Logical reasoning PrepTest 113 · Section 2 · Question 18

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Must Be True (Principle)

Stimulus Summary:
Critics - NASA is too expensive

Also - There's a safety risk, and budgetary pressures only make it worse, as is highlighted by this one example.

Answer Anticipation:
This is a bit of a weird Must Be True (Principle) question. Usually, they feature a principle (or two) in the stimulus and scenarios in the answer. This one has that reversed, which usually makes it a Strengthen (Principle) question. However, we're looking for a principle that the passage conforms to, and there's no argument, so we're going to call in a Must Be True (Principle) question.

First thing we can do to make our jobs easier is to disregard the example. While it should help to highlight the principle, it's an example of something, and that thing is the bigger picture that the principle is going to relate to.

And that bigger picture statement is that budgetary pressures resulted in safety issues getting worse. So we should look for an answer reflecting that—trying to fix one problem (money) made another (safety) worse.

Answer Explanation:
Attempts to solve the budgetary problems resulted in the safety problems getting worse. The example in the stimulus conforms to this principle, so it's the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
When dealing with Principle questions, examples can help you to understand the bigger picture, but the bigger picture is where your focus should be!

Incorrect. There's no discussion of the safety risks being ignored, as the program manager brought up the safety issues. Also, there's no indication that any decisions were made to further scientific progress—safety, speed, and money are the only concerns raised.

Incorrect. While speed was mentioned in the stimulus, it was secondary to the tension between budget and safety. We can tell this because it showed up in an example raised to support the contention that budgetary pressures undermine safety.

Incorrect. There's no discussion of bureaucratic mistakes.

Incorrect. This answer is too extreme. While safety issues arose because of budgetary limitations, there's no indication that the space program should end because of these issues.