Logical reasoning PrepTest 112 · Section 3 · Question 2

Question prompt

Several companies will soon Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Weaken Questions

Stimulus Summary

New service - People can subscribe to news stories, and information on them will be delivered straight to their TV
Conclusion - If this service are widely available, then newspaper sales will go down

Answer Anticipation

The argument here describes a new service available, and then it concludes a certain effect that the service will have if the new service takes off. In other words, it predicts an effect of a certain change.
First, we should note the qualified nature of the conclusion here. It doesn’t predict that newspaper sales will go down; it predicts they’ll go down if the new service is widely available. This removes one potential Weaken answer choice - that the new service won’t be widely available and thus it won’t have much of an impact. Always note when a condition is placed on the conclusion.
With that out of the way, we need to find the assumption in the argument so that we can undermine it to weaken the conclusion. Here, the argument assumes that if one service takes off, another will go down. So, in other words, it’s assuming that the new service will replace the old service.
However, there’s no indication that that will happen. While people might enjoy getting updates on the stories they subscribe to, it may be the case that they also enjoy reading unexpected stories, or they would rely on newspapers to inform them of a story in the first place. The newspapers might also have other benefits, such as being something that can be read on a train (this is PrepTest 36 - you couldn’t watch a stream on your phone yet!).
Since the conclusion is conditioned on the new service being widely available, we shouldn’t expect an answer that states that no one uses it and sticks with newspapers, but we should look for an answer suggesting that people might end up using both.

Answer choices

  1. A
    In reading newspapers, most Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    This answer brings up a benefit of newspapers that wouldn’t be present in the new subscription service - browsing through headlines and pictures, looking for interesting stories that they wouldn’t normally follow. As such, even if they have the subscription service, they may still buy a newspaper, weakening an argument that concludes the new service will largely replace the old.
  2. B
    Companies offering personalized electronic Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Establishing that people can pick which service they want based on how much they want to spend suggests that more people might adopt these services, which wouldn’t call into question the conclusion that people will switch from newspapers to them.
  3. C
    Approximately 30 percent of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer might be trying to get you to pick it by suggesting that 30% of people don’t buy newspapers, so how much can sales really go down? Well, the answer to that the other 70% could stop buying them!
  4. D
    The average monthly cost Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    By showing the cost of this service to be lower than the cost of newspapers several times over, this answer gives a reason that people would make the switch, thus reinforcing the conclusion.
  5. E
    Most people who subscribe Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    By removing a cost associated with the new service, it increases the likelihood of adoption of it, and thus it increases the likelihood that some people will replace their newspaper purchases with it, aligning with the conclusion.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 84%
  2. B 7%
  3. C 6%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 0%

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