture it.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 8%
  2. B 6%
  3. C 5%
  4. D 4%
  5. E Credited 78%

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