Logical reasoning PrepTest 112 · Section 4 · Question 7

Question prompt

Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry 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

Facts

Valid or Flawed

NA

Question Type

Cannot Be True Questions

Stimulus Summary

A poem’s meaning is a unique mix of the poem and the reader’s system of beliefs
Readers from different cultures/eras have different systems of beliefs

Answer Anticipation

Cannot be True questions are distinct from Must be True questions, but there is some overlap between them, as highlighted in this question.
In Must be True questions, when two statements overlap, the correct answer generally combines them. In Cannot be True questions, the correct answer must contradict information in the stimulus. In a Cannot be True question with two statements that overlap, you should make the inference as if you were in a Must be True question, and then find an answer that contradicts it.
Here, the second and third clauses both talk about systems of belief. We learn in the second clause that a poem’s meaning is the “unique” interaction between the poem itself and the reader’s system of beliefs, and that people from different cultures or eras will have a different system of beliefs. Since the meaning of a poem relies on that system of beliefs, if the systems are different between people and cultures, then the meaning they get from poems will be different.
That would be the answer in a Must be True question, but a Cannot be True question will instead contradict that inference. So let’s find an answer that shows people from different cultures or eras that interpret a poem in the same way despite their different systems of belief.

Answer choices

  1. A
    A reader's interpretation of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    If that other person’s interpretation affected the reader’s system of beliefs - which is possible - then that interpretation could affect another. Since this is possible, it’s incorrect.
  2. B
    A modern reader and Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    This answer features readers from different eras, so they would have a radically different system of beliefs (third clause). That guarantees, according to the second clause, that they’d have different interpretations of the same poem, so this answer cannot be true.
  3. C
    A reader's interpretation of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    An individual’s system of beliefs could evolve over time, and that would mean that their interpretation of a poem would evolve over time.
  4. D
    Two readers from the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    If they’re of different cultures, then they’d have radically different systems of beliefs, and thus different interpretations of the same poem, as this answer states.
  5. E
    A reader's enjoyment of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Enjoyment is out of scope of the argument, and so it can be true. Remember - we’re looking for a contradiction, not something that lacks support!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 13%
  2. B Credited 76%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 6%

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Discussion

  • Answer C 0 replies

    Started by yckim2180

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